yeah ses is too complex for a simple requirement like this. i used ses for years and it worked fine. everytime i had to change some setting, i had relearn the whole thing again coz they kept on changing backend ui regularly. eventually, dumped them after an annoying thing. i moved hosting to a US based server. so i decided why not move the ses server to near that location as well. i applied. it was rejected. reason why? they said i had applied for it from another account in the past and this was a terms violation (something on that line). made no sense. i have used just one amazon account all my life. AND i had permission to send mails through SES at various locations i was approved over the past couple of years. i was just looking to switch servers to make email sending a teeny bit faster by bringing it closer to my host location. anyways. it worked out well in the end. paying a few cents every month using their painful payment gateway was something i no longer have to deal with.