Where and how to buy an email list in Australia? 

If you’re a business owner, real estate manager, consultant, or marketer in Australia, the idea of buying an email list might sound like a shortcut to growing your audience — but it’s a slippery slope. 

Done wrong, it can violate the Spam Act 2003, damage your domain reputation, and waste your marketing budget.  

Done right, it can be a lead generation boost, particularly for B2B outreach, event promotion, or cold campaigns.  

In this article, we’ll cover the legal, financial, and strategic aspects of buying email lists in Australia — including where to buy them, how much they cost, and how to use them responsibly under Australian laws. 

Is buying an email list legal in Australia? 

Yes, buying an email list is technically legal in Australia — but using it for direct email marketing is where the law becomes strict. 

Under the Spam Act 2003, it is illegal to send commercial electronic messages (CEMs) without the recipient’s inferred or express consent. This includes emails, SMS, and instant messages promoting a business. Purchased email lists rarely contain verified consent, especially for your specific business or offer. 

That means: 

• Buying a list = legal. 
• Emailing people on it without their permission = potentially illegal. 
• You can’t just buy a list and drop it into Mailchimp or HubSpot — those platforms will likely suspend you. 

Who gets caught? Real estate agents, recruitment agencies, and financial advisors have all received ACMA fines for breaching email marketing laws — some exceeding $100,000. Typically, such high fines apply to situations where a company sends emails to hundreds of thousands of users. Despite the fact that this doesn’t work and is illegal, people continue to make this foolish mistake again and again.

Best practice: Use purchased lists only for cold outreach through platforms that allow this, like Apollo.io or instantly.ai — or for custom audience building on Meta/LinkedIn Ads, where it’s not used for direct email delivery.

How to circumvent the anti-spam law? 

Many popular email marketing services, such as Mailchimp or Infusionsoft, offer the option to request permission to send emails. This feature is called “Use double opt-in”. Essentially, you send an email containing a link that the user clicks to confirm their subscription. 

This is the easiest way to avoid problems with the email service provider’s support team. Otherwise, if the complaint rate exceeds 0.1%, your email service account may be temporarily blocked. 

What does it mean when the complaint rate exceeds 0.1%? 

When your email complaint rate exceeds 0.1%, it means that more than 1 in every 1,000 recipients is marking your email as spam or junk. This metric is tied solely to the number of emails sent. In other words, if you decide to wait and temporarily stop sending emails, this metric will not decrease.  

Email platforms like Mailchimp, Infusionsoft, ActiveCampaign, or Klaviyo may suspend your account. All such services enforce strict deliverability standards. If you exceed a 0.1% spam complaint rate, your domain may be flagged, and you could lose access to your lists or automations. 

It’s not always as scary as it might seem. It’s important to understand that email services don’t benefit from blocking you, and most often they simply ask you to fill out a form confirming where you obtained the contacts (and it’s not guaranteed that they will go further and verify the source of the emails you specify). 

In fact, if you exceed the 0.1% limit once every six months, it’s not that bad. But if you consistently have a complaint rate above 0.1% when sending emails, sooner or later it will end in a permanent block. 

How to avoid crossing 0.1%: 

• Avoid cold emailing from bulk platforms (use cold tools like Instantly or Smartlead) 
• Use double opt-in wherever possible 
• Keep your email list clean and updated 
• Don’t mislead recipients with subject lines or content 
• Make unsubscribing easy and visible 
• Don’t send emails too frequently. The frequency of receiving emails is one of the types of complaints. The standard is 1-2 emails per week for the same audience.

Even one poorly targeted campaign can tank your domain reputation for months. Whether you’re a real estate agent, coach, or SaaS founder, keeping complaint rates under control is critical for email marketing success in Australia.

Where can I purchase email lists? 

You can purchase email lists from a mix of Australian-based list brokers and international B2B lead platforms. Each caters to different industries and compliance levels. 

Professionals likely to buy email lists: 

• Real estate agents & buyers’ agents 
• Mortgage brokers & financial planners 
• B2B SaaS sales teams 
• Recruitment agencies 
• Event marketers & webinar hosts 
• Legal and conveyancing firms 
• Business coaches & consultants 

Table: Where to Buy Email Lists in Australia 

Platform / Broker	Best For	Notes
CoreList	B2B targeting by industry (AU)	Highly segmented, local Australian data — e.g. real estate, dentists
Printforce	Real estate, finance, legal	regularly updated database on residential conveyancing in the suburbs, aimed at real estate agents and brokers.
APOLLO.io	SaaS and tech companies	B2B intent data, integrates with cold email tools
List Giant	Event promotion & coaches	Includes psychographic segmentation
Hunter.io (leads)	Digital agencies & consultants	Extracts emails from company domains, great for scraping
ZoomInfo (AU access)	Enterprise sales teams	Expensive, but detailed filters by company size, job title, region

How much is a 1000 email list worth? 

The cost of a 1,000-contact email list in Australia varies based on the quality, targeting, and licensing of the data. 

Typical price ranges: 

• $150 – $400 for basic B2B lists with name, company, email, phone (no opt-in guarantee). 
• $500 – $900 for niche lists (e.g. property investors in NSW, dentists in Brisbane). 
• $1,000+ for verified opt-in lists or with job titles, LinkedIn, firmographics. 

Factors that increase the price: 

Freshness (updated in last 30–60 days) 

• Verification level (email openers, LinkedIn matches) 
• Usage rights (single-use vs. multi-use licensing) 
• Sector (legal, medical, and finance are often more expensive)

How to properly use an email list after purchasing it? 

1. Is it worth buying an email list? 

It’s worth it — but only for specific use cases. 
If your goal is to build long-term permission-based marketing, you’re better off running a lead magnet campaign. But if you want to: 

• Generate B2B leads via cold outreach 
• Book discovery calls for high-ticket services 
• Reach niche professionals with event invites 

Then a properly used email list can be effective — as long as it’s NOT used for bulk email marketing platforms. 

Important: You’ll need to use cold outreach tools that allow 1:1 sending, such as: 

• Instantly.ai 
• Lemlist 
• Mailshake 
• Smartlead.ai 

These platforms mimic real inboxes and are designed to handle cold email responsibly. 

Modern email marketing practices also show that people are more willing to agree to communication if, instead of cold calls, they are offered the option to book a meeting using Calendly or a similar service. 

2. What is the 60/40 rule in email? 

The 60/40 rule refers to content ratio in your emails — especially in follow-ups and drip campaigns. It suggests: 

• 60% of your email should offer value 
• 40% should drive action 

How to apply it: 

• Share case studies, checklists, or local market insights (value) 
• Then include your CTA: “Book a free 15-min call” or “Download our investment guide” 

Why is this important? 
Cold recipients are more likely to engage with value-first messaging. Going straight for the pitch makes you look like spam. 

3. What is the 80/20 rule in email marketing? 

The 80/20 rule (Pareto Principle) in email marketing suggests: 

• 80% of results come from 20% of your list — or your content. 

• Focus your time and resources on the top-performing campaigns or contacts. 

How to use it after buying a list: 

• Track opens, replies, clicks. 
• Identify the 20% who show buying intent — follow up manually or escalate with phone calls. 
• Remove cold, non-engaging contacts after 2-3 attempts to protect domain reputation. 

In Summary: 

If you are sending emails to a cold audience, follow these basic rules: 

1. The first email should contain useful content, otherwise there is a high probability that they will unsubscribe. 
2. Don’t offer your services immediately (see point 1 why). 
3. Don’t email the same audience more than 1-2 times a week. 
4. Offer them to schedule a meeting using Calendly.