Table of Contents
Overview
The DKIM & SPF Validation feature in the merchant portal can assist merchants with the automated emails the gateway sends on behalf of merchants (e.g. email receipts, and invoices). Properly configured DKIM and SPF records play a crucial role in ensuring the reliable delivery of emails to their recipients. This tool is designed to provide merchants with the confidence that their email domain is correctly configured.
Partners can also use DKIM & SPF Validation for gateway emails sent to their merchants. To view this on the Partner Portal go to our DKIM & SPF Validation for Partner Emails article.
Domain Validation Status
When your merchant adds their email address to their merchant portal, the tool checks with their domain registrar to confirm whether the DKIM and SPF records are properly configured. For example, if your merchant's domain is domain.com and their email address is merchant@domain.com, the tool would check domain.com to confirm they have added the proper DKIM/SPF records to their domain.
A merchant's email address can be added by going to Options → Settings → Account Information.
The Email field in Account Information will show one of the following statuses depending on the domain they entered for their email address:
- DOMAIN VALIDATED - When a domain's DKIM/SPF records are correctly set up, the field displays a green “OK” status, indicating that DKIM/SPF is functioning correctly.
-
UNABLE TO VALIDATE - If the domain’s DKIM/SPF records are not set up correctly (or either record is missing), the field displays a yellow “warning” status.
- The user will still be able to save their email, they will just be warned about possible delivery issues.
- If the tool is unable to validate correct DKIM/SPF records for a domain, the user will be prompted with a note to open a DNS Settings Guide popup which will help them resolve any DKIM/SPF issues. They should also check with their IT team or domain registrar to confirm they have added the DKIM/SPF records correctly.
- INVALID EMAIL ADDRESS - If the email address is invalid, the field displays red and will not allow the email address to be saved.
The warnings are bold in the Merchant Portal to get the merchant’s attention as shown below:
Note: Our system updates the status of these records daily and then reflects the status changes in the portal. Merchants may need to wait up to 24-48 hours to see the color status change because domain registrars can take time to update things on their end before we can reflect the changes.
DNS Settings Guide
When the DKIM Validation tool returns an UNABLE TO VALIDATE status, the user will be provided a warning that there may be issues with email delivery on this email and domain
.
Merchants can click the Instructions are available link to see the DNS Settings Guide that will help them add both SPF records and DKIM records to their domain to help ensure emails are delivered.
Note: NMI has left the gps2 and gps3 keys empty to allow us to rotate keys in the future. Any DKIM correctness validators you execute against our records for these selectors will fail, due to intentionally having left the public keys blank. You should proceed to add CNAME records to your domains anyway so that rotations in the future will require no action by your staff.
For more information on adding SPF and DKIM records, see Adding SPF & DKIM Records To Help Emails Get To Recipients