Your email account will return an email if there is an issue. This is in the form of a bounceback message. Typically, these returned messages will let you know why the sent email failed. Some bounceback error messages are easier to understand than others.
Use the Bounceback Parser Tool:
Since there are many reasons an email can be returned, use the Bounceback Parser Tool to troubleshooting the returned email message.
Common Bounceback Messages:
- Inbox is Full: This is a typical indication that the email recipient’s inbox is full and cannot accept any more messages. There is little you can do to resolve this error message unless you have another means of contacting that person to notify them of the full inbox. They should usually be able to resolve this issue by deleting old emails or raising their current mailbox quota.
- Email Account does not exist: If you send an email and get this message, it’s best to double check that you have spelled the recipient’s email address correctly. If you are sure that is is correct, the email account may have been deleted. If you have another means of contacting the recipients you may try notifying them of the error.
- IP Address Blacklisted/ Blocked: The bounce back message will typically refer to an IP address being blocked and will usually provide a url with more information as well. We ask that these types of bounce back messages be forwarded to us at support@sive.host so that we can assist you in resolving this issue. You can also check to see if your domain name or IP address is blacklisted by using our Online Blacklist Checker or webapps such as MxToolbox.com.
- Greylisting/ Email Message Deferred: Typical messages due to greylisting will usually refer to an email message being “deferred.” Greylisting is a methodology utilized by some mail servers to deter spam. If you send a message to a server that uses greylisting and you are not on that server’s whitelist the receiving server will “temporarily reject” that message and will often return a message that is formatted very similar to a bounce back but will list the error as temporary instead of permanent. The sending server will attempt to resend the message at a later time, but the recipient will experience a delay in receiving the message. The best way to avoid greylisting is to ask anyone who uses greylisting on their server to add you to their whitelist so they can receive messages from you without delay.
- Send Limit Exceeded: On all of our shared servers, the number of emails that can be sent per hour is limited to 5 per hour with a additional limitation of 5 recipients per message (this includes To:, Cc: and Bcc: fields). If you attempt to exceed that amount you will receive a bounce back that will say something similar to: “Domain domain.com has exceeded the max emails per hour (5) allowed. Message discarded.”
- Does not meet guidelines and/or adhere to policies(for VPS/Dedicated servers only): Some common DNS records and server configurations/tweaks are needed in order to ensure that the common mail servers (like Gmail, Yahoo, Verizon, etc) are able to authenticate the identity of your server and confirm your domain is authorized to send emails from its sending mail IP address. Many common mail servers provide guidelines and/or policies for sending/receiving mail and acceptable use of their servers for mail. For example, Google, Yahoo, and AOL enforce these policies and guidelines to help reduce the amount of Spam within their respective networks. It’s also important to note that not every mail server requires the same DNS records and configuration.
