Background Info
I own a domain that I’ve been using for email through Namecheap for several years. At some point, I decided to switch over to Google Workspace to handle the email services for this domain. Recently, I shut down my business and canceled the Google Workspace subscription, then went back to managing everything myself.
The Issue I’m Facing
I regularly use my personal Gmail account to handle emails from multiple domains I own. I set these up using the Gmail settings under Accounts and Import where you can check mail from other accounts and also send mail as different addresses. I tried setting up my domain the same way after leaving Google Workspace. The weird thing is that incoming emails work perfectly fine, but when I try to send emails using that domain address, Gmail gives me an error saying I don’t own the domain anymore. This makes no sense since I definitely still own it and have all the DNS records set up correctly. It seems like Google still thinks the domain belongs to the old Workspace account even though that’s been deleted.
Has anyone else run into this problem before? Looking for suggestions on how to fix this.
dude, i had this happen too! after i ditched google workspace, i had to totally remove the domain in my gmail settings. give it like 48 hrs before you try re-adding it. also, check those dns settings for old google mx records, they can create such headaches!
Google caches domain ownership records even after you cancel Workspace accounts. Had the same issue when moving a client’s domain back to regular hosting. Here’s what fixed it: contact Google Support through the Gmail help center with proof you own the domain from your registrar’s admin panel. They’ll manually wipe the domain from their Workspace database. Also double-check your DNS - remove any leftover MX records pointing to Google’s servers since they can mess with verification. Took 3-5 business days for me, but completely solved the sending problems once Google updated everything.
This is a common issue that persists after terminating a Google Workspace account. Google has remnants of domain ownership linked to the old account, which may cause verification issues with the standard Gmail services. When I encountered something similar, I resolved it by completely clearing my browser’s cache and waiting for about 72 hours before attempting to reconfigure the domain in Gmail. Additionally, ensure that your domain’s MX records are correctly pointed to your current email provider. If problems continue after a few days, consider altering your domain’s DNS verification records, which can prompt Google’s system to acknowledge your ownership.