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This article is about sending mail in WoW. For information about mail armor (e.g. plate mail, chain mail, etc.), see Mail armor and Armor.
Mail

Mail interface

In World of Warcraft, mail is a means of communicating messages or shipping items between player characters, from NPCs, or the Auction House.

Messages and shipping[]

The in-game mail system provides a way to send messages and items among player characters, and from NPCs or the Auction House to player characters.

What mailboxes look like[]

Main Faction Postboxes

Human —— Dwarf —– Night elf – Gnome – Draenei — Worgen — Pandaren —— Orc —– Forsaken – Troll —— Tauren —– Blood elf — Goblin

Other PostboxesHopswift

Human —— Human —— Dalaran — Tuskarr — Wolvar —— Tol'vir —— Jinyu —— Mantid ———— Grummle

How do I check mail?[]

  1. Find a Mailbox, usually near an Inn.
  2. Right-click the Mailbox.
    Pointers for using mailbox:
    Pointer mail on 32x32 in range Pointer mail off 32x32 out of range
  3. Click the Inbox tab, if necessary (Inbox should be the default).
  4. Click a message to read it. (Prior to patch 2.1.3, the expiration time in days dropped to 3 days once you open a message to read.)
  5. In the message window you have the following options:
    • Click the message icon in the first "Take Attachments:" slot to save a copy of the message (only if the message has a body).
    • Click the item in the second "Take Attachments:" slot to move it to your Backpack.
    • Click the money icon in the third "Take Attachments:" slot to move it to your Backpack.
    • Click Reply to create a reply message (see "How do I send mail?" below).
    • Click Return to return the message to sender without taking any remaining attachments.
    • Click Delete to delete the message when you are finished with it.
    • Click Close to close the message window.
Additional notes:
  • Any money enclosed will deposit to your character when the message opens, you click the coins icon and it disappears.
    • Enclosed amounts < 1g will appear as a silver coins icon.
    • Enclosed amounts ≥ 1g will appear as a gold coins icon.
  • Items in COD messages will not move to your backpack until you agree to pay the specified money amount (deducts automatically when you accept).
  • Opening the mailbox performs an animation, doing so will cancel other actions in progress. (Added in patch 4.2.0)

How do I send mail?[]

New Mail

New mail interface

  1. Find a Mailbox, usually near an inn.
  2. Right-click the Mailbox.
  3. Click the Send Mail tab (Inbox should be the default).
  4. In the To: field, enter the name of the recipient.
    Notes: Names in your Guild and Friends List will auto-fill.
    Mail cannot be sent to characters in the opposing faction (e.g. Alliance characters can't send mail to Horde characters.)
  5. In the Subject: field, enter the message title.
    This is optional if any items are attached to the message; the name and quantity of the first attached item or stack will auto-fill the subject if it is left blank (e.g. "Gold Bar (20)" if a stack of 20 gold bars is attached).
  6. Optionally, enter a message in the message body. (The message body has a limit of 500 characters.)
  7. In the message window you have the following options:
    • Optionally, drag an item or stack of items to an item slot.
      Notes: In Patch 2.3, 11 more slots for items were added (see image to right; only 7 visible at a time).
    • Optionally, enter an amount of money.
    • Optionally, change Send Money radio button to C.O.D.
    • Click Send to Send the message.
    • Click Cancel to close the message window without sending.
Additional notes:
  • A confirmation warning appears, if the message has any money enclosed with the Send Money option selected.
  • Returning mail sends it back to the sender. In some cases, you can't return mail because the character was deleted or moved to another realm, so the sender is listed as Unknown.

How long does delivery take?[]

  • Simple messages arrive immediately.
  • Mail from the same account, regardless of attachments, arrives immediately.
  • Mail from another account if items or money are attached takes one hour.
  • Mail from guild members in a guild that has the guild perk Achievement guildperk gmail [Guild Mail] arrives immediately.
  • Mail from the Auction House to the seller with the money attached takes 1 hour.
  • Return mail arrives immediately.

Mail expiration[]

Mail received stays in your mailbox for 30 days. Prior to patch 2.1.3, any piece of mail you read would only last for 3 days from being read.

After the expiry period, the mail is returned to the sender. If the mail comes from the Auction House, a quest NPC, or anything similar, it is simply discarded and any item or money attached to it is lost.

Mailbox size[]

The maximum number of messages that a Mailbox can hold is unknown, but the Mailbox will only display the first 100 messages. Any messages over 100 will still exist within the Mailbox, but will not be displayed. To view the messages beyond the first 100, some of the messages will have to be removed (by reading and taking the attachment or by deleting). Once a message has been removed (making a spot available for one of the non-displayed messages), simply close the mail window and reopen the mailbox.

