AWeber closes accounts that break its anti-spam policy, and the policy is blunt: no lists that were purchased, rented, leased or bought from a third party, including co-registration lists. Its staff also review complaints and check lists by hand. When an account is closed for a policy breach, AWeber says it terminates without a refund. Your job now is to get your subscriber data out, find which list caused it, clean it, and move sending somewhere it will not happen again. If your subscribers genuinely opted in, your own SMTP server is the most durable home for the list.
Why AWeber closes accounts
From AWeber's own anti-spam policy and how closures usually play out:
| Cause | What AWeber says | Usual trigger |
|---|---|---|
| Bought, rented or shared list | prohibited, including co-registration | a sudden import of thousands of new contacts |
| Spam complaints | reviewed by staff before deciding | mailing an old or cold segment |
| Promoting your list by spam elsewhere | prohibited | unsolicited mail via third parties |
| Content outside what people signed up for | grounds for review | a list built on a freebie, then sold to hard |
AWeber does not publish a numeric complaint threshold, unlike some ESPs. That cuts both ways: there is no number to stay under, and a human made the call.
Find the cause first. It decides whether an appeal is worth a single message
Will AWeber give you your list back?
If you can still log in, export now. Do it before writing to support, because access can end at any moment.
- Open Subscribers and choose current subscribers only. The default view includes unsubscribed contacts, and you must not mail them.
- Export CSV with every field: signup date, signup form, IP, tags, custom fields.
- Save your unsubscribe list separately. You need it to stay compliant on the new platform.
- Copy your best broadcast and follow-up content by sending test copies to yourself.
If you are already locked out, ask support in writing for an export of your subscriber data and consent records. AWeber does not publicly promise exports after a policy closure. More detail on export steps by vendor is in export your list before an ESP ban.
What you lose besides the addresses
The addresses are the small part. The consent records matter most
The consent records are the part people forget. Signup date, form name and IP are your proof that a contact asked to hear from you. Without them, a new provider, or a regulator after a complaint, has no reason to believe the list is clean.
Can you move an AWeber list to your own SMTP server?
Yes, if the subscribers opted in to hear from you. Your own server removes the policy team, because nobody else shares your IPs. It does not remove Gmail, Microsoft and Yahoo, who judge every message on complaints and engagement.
| Move to | Policy review | Risk with an unchanged list |
|---|---|---|
| Another shared ESP (Mailchimp, Brevo, GetResponse) | yes, rules close to AWeber's | closed again within weeks |
| Your own SMTP server | no | inbox providers block the IPs |
| Your own server with a cleaned list | no | normal warm-up only |
Only the last row works. Our comparison of AWeber vs a dedicated SMTP server covers costs and features if you are deciding between the two for the long term.
The 8-week recovery timeline
Eight weeks from closure to full volume, if the list is clean
Days 1 to 3: export and find the cause. Export everything you can. Sort recent imports by source. The segment that came from somewhere other than your own forms is almost always the answer.
Days 4 to 7: clean. Delete every contact you cannot trace to your own opt-in. Remove hard bounces. Suppress anyone with no open or click in 12 months. On most lists this removes 20% to 30%. Our list cleaning guide walks through it.
Week 2: set up the new path. Sending subdomain, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, PTR. Add double opt-in to every form from now on.
Weeks 3 to 8: warm up. Start with contacts who opened in the last 90 days, a few hundred a day per IP, growing about 30% every two days. See the IP warm-up schedule for the week-by-week numbers.
How to avoid the same ban on a new provider
| Rule | Why |
|---|---|
| No third-party contacts, ever | the one thing every ESP closes accounts for |
| Double opt-in on all forms | proof of consent built into the list |
| Sunset rule at 12 months | stale contacts drive complaints |
| Send what people signed up for | relevance keeps complaints under 0.1% |
| Keep the consent fields on import | you can answer any review in minutes |
The same pattern shows up after every ESP closure we see. The Mailchimp shutdown guide has the Mailchimp version, and switching ESP without losing deliverability covers the move itself.
How BulkEmailSetup helps
We set up a dedicated SMTP server you own, with a campaign panel you can import your cleaned AWeber export into. Your IPs carry only your own sending, so there is no shared pool and no policy team. We configure SPF, DKIM, DMARC and PTR, bounce handling and a warm-up plan.
| Plan | One-time fee | Emails per day | Dedicated IPs | Hosting you pay your host |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $549 | 25,000 | 3 | about $11 a month |
| Advance | $1,199 | 200,000 | 15 | about $49 a month |
There is no monthly fee to us, no contact limit and a 15-day money-back guarantee. A clean, opted-in list is still required: our anti-spam policy bans purchased and rented lists too. See Basic plan details or compare all pricing.
Frequently asked questions
Why does AWeber close accounts?
AWeber's anti-spam policy bans lists that were purchased, rented, leased or bought from a third party, including co-registration lists. It also acts on spam complaints, which its staff review, and manually checks lists for signs of careless emailing. A closure usually traces to one of these: a bought or shared list, a complaint spike after mailing an old segment, or content outside what subscribers signed up for.
Will AWeber give me my list back?
Export before anything else, if you still have access. AWeber's Subscribers page has an Export CSV option, and selecting current subscribers keeps unsubscribed contacts out of the file. If the account is already locked, ask support in writing for an export of your subscriber data and consent records. AWeber does not publicly promise exports after a policy closure, so do not count on it.
Can I move an AWeber list to my own SMTP server?
Yes, if the subscribers opted in to hear from you. Import only current subscribers, keep their signup date and source as fields, and remove anyone who has not opened or clicked in 12 months. Then warm up the new IPs over 4 to 8 weeks starting with your most engaged contacts. BulkEmailSetup's Basic plan, $549 one-time for 3 dedicated IPs, includes a written warm-up plan. A bought list is still banned and still burns IPs.
How do I avoid the same ban on a new provider?
Fix the cause before you move. Drop any contacts that came from a third party, suppress hard bounces and long-inactive contacts, add double opt-in to your forms, and only send what people signed up for. Every shared ESP has rules close to AWeber's, so an unchanged list gets closed again within weeks. Your own server removes policy reviews but not inbox provider limits.
Can I get a refund after AWeber closes my account?
Not for a policy breach. AWeber's anti-spam policy says accounts that break it are terminated without a refund, and it reserves the right to charge for disruption caused to other customers. If you believe the closure was a mistake, reply once with facts: where each list came from and proof of opt-in. Payment disputes rarely help and can close the door on getting your data.
Can I open a new AWeber account after a closure?
It is a bad idea. Providers link accounts by domain, payment details and sending patterns, and a replacement account for the same business is usually found and closed, sometimes mid-campaign. It also puts your domain on their record twice. Spend the effort on cleaning the list and moving to infrastructure where your own behaviour is the only thing judged.
