Guide
What is an email alias?
An email alias is a separate email address that delivers to the inbox you already have. Give the alias out instead of your real address, and you stay in control: you decide what reaches you, and you can shut the door at any time.
One real inbox, any number of addresses in front of it.
How an alias is different from a second email account
A second account means a second inbox to check, a second password, a second place for mail to pile up. An alias is just an address — mail sent to it lands in your existing inbox, and with Vend you can reply from the alias too. You get separation without the overhead.
What people use aliases for
The everyday wins are privacy and spam control: use one alias for shopping, another for newsletters, another per project if you're a creator. If one address starts attracting junk, you pause or delete it — your real inbox never knew a thing.
Because your real address stays out of retailer databases and mailing lists, it also stays out of the data breaches and broker lists those databases feed. More on that in how to hide your email address.
The part most alias services skip: ownership
On most services, an alias is stuck with the account that created it forever. Vend treats the alias as something you own — which means you can transfer it to someone else, or even sell it, when the account or project behind it changes hands. For anything you might one day sell or hand over, that flexibility is the whole point.
Alias, mask, forwarder — same idea?
Broadly, yes. "Email mask," "burner address," "relay address," and "forwarder" all describe an address that shields your real one. The differences are in lifespan and control: burner addresses expire, masks usually can't send or be handed over, while a Vend forwarder is a permanent address you can reply from, organise, pause, and transfer.