Mail from the Auction House is always displayed last and is not lost even when other players can no longer send you mail. This suggests that instead of being sent right away and stored with other mail, mail from the Auction House is loaded from the auction database (in in-universe terms, conjured from the AH's vaults) when opened.

Non-player senders of mail[]

New send mail

More slots to send items.

Sometimes NPCs send mail with money, items, or just messages to player characters, usually related to completion of a quest.

The Auction House will send the following by mail:

  • Money from failed bids returned.
  • Items that failed to sell in auction returned.
  • Items you placed a winning bid on.
  • Money from successful auction sales.
  • Items from canceled auction listing and listing money refund.

Blizzard GMs may send you in-game mail in response to open tickets or general notification. These may include Bind on Pickup items or Currency.

[Mr. Pinchy] will send you your [Mr. Pinchy's Gift] if your inventory was full when you "spoke with him".

The WoW Dev Team may send you in-game mail, such as Inv misc bone 01 [Perky Pug] once the Achievement arena 5v5 3 [Looking For Multitudes] is achieved.

Portable Mailboxes[]

Portable Mailbox

Engineering Mailbox

A few items may be used as portable mailboxes; players can bring them with them as items or abilities to access the mail-system anywhere in the game. This is very useful as it saves a lot of time to not have to return to a stationary mailbox every time you have to send something. Examples of portable mailboxes are:

When you place MOLL-E or GUMM-E, any number of players can use it, and they don't have to be in your party or raid.

Notice that both these items have long cooldowns (first has 2 hours and second 4 hours), meaning they cannot be used by the players possessing them at all times. Portable mailboxes reduce a player's need to see stationary mailboxes, but does not completely remove it unless a player hardly ever sends or receives any mail.

Notes[]

  • Mailbox dancing was a common sight in major cities early in the game's history when mailboxes were significantly rarer. The practice is referenced in the manga story "How to Win Friends", in which a dwarf in the Thunderbrew Distillery mentions seeing someone dancing on a mailbox.
  • As one of their racial traits, nightborne are able to use Ability racial cantrips [Cantrips] to summon an Eldritch Grimoire from anywhere in the world, every 10 minutes, to act as a portable mailbox lasting for 1.5 minutes, although other players cannot see or use it.
  • Changes to the Mail system have made it so that Gold and other items can be sent to alts, even on other realms. Gold is capped at 500,000 per day, per character. (Clarification needed to cite which patch has allowed this.)
  • Per Blizzard (as of Feb 2023)(https://us.battle.net/support/en/article/10818):
    • In Modern World of Warcraft, you can:
      • Send Battle.net Account Bound items to your own characters in any realm
      • Send gold and non-soulbound items to your own characters in the same realm, even if they are of the opposing faction
    • Wrath of the Lich King Classic:
      • Does have Battle.net Account Bound items which can be mailed between characters on different realms or factions.
      • Cannot send gold or items between factions
    • Classic Era does not have Account Bound items so nothing can be mailed between factions or realms.

Patch changes[]

Retail[]

  • Dragonflight Patch 10.1.0 (2023-05-02): In-game mail font has been changed to improve legibility.
  • Battle for Azeroth Patch 8.3.0 (2020-01-14): The mailbox size has been increased from 50 to 100 and refreshing once per 15 seconds.
  • Warlords of Draenor Patch 6.0.2 (2014-10-14): Mailboxes now appear larger.
  • Mists of Pandaria Patch 5.4.2 (2013-12-10): Players are now able to mail account-bound items to other characters that reside on a different realm on the same account. To send cross-realm mail: enter the character's name, followed by a hyphen "-", followed by the realm name. Note that cross-realm mail can only send account-bound items, not other items or gold.
  • Bc icon Patch 2.0.10 (2007-03-06): Mail in excess of 50 will now be displayed after closing the mailbox and reopening it, rather than requiring you to log out.
  • WoW Icon update Patch 1.6.0 (2005-07-12): Mail recipient auto-completion will now use names from your guild as well as your friends list.
  • WoW Icon update Patch 1.5.0 (2005-06-07): Players can no longer mail an item that they've just disenchanted.
  • WoW Icon update Patch 1.4.0 (2005-04-19): If the subject line is not filled in when you put an item in a piece of mail, it will automatically be filled in with the item being sent.
  • WoW Icon update Patch 1.3.0 (2005-03-07):
    • In-game mail sent from GMs will now use official Blizzard stationery.
    • You will now properly receive COD payments and returned mail from those on your ignore list.

Classic[]

  • WoW Icon update Hotfix (2020-06-04): Players who are interacting with their mailbox or bank can no longer be interrupted by trade requests.

See also[]

External links[]

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