The simple process to point your mail to Mailbox Park…if you use GoDaddy.
Earlier this month I interviewed Greg Kraios on the DNW Podcast.
Kraios is the founder of Mailbox Park, which is sort of like a domain name parking service for your domains’ email. You point your domains’ MX records to Mailbox Park and they pay you for each commercial email your domain names receive.
Since adding a couple dozen domains to the system a few weeks ago, I’ve continually been surprised by which domain names receive email and the contents of that email. So today I added a couple hundred more domains to the system.
Changing MX records on your domains isn’t that easy the first time. But it’s not hard once you get the hang of it. That’s especially the case if your domains are at GoDaddy because of its DNS Templates tool. Thanks to this tool, I was able to change the nameservers and MX records for these domains and complete the entire email parking process in under five minutes. Here’s how to do it:
Step 1: Find out the IP address for your parked domain names
When you park domain names with traditional domain parking companies, you just change your nameservers. With Mailbox Park you want to split your traffic so that the web traffic goes to your regular parking company and your email goes to MailBox park.
Depending on your parking company, you can easily do this by creating a record to point your web traffic to an IP address instead of a NameServer.
This is pretty easy with domains parked at Uniregistry because, at least in my case, they all have the same IP address. To quickly figure out if this is the case for you, run your domains through this Domain-to-IP-converter.
Step 2: Create a DNS template at GoDaddy
GoDaddy lets you create DNS templates that can be applied to multiple domain names. Just click the drop down within the Domain Manager:
Click on “Add” to created your template. This is what you’ll want your template to look like:
The IP address for your A record should be the IP address you got when you looked it up in step 1. The MX records are kind of like “nameservers for email.” UPDATE: it turns out everyone gets unique MX addresses, so be sure to use the ones in your Mailbox Park account.]
Step 3: Change your domains’ nameservers to GoDaddy’s default nameservers
Since your domains are currently pointing to a parking company, you need to change the nameservers to GoDaddy’s default servers so that the DNS template you created will work. This means your domains will point to GoDaddy’s holding pages, but only temporarily.
Changing the name servers is a simple bulk operation within GoDaddy’s account manager. Just select the names, click the Nameservers icon, and choose “Standard”.
Step 4: Apply the DNS template to the domains.
Now go back to the DNS templates. Click the icon on the left next to your template:
Copy and paste your list of domains into the field and submit. This will apply the DNS template to each of the domain names.
If you want to verify if worked, check your MX records with this tool.
Step 5: Make sure you add your domains to Mailbox Park
This step is straight-forward.
A couple cautions…
Your parking company might use multiple IP addresses for your domains, which will complicate this process.
It’s also possible that your parking company will not support using IP addresses via A records and might change nameservers from time-to-time.
billywagnerjr says
Have you generated any income by using Mailbox Park?
Andrew Allemann says
Very little so far. They do have a deal for people with fewer than 1,000 domains where you get at least five cents per domain per month, so $50.
I don’t have any email “whales” so far, so I don’t think I’ll make a ton of money. What I am getting, however, is intelligence based on the email my domains receive.
FX says
i suspect that this burns and destroys your domains with spam houses, but i dont know for sure…
Patricia Kaehler says
that then would make the domains value – go down, correct ??
Andrew Allemann says
How so? The domains aren’t sending anything out; they are just receiving emails.
Jamie Zoch says
Hi FX,
MailboxPark does not sell any data to spam houses. You can read our FAQ for a more in-depth Q&A on what we do with data. https://www.mailboxpark.com/faqs/
Adam says
Are you involved with this, Jamie?
Jamie Zoch says
Yes I am.
Patricia Kaehler says
How is the company deriving a benefit from those incoming eMails ??
Andrew Allemann says
Patricia, the answer is in this podcast:
https://domainnamewire.com/2017/02/13/monetize-email-dnw-podcast-123/
Jamie Zoch says
Thanks for the article Andrew! A couple things I want to point out.
When you create your free account at MailboxPark.com, in your My Account tab will be your unique mx records. They will also be in your welcome email. Be sure to use those MX records with your domains.
We know managing and adding domains to your MBP account can be a pain to manage, so we built a detection tool based on unique MX records. So now we only ask that you add at least 1 domain name to your account and we will detect the rest when they receive mail with your unique MX records. So it’s no longer required to add “all” your domains to your MailboxPark account. Just be sure to use your unique mx records.
We are continually working on rolling out new updates and features and welcome your suggestions and feedback.
Andrew Allemann says
Thanks for the info, Jamie. I didn’t realize the MX records were unique. I added that to the post.
