Free business email in Vietnam: set up name@yourcompany.com.vn

Vietnamese businesses have been issuing electronic invoices since July 2022, and the buyer's email address on every one of them is where the invoice copy goes. A surprising number of companies still send that from a Gmail address. A .com.vn or .vn address tied to your enterprise registration fixes the first impression with foreign buyers and domestic corporate customers alike, the mailboxes can be free, and the setup is four DNS records.

Quick answer

Register yourcompany.com.vn or yourcompany.vn at a VNNIC-accredited registrar such as PA Vietnam, Mat Bao, iNET or Tenten, with your enterprise registration certificate or ID ready. Create a free OquMail workspace with no card, add the domain, paste four DNS records at the registrar, click Verify and create your mailboxes. Add the mailbox to Outlook or your phone with the settings below.

Choosing your domain: .vn, .com.vn or .com

Vietnamese domains are managed by VNNIC, the Vietnam Internet Network Information Center, and sold only through accredited registrars, which ask for the registrant's identity: an enterprise registration certificate for a company, an ID for an individual. Both .vn and .com.vn are widely used by businesses.

• .com.vn: the traditional business ending; common among manufacturers, traders and established firms
• .vn: shorter and increasingly the default for startups and online brands
• .net.vn, .org.vn, .edu.vn: for networks, organisations and education
• .com: used by exporters with mostly foreign customers; Vietnamese buyers accept it, though .vn signals a registered local company

Why Vietnamese buyers trust a domain address

Foreign buyers sourcing furniture, garments, coffee or software from Vietnam compare dozens of suppliers by email, and an address that matches the company name on the enterprise registration is the quickest signal that a real factory or firm is behind the quote. Domestic corporate customers and their accounting departments expect the e-invoice copy and every payment query to come from a company address, not a personal one. Marketplace sellers on Shopee, Lazada and Tiki who want to sell wholesale or supply retailers run into the same check. A domain address also keeps sales@ and ketoan@ with the company when staff change.

Step by step

1. Register yourcompany.com.vn at a VNNIC-accredited registrar. Pay by bank transfer with a VietQR code, MoMo, ZaloPay or card; the registrar submits the registration declaration for you.
2. Create a free OquMail workspace at oqumail.com. No card.
3. Add the domain in the dashboard and copy the four DNS records.
4. In the registrar DNS panel add the MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC records exactly as shown. Delete the parking MX the registrar pre-filled.
5. Click Verify. The live DNS check shows which record is still missing.
6. Create mailboxes: info@, sales@, ketoan@ (accounts) and one per person, up to 15 with 5 GB each.
7. Send a test from webmail and add the account to Outlook or the phone mail app with the settings below.

The four DNS records OquMail needs

Vietnamese registrars bundle cheap hosting with a shared mail server whose reputation you do not control. Keep only mail.oqumail.com as the MX and make sure the single SPF record on the root is the one OquMail shows.

• MX — host @, value mail.oqumail.com, priority 10
• SPF (TXT at @) — v=spf1 MX (Mail Exchanger — where incoming email is delivered) a:mail.oqumail.com ~all
• DKIM (TXT at your selector ._domainkey) — v=DKIM1; k=rsa; p=… (the exact key is shown in your OquMail dashboard)
• DMARC (TXT at _dmarc) — v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc@yourdomain.com

OquMail connection settings

• Incoming (IMAP): mail.oqumail.com, port 993, SSL/TLS
• Outgoing (SMTP): mail.oqumail.com, port 587, STARTTLS
• Username: your full email address (you@yourdomain.com)
• Password: the same password you use for OquMail webmail

What it costs

The domain is a yearly fee in dong at the registrar. The email is free: OquMail's free plan has no card step and includes 15 mailboxes, 3 domains, 5 GB per mailbox, webmail, IMAP and SMTP, delivery logs and a send API. Google Workspace bills per user per month in foreign currency; for a ten-person workshop that needs mailboxes, that is a cost with no benefit.

Pitfalls common in Vietnam

• Vietnamese diacritics in mailbox names. Keep addresses plain ASCII (e.g. nguyen@, not an accented form) and put the correct name with diacritics in the display name.
• Bundled hosting mailboxes on a shared IP with no DKIM: quotes to foreign buyers land in spam.
• Choosing SSL on port 587 in Outlook. It must be STARTTLS.
• Viettel, VNPT and FPT home and mobile connections block outbound port 25. Port 587 works on all of them.
• Keeping a Gmail address on the Zalo Official Account, the website and the e-invoice template after the domain is live.
• Skipping DMARC. Spoofed supplier invoices redirecting payments are a known fraud pattern in export trades; publish at least p=none.

Common questions

Does the e-invoice system need a company email?

E-invoices are issued through a licensed provider connected to the tax authority, not through your mailbox. The buyer email on the invoice is where the copy is sent, and buyers notice when it comes from a personal address. Use ketoan@ or hoadon@ on your domain for that field.

Does it work with Outlook and my phone?

Yes. Add an IMAP account with the settings above in Outlook, Apple Mail or the Gmail app, using your full address as the username.

What are the limits?

15 mailboxes, 3 domains, 5 GB per mailbox, no expiry. Extra mailboxes are added on request without touching DNS.

Want to see how your own domain is set up? Use the free SPF checker, DMARC checker and MX lookup: they run in your browser and store nothing.