While AOL and Yahoo! charging for e-mail postage via Goodmail might not really be a huge blow for savvy e-mail marketers, certain issues with Goodmail itself are looking like the company is trying to limit e-mail marketing only to corporations and US businesses.

Before I go on just a brief disclaimer: This article is based on information available directly from the Goodmail Systems website and has not been personally confirmed or researched with Goodmail. If their website is in fact misrepresenting the actual state of affairs, I'm hoping they will take the time to clarify this in the comments section or publicly on their website.

In theory a good bonded e-mail sender program should provide all permission based e-mail marketers with the ability to easily deliver all of their e-mail content, in fact increasing their campaign ROI, even with the increased cost of sending e-mail. And of course make the service accessible to every persmission based business in the world.

But in the case of Goodmail things are looking grimmer ... and much more elitist. Let's take a look at their accreditation criteria, which you have to meet to become part of their program (and consequently, if their plans follow through, keep reliably sending e-mail to AOL and Yahoo! users) ...

a] "Have at least 1 year of business history, as verified by a commercial identity verification service"

So if I'm a startup I can't even do responsible e-mail marketing? Are we really seeing a restriction that will in essence ban young companies from developing their business?

b] "Have business headquarters located in the United States or Canada"

This seems even worse. Is Goodmail really in the business of protecting US companies from foreign competition, instead of in the business of asuring reliable delivery of responsible e-mail? Because this certainly looks the part.

If this really is the case, then AOL, Yahoo! and Goomail will participate in about the largest national-limitation program ever.

Or perhaps they just feel that AOL and Yahoo! users don't want to do any business with foreign companies?

Also, what does this mean for European Yahoo! users? Will they now limit us from sending e-mail from Europe to their Italian customers?

As it seems, the situation on this front isn't as grim yet, but might become so quite soon.

c] "Transmit messages from dedicated IP addresses, even if sending email through an email service provider (ESP), and must have at least a 6 month mailing history from that IP"

And what happens if I want to switch my ESP (and I'm using their IP to transmit my messages), because I'm not satisfied with the service?

Will this simple business decision mean that I now won't be able to send e-mail to AOL and Yahoo! users for 6 months?

d] "The Charter Program will be limited to brands that are well regarded by most consumers or small businesses."

Well, they don't exactly specify what the Charter Program is and if there's another program ... or at least that information cannot be easily found on their website.

But does this mean that only established brands are now able to deliver e-mail? How about low-visibility brands and new brands?

Come on guys, if you're doing a relevant bonded sender program, how can you limit it only to established companies, to one nation and to "well regarded" brands?

There's another important point, which the "A VC" blog already made: How about transactional e-mail?

AOL, if I'm not participating in the Goodmail program, will you block my order confirmation to one of your customers that just placed an order on my site? Isn't this just a bad service to your own customers?