Danny says
It’s always nice to see new ways to monetize domain names – though earning something like $0.015 per domain per month, it doesn’t seem like it would really be worth the effort.
Patricia Kaehler says
ever notice how in some places when you post – if you are a female you don’t get acknowledged or responded to at all… oh well…
Jamie Zoch says
Hi Patricia,
I wouldn’t ever ignore you and you know that 😉 I had just posted the link to the FAQ section in an above question and didn’t want to duplicate the answer. I will now though, you can check out our FAQ section which explains your question: https://www.mailboxpark.com/faqs/
Patricia Kaehler says
Appreciate your response…
Is there a “How To” Youtube on how to set the eMail at the Registrars… text instructions aren’t the best for me… I need to see something to absorb it… there was a time in life I wouldn’t have admitted that… but as I am aging I don’t care – I just say what I need (smile)
Jamie Zoch says
Patricia,
It’s certainly something we can do, there are just so many different registrars and each user interface is a little different, it would be unrealistic to be able to do a “how to” for them all. If you can provide me with your registrar (or a couple you use) I can do a screenshot How To if that would help you out?
Patricia Kaehler says
this is where I am
https://www.godaddy.com/help/change-an-a-record-19239
how do I change the A record on GD in a batch (bulk)
Patricia Kaehler says
if I am doing a domain currently ns to voodoo
and i reset via GD to GD’s default
then I am on the spot to change the A file
HERE:
I see this:
Type Name Value TTL Actions
Type *
Host *
Points to *
TTL *
My question is:
What do I put in the spot for HOST ??
What do I put in the spot for Points To ??
Jamie Zoch says
Hi Patricia,
I have emailed you some very detailed directions. Please let me know if I can assist any further.
Jamie Zoch says
Here is an exact walk through, step by step at adding records for a bulk DNS change at GoDaddy:
Login at Godaddy.
Click Manage next to Domains
Towards the top, click DNS, then select DNS Templates
Click ADD
Type: Name Your File Name (parking co)
Click,Add Records, from the drop down, select A (this will be A Record of where you wish to have the domain resolve to)
Host: @
Points To: 192.64.147.150 (example IP for Voodoo)
TTL: 1/2 Hour
SAVE
Click ADD
Select CNAME
Host: www
Points to: @
TTL: 1/2 Hour
SAVE
Click ADD
Select MX
Host: @
Points To: mx555.mb5p.com (sample MX, yours are in your MailboxPark account)
Priority: 0
TTL: 1/2 Hour
SAVE
Click ADD
Select MX
Host: @
Points To: mx555.m1bp.com (sample MX, yours are in your MailboxPark account)
Priority: 10
TTL: 1/2 Hour
SAVE
After saving, scroll up to the top of the screen and click DNS, then select DNS Templates. Click the SQAURE symbol left of the pencil icon of the file you just named. Input the list of domain names you wish to use that temple for. Click APPLY TEMPLATE.
Done!
Domain investor says
Added 70 domains to the mailbox park account, till 6 April 2017, they were getting verified, On 7 April 2017, all the domains got unverified, without any reason. Any specific reason why the domains got unverified, anyone else facing a similar problem
Jamie Zoch says
@Domain Investor,
Your domains are still verified, there is currently a technical issue that we are working on, on our end. Sorry for the inconvenience
Arseny says
Is it me or Namecheap doesn’t allow you to set up mx records for domains that point parking services? Thank you
Jamie Zoch says
Hi Arseny,
You have to “gain control” of DNS, so this is often done by using the registrars default name server, which should be registrar-servers.com . Then you should be able to set A Record to the IP Address of the service or hosting etc you wish to use and then set MX Records. Here is some more info from NameCheap: https://www.namecheap.com/support/knowledgebase/article.aspx/9434/32/using-default-nameservers-vs-hosting-nameservers
Arseny says
Jamie, roger that 🙂 That’s what I was afraid of: I have lots of names on namecheap using Efty parking services. And I do enjoy using Efty. Any plans to work together with Efty? 😉
By the way, is there an instruction of configuring MailboxPark on Uniregistry?
Thanks!
Jamie Zoch says
You can still use Efty and MailboxPark together. Most registrars have a bulk DNS updating system, which makes it pretty easy.
Set name servers to the registrar default
A Record to: 119.81.170.18
MX Record to: Your unique MailboxPark MX provided in your account.
You can send me an email: Jamie @ MailboxPark .com and I can walk you though Uniregistry’s DNS management system. This is also helpful: https://uniregistry.help/my-account-en/how-do-i-manage-mx-records/