# Get started: buy, set up, sign in

From no mailbox to your first message: create an account, buy a plan, choose the address and password, and sign in.

## Buy, set up and sign in, in four steps

1. Create an account in [My account](https://abnormalhq.com/shop/account/?mode=register) with your email and a password, and open the link in the confirmation email. The link works for 15 minutes.
2. Pick a plan in the [shop](https://abnormalhq.com/shop/) and pay with Linux DO Credit or by card. You review the order before paying.
3. Once the payment is confirmed, open My mailboxes in [My account](https://abnormalhq.com/shop/account/), choose a username and a password, and the mailbox is set up.
4. Sign in to webmail at [webmail.abnormalhq.com](https://webmail.abnormalhq.com/) with the full address and that password.

You can also buy without an account. The order then belongs to the browser you ordered in, and joins your account when you sign in from that browser or with the contact email you gave at checkout.

## Buying a plan

The [pricing page](https://abnormalhq.com/pricing/) lists the plans on sale with live prices: how many mailboxes a plan includes, the storage of each, whether it is a one-time purchase or a subscription, and what renewal costs. Have a discount code? See [Discount codes](https://abnormalhq.com/help/discount-codes/).

After payment the order page shows a redeem code. The code is what sets mailboxes up: you can use it yourself in My account, or give it to someone else to enter on the [redeem page](https://abnormalhq.com/redeem/). A plan states how long after payment its code can be used; that deadline is about the code, not about how long the mailbox lasts.

## Setting up the mailbox

- **Username**: up to 64 characters; lowercase letters, digits, dots, hyphens and underscores, starting and ending with a letter or digit, with no two dots in a row.
- **Password**: 8 to 128 characters, without spaces. On the redeem page you can also have one generated.
- **On the redeem page** you can set up several mailboxes at once (up to 20 per request, as many as the code still allows) and have the account details emailed to an address of your choice.

The password is shown only once, right after the mailbox is set up. Copy it then. If you lose it, the buyer of the plan can set a new one under My mailboxes in My account.

## Signing in and what comes next

Webmail is at [webmail.abnormalhq.com](https://webmail.abnormalhq.com/): sign in with the full address (yourname@abnormalhq.com, for example) and the mailbox password. Existing @abnormal.bid mailboxes keep signing in with their original address.

- Add the mailbox to a mail app: [Apple Mail](https://abnormalhq.com/help/apple-mail/), [Outlook](https://abnormalhq.com/help/outlook/), [Thunderbird](https://abnormalhq.com/help/thunderbird/), [Gmail and Android](https://abnormalhq.com/help/gmail-android/), or [any other app](https://abnormalhq.com/help/imap-smtp/).
- Bring your old mail along: [Move your mail in, and take it out](https://abnormalhq.com/help/import-and-export/).
- Protect the sign-in: [Two-step verification and app passwords](https://abnormalhq.com/help/two-step-verification/).

If mail is not coming or going, check the [service status page](https://console.abnormalhq.com/status) first. For anything else write to [support@abnormalhq.com](mailto:support@abnormalhq.com) with your mailbox address or order number. Never send passwords, verification codes or card details.

## Not the article you were looking for?

Go back to the help center and search again, or write to us and we'll help directly. Include your mailbox address or order number, never a password.

- [Browse all help articles](https://abnormalhq.com/md/help/)
- [Email support](mailto:support@abnormalhq.com)