Direct mail basics

Renting a list vs. owning it (and what the seed addresses are for)

Most mailing lists you buy are really rented, often for a single mailing. Here is how list licenses work, how owners catch reuse, and which lists are yours to keep.

Published Sat, Oct 17, 2026 · Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026

• Mailing lists
• Data sources
• Voter lists
• Florida
• Costs

When you pay a vendor for a mailing list, you usually get permission to mail it, and only for as long as the license says. That surprises a lot of first-time buyers who plan a series of mailers. For the three ways to reach homes, start with Direct Mail 101.

Most lists are rented

Click2Mail's support page says it plainly: "mailing lists are almost always rented and not purchased" (Click2Mail). Rentals come in three kinds there: one-time, multiple, and unlimited use for a term that is "typically a year".

One-time use is the default at most vendors. Catdi: "Most lists are licensed for one-time use. Multi-use and unlimited-use licenses are available at a higher rate" (Catdi). Modern Postcard describes the same split: a single-use list "allows you to mail to the list one time only", and a multi-use list allows unlimited use "for a period of one year" (Modern Postcard).

You choose before you pay. Click2Mail's list FAQ says "you must indicate the number of times you intend to mail to a list" and "List prices also increase when multiple use licensing is requested" (Click2Mail). None of these vendors publishes how much more a multi-use license costs, so ask for both prices when you get a quote.

Seed addresses: how owners catch reuse

"List owners monitor list usage by adding seed names", decoy addresses that "notify a list owner when they receive mail", so nobody "copies the list or uses it without paying" (Click2Mail).

If you mail a one-time list a second time, the seeds get the second piece too, and the owner knows. The safe habit is to keep the license terms with the file and count your drops against them.

The exception: some vendors sell outright

A few vendors sell lists with no reuse limit. LeadsPlease, for example, markets its lists as a "One-time purchase with full usage rights" with "no expiring credits" (LeadsPlease). That is the vendor's own description, so read the terms on your order before you rely on it.

Public files are yours to keep

Two of the most useful lists in Florida come from public records, and once you have a copy, no license limits how often you mail it.

The county tax roll. Florida's Department of Revenue publishes every county's property roll for free, "in compliance with chapter 119, Florida Statutes", the state's public records law (Florida DOR). It lists each parcel's owner and both the owner's mailing address and the property address.

The voter file. Voter registration and voting history are "public record under Florida law" (Florida Division of Elections). Anyone may request it, and Florida repealed its old ban on commercial use of the voter file in 2005 (ch. 2005-278).

Public files do go stale. People move and new voters register, so pull a fresh copy for each election cycle and clean it before every mailing. Our guide to mailing list hygiene explains the 95-day rule that requires it.

A worked example: three mailers to the same 5,000 homes

Most campaigns plan a series: an introduction, a reminder, a last push. Here is that series of 3 drops of 5,000 postcards with our list mail.

Postage is billed at the actual USPS rate after presort, usually 29¢–40¢ per piece.

Now the list. With the voter file or the tax roll, you get it once and use it for all 3 drops. With a rented one-time list, the license covers one drop. For a series, ask the vendor for a multi-use license up front: it costs more than a single use, and it is the honest way to mail the same names three times.

Or let us do it

You can get the tax roll or the voter file yourself and mail it as often as you like. If you would rather hand it off, tell us how many mailers you are planning and we will help you pick a list you can reuse, request the voter list from your county if you are a campaign, and price every drop.

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