Set up a server with postfix. Don't to this on EC2. Many just blacklist those IPs. Implement DKIM. It isn't too difficult and if you just google for a how to th

Set up a server with postfix. Don't to this on EC2. Many just blacklist those IPs. Implement DKIM. It isn't too difficult and if you just google for a how to there are plenty. That way, the messages are signed and nice. I would avoid SPF. A lot more people have forwarding addresses now and most forwarding servers don't play nice with SPF and that causes mail to get rejected. None of the things you've offered as solutions actually guarantee delivery. In fact, I'll wager that emails sent from an email server that's been setup like you propose will not even show up in Hotmail's Spam folder, let alone Hotmail inbox! Having DKIM doesn't do anything for Hotmail or Y! Mail, for example. Spammers use DKIM too. I wouldn't avoid SPF since some European ISPs require it and Hotmail actually does care about it once you actually get past bigger issues that stop Hotmail delivery. And even if one of your test emails does get through Hotmail, a first Spam report (i.e. someone clicks on that dreaded "Spam" button) by one of the recipients will blacklist your whole server and domain, INSTANTLY! And who knows how long it will take you to get off that dreaded spam list. SPF is a must. In short, setting up your own mail server and thinking that your emails will show up in people's inboxes is naïve. You wouldn't believe what it takes to have a 95% delivery rate. Those email delivery companies have dozens of people who talk daily to postmasters of major email companies and resolve issues. We went through this process, maybe foolishly, and it took a lot of work and more importantly, a lot of time. And we still have issues with some email services. It will take you about a month to jump through all the hoops to actually have about 80% delivery rate. If I were doing it again, I'd go with a hosted email service instead. Unless you're sending over 10K emails a day, hosted is the way to go. I might make a writeup on the process once I get some free time... let me know if anyone's interested.