Fax, email, registered letter: which channel for your send?
Three channels, three promises: what each one actually delivers, with the numbers to back it up.
An e-mail arrives within seconds, yet nothing proves that it slipped past the filters and reached an inbox someone actually reads. Fax requires one to two minutes and provides a confirmation for every page from the receiving machine; with Faxeroo the initial page comes free of charge, and from the second page onward the whole document — no matter its length — is billed at €3.99 incl. VAT. Registered mail, whether paper or electronic, is subject to the strictest regulations and takes several days to arrive through the post. Two questions settle most situations: which method your contact asked for, and which evidence you can produce if delivery is contested.
Seven lines to separate three channels
Each line describes how the channel actually behaves, without bias or sales pitch.
| Criterion | Fax | Registered letter | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transit time | One to two minutes in principle; a little longer when the lines are busy. | Seconds, unless a spam filter stops it on the way. | Several working days on paper; almost immediate in electronic form. |
| Record held by the sender | A status that updates continuously and, as an option on Faxeroo, two PDF receipts: the request, then the transmission. | Technical headers, plus a read receipt your recipient is free to refuse. | A third party records proof of deposit and the delivery notice. |
| Recipient's response | The machine called acknowledges the pages as the call proceeds (MCF message in the T.30 protocol). | No reliable automatic notice tells you the message reached an inbox. | The postman or the platform records the signature or the collection of the item. |
| Possible silent loss | Low: an engaged or silent line ends in a displayed failure. | Real: a message classed as spam sits in a folder nobody opens. | Low: an unclaimed item is returned to its sender, with the appropriate marking. |
| Price | The first page is free to send. From page two onward, one fixed rate of €3.99 incl. VAT applies to every document, regardless of its length. PDF receipts cost €2.99 incl. VAT. | Nothing to pay. | Expect a few euros per item; the return receipt adds to the price. |
| Form of the content | Static page snapshots: no hyperlinks, no macros, no attached executables. | Text, links and attachments in any format — familiar ground for phishing. | Paper, or uploading a file to a dedicated platform. |
| Who still requires it | Medical practices and pharmacies, insurers, court registries, plus a large portion of government offices. | Never required for a formal act, accepted everywhere for day-to-day correspondence. | Contractual cancellations, formal demands, notifications whose form the law prescribes. |
Matching the channel to the document
Email for everyday matters
A detail to check, a quote to comment on, a document your contact awaits and will confirm by replying: email suffices. Universally available, free and quick, it remains the everyday workhorse of correspondence.
Fax when your contact asks for it
Your pharmacist, a public office or your insurer lists a fax number on its letterhead or website? Then that is the inbox it actually processes, whether you are sending a prescription, an application form or a supporting document. A minute or two after sending, the status tells you if every page arrived.
Registered letter when the form is imposed
Terminating a contract that allows it, sending a debtor a formal demand, triggering a time limit: when the law or the clause designates registered mail, there is nothing left to argue. Once qualified, its electronic equivalent has the same legal force as the paper version, provided its own conditions are met.
Proof and the law: what you need to know
French law requires written evidence for any act above €1,500, unless an exception applies (Civil Code, article 1359). Electronic writing has the same force as paper once the author is identifiable and integrity preserved (article 1366). Between traders, evidence remains free (Commercial Code, article L110-3). Transmission reports from fax, email headers, postal receipts — all admissible; the court weighs each based on the file.
Registered mail differs in that an independent third party verifies both the deposit and the delivery. In France, its electronic version is acknowledged under CPCE article L100; across the Union, eIDAS (EU 910/2014) applies, and article 43 presumes qualified services that the data remain intact and that the send/receive dates are accurate. For a contentious case, have a lawyer validate the channel: this comparison addresses the mechanisms, not the outcome.
What you ask us
- Can a fax replace a registered letter?
- Only where neither law nor contract calls for registered mail. When a text prescribes the form — certain cancellations, a formal demand — that form prevails. Fax remains useful for sending a document quickly to a contact who requests it that way; the transmission receipt backs it up.
- Electronic registered mail: what is it?
- The deposit takes place on a provider's platform: once both parties have verified their identities, the platform logs the deposit and stamps the delivery with a timestamp. In France, this carries the same legal standing as paper registered mail if it satisfies article L100 of the CPCE (postal code); the individual recipient must have beforehand consented to this procedure. Faxeroo does not provide this service.
- My email gets no reply: why?
- Perhaps it never reached its recipient: blocked by a spam filter, set aside for a suspicious attachment, drowned in a full inbox, or filed away by an automatic sorting rule. The sender is generally not told. Fax, on the other hand, displays a failure if the line called stays silent or the reception breaks off.
- What budget for a fax, against the other channels?
- Page one carries no charge, and you can send faxes as often as you like. Past that opening page, each fax is billed at €3.99 incl. VAT, be it 2 pages long or 50. PDF receipts are available for €2.99 incl. VAT; this fee appears on your invoice solely for faxes that completed delivery successfully. Conventional registered mail on paper, above all when a return receipt is needed, is generally more expensive. Sending by e-mail is free, but its legal evidential value is weaker.
Law and proof
This topic
Keep reading
Pages chosen to help you prepare a send, track it, or keep proof of it.
- One warns, the other delivers and proves.
- Every stretch of the journey examined, with its points of vigilance.
- Faxing pages that identify real people, without falling foul of EU data protection rules.