4 ms·
Recently, I wanted to try a web service but they did not let me register with a disposable email address. Well, I guess I will not try the service then.
by uallo 5y ago
Recently, I wanted to try a web service but they did not let me register with a disposable email address. Well, I guess I will not try the service then.
- karussell 5y agoAnd how would you protect your service from users that just sign up with disposable Emails for the 7 day trial over and over again?
- chrisseaton 5y ago> just sign up with disposable Emails for the 7 day trial over and over again? That's a lot of effort to go through to avoid paying for something. And I guess you can't keep your data or configuration, if the app has any.
- karussell 5y agoThat happens quite frequently to our SaaS where people need free access to a new API key. We try to block multiple registrations but there are people who also invest into proxies to circumvent this protection...
- johannes1234321 5y agopeople who want to bypass those restrictions can easily do it. It is trivial to get a bunch of mail addresses to use, even without "disposable mail" providers. People who try to abuse the trial period over and over will do. Blocking the disposable mail providers however also blocks users who are curious, but not yet committed. I argue that maths is negative for your business and a better approachbis to make it easy tonget started, but show them clear benefit of switching plans. Maybe a cheap entry level plan with a small set of convenience features, not available to the test account.
- simongr3dal 5y agoJust a few idea: Make it useful to have a persistent identity, so you have something to lose if you abandon the account (like a library of games in steam, or a network of friends on facebook). Require a payment method and limit how many free trials can be activated with the same card. Require a phone number since they a harder to get than emails.
- karussell 5y agoI really dislike services that require payment or telephone numbers for verification just to try out a service. And we are unsure if this increases friction for normal users.
- majewsky 5y agoIf someone wants to use disposable email addresses out of fear of having the service sell or abuse their permanent email address, they will most likely also not be willing to reveal their phone number.
- uallo 5y agoI doubt that a meaningful number of users creates new accounts every 7 days just to avoid paying. Setting up a new account is usually enough work that it is not worth it. But if that is the case for your service, here are three things from the top of my head that might even work. If instead you just block disposable email addresses, I might as well look somewhere else. * Reduce the trial period for users with a disposable email. * Don't allow data import/export so that creating a new account is more work. * Reduce cookie lifetime so that a login is needed more often.
- karussell 5y agoThanks, the first idea is a really good one for our use case. (the other ideas won't work unfortunately) And yes, it is not a meaningful number of people that do so, but over time this is very ugly and frustrating (as it requires manual intervention) and you block the disposable Email provider they used ...
- asojfdowgh 5y agoI mean, if its not having a notable impact except emotionally, maybe its better to just let it be? Missing the forest for the trees and all
- karussell 5y agoProbably. But if we wouldn't block certain disposable Email providers since years, maybe this would be already dozens per month.
- BoysenberryPi 5y ago> but over time this is very ugly and frustrating (as it requires manual intervention) and you block the disposable Email provider they used ... This seems like an ego issue honestly. Like you feel like you are being taken advantage of. If only a very small numbers of users are doing this then I don't see it worth the dev time to block the email providers they use possibly hurting valid customers. Just leave it alone. I use Relay for services I genuinely pay for but don't want to give out my email address in case of leaks.
- barnabee 5y agoMake the service less useful in the free trial period — for instance a really low cap on API requests per hour/day or limit the user to cresting a very small number of records/items when they aren’t paying.