How to stop marketing emails from stores you shopped at

To stop marketing emails from a store you bought from, unsubscribe with the link at the bottom of one of its emails. In the US the store must honor it within 10 business days, and your receipts and shipping notices keep coming. Gmail's Manage subscriptions and Outlook.com's Subscriptions list do it for many stores at once. With iCloud, Gmail or Outlook, Alrighty's Stop mail unsubscribes you, archives the store's old mail and moves its new mail out, in one action.

A store you once bought from is not a spammer. It has your address because you gave it at checkout, it has a working unsubscribe link, and the law says it must honor it. So the question is not how to block it. The questions are which tool leaves the most lists in the least time, what still arrives after you leave, and what to do about the store that keeps sending. Most guides for this search are one brand's help page, or a cleanup service selling itself. This page lists nine ways and says which emails each one stops and which it leaves alone.

How we checked

We read each provider's and each tool's own help, feature and pricing pages on November 4, 2026, and the US Federal Trade Commission's guide to the CAN-SPAM Act. Every fact about another product links to its source. Where a page didn't say something, we say so instead of guessing. We compared what each way stops, whether it stops the mail at the source, whether your receipts still reach you, and where it runs. Alrighty is our app, and it is listed first. We didn't run tests of our own.

What a store must do when you unsubscribe

US law sets the rules for a store's marketing email, and they work in your favor. The FTC's CAN-SPAM guide says the law "covers all commercial messages," and each one must give you a way to opt out.

• Ten business days. "You must honor a recipient's opt-out request within 10 business days."
• No hoops. The store can't charge a fee or ask for personal information beyond your email address to let you leave.
• No selling your address after. Once you opt out, the store can't sell or transfer your address, even as part of a mailing list.
• Receipts are different. A message whose purpose is transactional, such as an order confirmation or a shipping notice, is not a marketing message. Unsubscribing does not stop it, and you would not want it to.

So unsubscribing is safe and it works, for a store you recognize. If the mail is from a company you never dealt with, or it might be a fake, don't click its link. Our guide on how to stop spam emails covers that mail.

Ways to stop marketing emails at a glance

Way	Tools	Stops it at the source	Receipts still arrive	Where it runs
Stop mail	Alrighty	Yes, by unsubscribing	In Archive, if same address	Your computer; web-page unsubscribes on its server
The unsubscribe link	Any mail app, Gmail, Apple Mail	Yes	Yes	The store's list
The store's email settings	The store's site or app	Yes, per type of email	Yes	The store's account
Manage subscriptions	Gmail	Yes	Yes	Google
Subscriptions and Sweep	Outlook.com	Subscriptions, yes	Sweep can delete them	Microsoft
Sort it out of the Inbox	Gmail Promotions tab, Apple Mail categories	No	Yes	Google, or your Mac
A filter on the store	Gmail, Outlook.com, iCloud.com, Apple Mail	No	Depends on the match	Your provider or your Mac
A cleanup service	Clean Email, Unroll.me	Clean Email, yes	Yes	The service's servers
An alias at checkout	Hide My Email, SimpleLogin, Firefox Relay	You turn the alias off	Not if the alias is off	The alias service

Stop mail in Alrighty: best for stores that send to several of your accounts

Alrighty is a mail app for Mac, Windows and Linux that puts iCloud, Gmail and Outlook accounts in one inbox. Its answer to marketing mail is one action, Stop mail, so you don't unsubscribe in one place and then block or filter in another.

• Stop mail. One action on a store's email unsubscribes you in every way the message offers: one-click, an email to the list, or the list's web page. It archives the mail you already have from that sender, and moves its new mail out as it arrives. So a store that takes its full 10 business days, or ignores you, still doesn't reach your Inbox.
• Clean up. It lists the senders you probably don't want, including newsletters you never open, so you can stop many stores at once.
• Filters. For promotional mail that comes from a new sender each time, describe the kind of mail in your words, or set rules. New Inbox mail that fits moves to Archive before the list shows it. Mail from people you wrote to, or in a conversation you wrote in, is never moved.
• Safe unsubscribing. Alrighty unsubscribes only from senders whose mail passed DMARC and wasn't marked spam, so a fake store never learns your address is live. When the only way out is the list's web page, Alrighty finishes it in a browser on its server, so the sender sees neither your computer nor its address.

Price. A 14-day trial with no card, then a Free plan or Pro.

