Mail server
ShopClass sends e-mail for account activation, password resets, listing alerts
and the contact form. Out of the box it hands those messages to PHP’s mail(),
which on most shared hosting means they are sent from an unauthenticated local
server and land in spam.
Configuring real SMTP is the single biggest deliverability improvement you can make.
Settings live at Admin → Settings → Mail server.
The settings
Section titled “The settings”| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Hostname | Your provider’s SMTP host, e.g. smtp.example.com. |
| Server port | 587 for STARTTLS (the modern default), 465 for implicit TLS. |
| Username | The mailbox or API user. Usually the full e-mail address. |
| Password | Its password, or an app-specific password / API key. |
| Encryption | tls for port 587, ssl for port 465. Leave blank only on a trusted local relay. |
| SMTP authentication | Check it whenever you filled in a username and password. |
Sending through a transactional provider
Section titled “Sending through a transactional provider”A dedicated sending service — Postmark, Mailgun, Amazon SES, Brevo, SendGrid and others — will do more for your delivery rate than any setting in ShopClass. They all expose plain SMTP credentials that drop into the fields above.
Whichever you use, complete their domain verification and publish the DNS records they give you:
- SPF — authorises the provider to send as your domain.
- DKIM — signs your messages so receivers can verify them.
- DMARC — tells receivers what to do when the first two fail.
Without those three, your mail is unauthenticated no matter how it is sent.
Sending through Gmail or Google Workspace
Section titled “Sending through Gmail or Google Workspace”Possible, and fine for a small site, but understand the limits: Google caps daily volume and will mark a classifieds site’s alert traffic as suspicious sooner than a transactional provider would.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Hostname | smtp.gmail.com |
| Server port | 587 |
| Username | Your full address, e.g. [email protected] |
| Password | An app password — not your account password |
| Encryption | tls |
| SMTP authentication | Checked |
An app password requires 2-Step Verification on the account. Plain account passwords have not worked for SMTP for years.
Testing
Section titled “Testing”Trigger a real message rather than guessing — register a test account, or use the contact form — and watch what happens. If nothing arrives, check the spam folder before assuming the send failed.
Troubleshooting
Section titled “Troubleshooting”No e-mail arrives at all. Re-read the hostname, port and encryption for typos. Then confirm your host does not block outbound SMTP; many block port 25 and some block 587 unless you ask. Port 465 is often the one left open.
Mail arrives, but always in spam. Your domain is not authenticated. Publish SPF, DKIM and DMARC records for the address in the From field, and make sure that address is on a domain you control — not a free mailbox.
It worked, then stopped. Either the provider suspended sending — check their dashboard for a bounce or complaint threshold you crossed — or a burst of alert e-mail hit a rate limit. Both are visible on the provider’s side, not in ShopClass.
Some recipients get it, others never do. That pattern is reputation, not configuration. Move to a transactional provider with a warmed sending domain.