unverified

The mailbox could not be confirmed

The handshake ran and did not settle the mailbox — greylisting, a timeout, an unreachable server, a partner outage — so smtp_checked is false and the verdict is risky.

risk weight: +10
dataset: mailbox-smtp
reads from: smtp_checked
verdict reason: unverified

What it means

The answer degrades honestly rather than reading a non-answer as a yes; mailbox_confidence estimates the mailbox from the domain's posture and the username's shape. An answer whose reason is unverified is free whatever smtp_reason says, and leaves no repeat marker. The signal can also sit under an earlier reason, such as role or disposable, and that answer bills like any risky one unless smtp_reason is provider_unavailable.

It reads from smtp_checked and comes with the unverified verdict reason, the last in precedence.

What to do

Pass callback_url to have the address re-checked after 5 and 20 minutes and the settled verdict pushed to you, billing 1 credit only if a re-check confirms the mailbox.

Example response

{
    "email": "[email protected]",
    "deliverable": "risky",
    "reason": "unverified",
    "smtp_checked": false,
    "smtp_reason": "greylisted",
    "mailbox_confidence": 65,
    "risk_signals": [
        {
            "signal": "unverified",
            "weight": 10,
            "dataset": "mailbox-smtp"
        }
    ]
}

Abbreviated: a real answer carries all 46 fields, listed in the verify-email reference. The risk_signals entry shown is the one this signal adds; the weights of every entry in the list sum to risk_score.

markdown version: /docs/signals/unverified.md

unverified

What it means

What to do

Example response

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