Where your mail goes. Your mail stays with iCloud, Google or Microsoft, and Alrighty keeps its copy on your computer. Your passwords and tokens stay on your computer. Clean up sends each sender's address, three facts the receiving server found, and up to 3 of their newest emails (2,000 characters each) to Alrighty's server, which asks an AI model to sort them. A described filter also asks an AI model through Alrighty's server, and only while you're signed in. Rules match on your computer.

What it can't do. Stop mail works on a sender. If a store sends receipts from the same address as its sales mail, the receipts move to Archive too, where search still finds them. There's no iPhone or web app. It takes iCloud, Gmail and Outlook accounts only, not Yahoo, AOL, Fastmail or other IMAP. It has no calendar, and it's new, with no long track record.

Pick it if you want to leave a store's list and stop seeing its mail in one step, across all your accounts.

The unsubscribe link: best for one store you recognize

Every marketing email from a real store has an unsubscribe link, usually at the bottom, and it is the one way that ends the mail at the source. Your mail app often puts the same action at the top.

• Gmail. Unsubscribe sits next to the sender's name in an open message. Some senders send you to their website instead, and Google warns it may take a few days (Google).
• Apple Mail. Mailing-list mail shows a banner under the header. Click Unsubscribe, then OK (Apple).
• Any app. Scroll to the bottom of the email and click the store's own link.

Large senders have to make this easy. Google requires anyone sending more than 5,000 messages a day to Gmail to support one-click unsubscribe for marketing mail (Google).

What it can't do. One click leaves one list. A big store may run several (deals, a loyalty program, a brand it owns), and each sends from its own list. Mail can keep arriving while the store processes your request.

Pick it if a few stores send too much, and you recognize each one.

The store's email settings: best for fewer emails, not none

Many stores let you choose which emails you get, not only all or nothing. The link is often next to the unsubscribe link, with a name like "Manage preferences" or "Email preferences," or in your account settings on the store's site or app. There you can keep order updates and price drops and turn off daily deals.

What it can't do. Every store names and places this page differently, and some have no such page. It works one store at a time.

Pick it if you still want some mail from the store, such as sale alerts for things you watch.

Gmail Manage subscriptions: best for leaving many lists in Gmail at once

Gmail lists the mailing lists that send to you. On a computer, click More in the left column, then Manage subscriptions, and click Unsubscribe next to a sender (Google). Google says Gmail unsubscribes you from all active mailing lists related to that sender, which handles the store with several lists. While the store catches up, its new mail goes to Spam, with a banner that says why.

What it can't do. It covers Gmail accounts only, and Google says it "is gradually rolling out and may not be available to you yet." It can take a few days for a sender to remove you.

Pick it if your shopping address is a Gmail address.

Outlook.com Subscriptions and Sweep: best for Outlook.com and Hotmail

Outlook.com keeps a list of your subscriptions. Open Settings, Mail, Subscriptions, select Unsubscribe next to the store, and click OK (Microsoft). Microsoft finds subscriptions by reading identifiers in each message's header.

Sweep is the tool for a store you want to keep, but less of. Select one of its emails, select Sweep on the menu bar, and choose an option. Microsoft lists options to delete all incoming mail from the sender, to keep only the latest email, or to delete email older than 10 days (Microsoft). Keeping only the latest is a fair fit for a store whose newest sale is the only one that matters.

What it can't do. Sweep deletes; it doesn't unsubscribe, and a delete rule on a sender also deletes its receipts. Microsoft says the unsubscribe option can be missing for mail already filtered into junk.

Pick it if you shop with an Outlook.com or Hotmail address and read it on the web.

Sort it out of the Inbox: best if you still want the deals, somewhere else

Some people don't want marketing gone. They want it out of the way until they shop. Both Gmail and Apple Mail can sort it into its own place.

• Gmail's Promotions tab. With the Default inbox type, Gmail sorts "Deals, offers, and other promotional emails" into Promotions. Turn it on in Settings, Customize under Inbox type (Google).
• Apple Mail categories. Mail on the Mac sorts mail into Primary, Transactions, Updates and Promotions. Apple says Promotions is where you "browse your coupon and sales emails," and Transactions holds "confirmations, receipts, and shipping notices." If a store lands in the wrong place, Control-click its message, choose Categorize Sender, and pick a category (Apple).

What it can't do. Nothing stops. The mail still arrives and still fills your storage. Apple says categories aren't available in all countries or regions.

Pick it if you like getting coupons and only want them out of your Inbox.

A filter on the store: best for a store that keeps sending after you leave

If a store still writes after 10 business days, it has broken the rule, and your mail app can enforce it for you. Make a filter or rule on the store's domain that archives or deletes its mail. The steps for Gmail, Outlook.com, iCloud and Apple Mail are in how to stop spam emails, and blocking one address is in how to block a sender.

