Is adding DMARC to our domains necessary if we only send customer replies?

[KatBC]

In reference to the latest email asking to add dmarc to our domains… is this necessary if we don’t send out newsletter style emails? 

On the Dmarc site it says for senders over 5000 emails. We send none, only customer replies. 

Will our customer replies be affected if we do not add Dmarc? 

please help I don’t understand all of this. 

[Elias]

Hey, @KatBC.

Thank you for reaching out and posting this question.

I understand that your store doesn't send any newsletters. However, not adding the DMARC may also impact customers replies with the recent changes to Google and other email providers. If you're using a third-party domain, then adding Shopify's DMARC and CNAME records to your domain can help your store connect to the Shopify Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM) records so that your store's email messages can be delivered to your customers and not get flagged as spam. Should you need help with adding Shopify's DMARC or CNAME, then we've got a guide on that here: Authenticate your third-party domain. Or, if you need further assistance, then your domain provider can also help you with adding records and editing the DNS for your domain.

That being said, I noticed that you're a new member of our Shopify Community. I'd love to hear more about your business and share some resources to help you get started. What types of products are you selling? Do you have a marketing plan prepared for your store?

[875574B]

@Elias Shopify didn't stick to their Feb 1 deadline and instead started sending our emails from no-reply@shopifyemail.com yesterday, Jan 24. Just another lie Shopify has told us paying customers...

Trying to edit SPF (in order to be able to add DMARC) and getting bounced between Google and Shopify, neither of which are helpful or knowledgeable.

We use GoogleWorkspace to send emails and our domain is thru Google Domains (soon to be Squarespace but they haven't moved ours...yet) but obvi want Shopify to send our emails from our address (which is already an authenticated domain).

Super disappointed in Shopify's support pages about all this -- all Shopify does is link to Google...and Google doesn't have Shopify's information. Just another example of Shopify "support" consistently passing the buck. We can't even find anywhere that Shopify posts its SPF record...

So, we found shop.shopify.com as a suggestions on a third party site ("third party site" -- shopify's favorite source for its own customers!). Can anybody from Shopify actually confirm that this is Shopify's SPF record, and that this is what our SPF record should list? 

v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com  include:shops.shopify.com  ?all

[KatBC]

I ended up contacting GoDaddy and they helped me directly. I don’t understand the instructions on how to do it myself. I can’t be the only one who doesn’t. When I went to Dmarcian it wanted

to sign me up and charge $300 for a Dmarc. GoDaddy did it for free. Way to confusing for a regular person to navigate. 

[Elias]

Hey, @KatBC.

Thank you for following up with the additional context.

We would definitely advise against using third-party services, like DMARCIAN, for adding or editing the DNS for your domain as this is something that your domain provider can help you with. If you're finding it hard to understand our guide, Authenticate your third-party domain, then we'd encourage contacting GoDaddy for further assistance with your domain as mentioned. Just to clarify, adding or editing the DNS of the domain is generally included with the services from your domain provider so it should be free of charge for their clients.

If you have any other questions on this topic, then don't hesitate to let me know!