For the store's mail you already have, Gmail's search does the work. Search category:promotions older_than:1y to find old promotional mail, or list: and the list's address to find one store's list (Google). Then select all and delete. Our guide to bulk deleting emails covers the tools that do this for many accounts.

What it can't do. A filter hides the mail; the store keeps sending. A filter on a whole domain also catches its receipts, so add an exception for words such as "order" or "shipped," or archive instead of delete.

Pick it if a store ignored your unsubscribe, or sends from several addresses.

A cleanup service: best for many accounts, from your phone

A cleanup service connects to your mailbox from its own servers and lists your subscriptions so you can leave them in bulk.

• Clean Email. It "will send unsubscribe requests on your behalf," and can block lists that ignore those requests (Clean Email). It runs on iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac and the web. It indexes your mailbox on its servers, including "sender and recipient details, subjects" (privacy).
• Unroll.me. Its home page describes blocking unwanted mail and rolling the rest into one daily digest, not unsubscribing (Unroll.me). Its privacy notice says it collects copies of and information from the commercial emails you receive, which is exactly the store mail this page is about.

Our unsubscribe app guide compares these with Leave Me Alone, SaneBox and others.

What it can't do. One more company reads your mailbox, and the store mail it reads shows what you buy. Clean Email's plans page showed plans for 1, 5 and 10 accounts but no amounts when we read it.

Pick it if you shop with a Yahoo or AOL address that Mac apps like Alrighty can't add, or you clean up from your phone.

An alias at checkout: best for the next store you buy from

An alias is a second address that forwards to your real one. Give each store its own alias at checkout. If the store sends too much, or sells your address before you opted out, turn that alias off.

• Hide My Email. Apple says it is "included with an iCloud+ subscription," Safari offers it in email fields, and you can deactivate an address in iCloud settings (Apple).
• SimpleLogin. Free with 10 aliases, or Premium at $36 a year (SimpleLogin).
• Firefox Relay. Mozilla gives everyone 5 email masks for free (Mozilla).
• Gmail's plus address. Shop as yourname+store@gmail.com, then filter on it (Google). Anyone can remove the plus part, so it sorts mail more than it hides you.

What it can't do. An alias you turn off stops the receipts too, so wait until your order has arrived. It does nothing for the stores that already have your real address.

Pick it if you shop online often and want each store's mail to have an off switch.

How to choose

• iCloud, Gmail or Outlook, and one action that leaves the list and clears the mail: Alrighty's Stop mail.
• A few stores you recognize: the unsubscribe link in one of their emails.
• You want some of the store's mail, not all: the store's email preferences page.
• Many stores, all on Gmail: Gmail's Manage subscriptions.
• Outlook.com, and you want only the latest sale: Sweep, set to keep only the latest email.
• You like the coupons, just not in your Inbox: Gmail's Promotions tab or Apple Mail's categories.
• A store that ignored you for more than 10 business days: a filter on its domain.
• Yahoo or AOL, from your phone: Clean Email.
• The next store you buy from: an alias such as Hide My Email.
• A brand like LinkedIn or Facebook rather than a store: turn its email off in its own settings. See stop emails.

Questions

Why do I still get marketing emails after I unsubscribe?

US law gives a store 10 business days to act on your request, so mail can keep coming for two weeks. A store with several lists may have removed you from only one. If the mail continues after that, block the sender or filter its domain, and use Gmail's Manage subscriptions, which leaves every active list from a sender.

Will unsubscribing stop order confirmations and shipping emails?

No. The FTC treats a message whose purpose is transactional, like a receipt or a delivery notice, as different from marketing. Unsubscribing from a store's marketing leaves those in place. A block or a filter on the whole store is different: it can catch them too.

Can a store email me if I never said yes?

In the US, yes, as long as it follows CAN-SPAM. The law doesn't require your permission first. It requires a working way to opt out, and it requires the store to honor it within 10 business days. Other countries have stricter rules.

Should I mark store emails as spam instead of unsubscribing?

For a store you bought from, unsubscribe. Unsubscribing stops the mail at the source, and marking a real store as spam only hides it in one account. Save Report spam for mail from companies you never dealt with, and for anything that might be fake.

How do I delete all the promotional emails I already have?

In Gmail, search category:promotions, or add older_than:1y to keep the recent ones, then select the results and delete them. In Apple Mail, open the Promotions category and select the messages. Our guide to bulk deleting emails compares tools for doing this across accounts.