What Those SMTP Error Codes Mean and Why You Should Care
Category: Mailing List Hygiene / Other Practices / Sending Practices / Technical System Stuff
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Summary: Anybody who sends email has seen them, in one form or another - those SMTP error codes, often returned in bounced email, such as "550 Requested action not taken: mailbox unavailable" or "550 5 2 1 mail from refused spam site." These are often in response to SMTP commands that have 'gone wrong' between your email server that sent the email, and the receiving email server that is unable to deliver it (or refuses to deliver it) for some reason. But what exactly do they mean? And why should you care? ('SMTP' stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.) First, here is a list of SMTP messages and error messages, and what each message is supposed to say and mean |
Anybody who sends email has seen them, in one form or another - those SMTP error codes, often returned in bounced email, such as “550 Requested action not taken: mailbox unavailable” or “550 5 2 1 mail from refused spam site.” These are often in response to SMTP commands that have ‘gone wrong’ between your email server that sent the email, and the receiving email server that is unable to deliver it (or refuses to deliver it) for some reason. But what exactly do they mean? And why should you care? (’SMTP’ stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.)
First, here is a list of SMTP codes and error codes, and what each message is supposed to say and mean:
211 - A system status message.
214 - A help message for a human reader follows.
220 - SMTP Service ready.
221 - Service closing.
250 - Requested action taken and completed.
251 - The recipient is not local to the server, but the server will accept and forward the message.
252 - The recipient cannot be VRFYed, but the server accepts the message and attempts delivery.
354 - Start message input and end with
421 - The service is not available and the connection will be closed.
450 - The requested command failed because the user’s mailbox was unavailable (such as being full). Try again later.
451 - The command has been aborted due to a server error. (on their side)
452 - The command has been aborted because the server has insufficient system storage.
500 - The server could not recognize the command due to a syntax error.
501 - A syntax error was encountered in command arguments.
502 - This command is not implemented.
503 - The server has encountered a bad sequence of commands.
504 - A command parameter is not implemented.
550 - The requested command failed because the user’s mailbox was unavailable (such as not found)
551 - The recipient is not local to the server.
552 - The action was aborted due to exceeded storage allocation.
553 - The command was aborted because the mailbox name is invalid.
554 - The transaction failed for some unstated reason.
Unfortunately, many receiving systems seem to mix and match these error messages, rather than adhering to the prescribed code messages.
The good news is that the SMTP error messages you need to worry about as an email sender are really primarily limited to just a few - those in the 5XX range - and of those, the ones that you really need to worry about are the ones in the 55X range - i.e. 550-559. Of these, by far the most common one - the one that as a sender you will see most often and to which you must pay immediate attention - is the 550 SMTP error code, which can range from “user not found” to “mailbox unavailable” to any number of other similar variations, but which for you, dear mail sender, should almost always be read to mean “remove this email address from your mailing list immediately.”
(On the other hand, your mail server administrator should care deeply about many more of these codes, however we assume that if they are administoring your outbound mail server, they are already familiar with them.)
So, back to that 550 error code. Almost always, when you get an email bounced back (or inserted in your mail log!) with a 550 error code, it means that the receiving system could not deliver your email to the user to whom it was addressed because the mailbox is unavailable. Almost always, this means that the inbox either no longer exists, or that it never existed!
Why would you have an email address on your mailing list that has never existed? There could be a lot of reasons, including that someone entered it wrong, or that someone intentionally entered a fake email address into your system (such as when you require a user to divulge an email address in order to receive a download, etc.).
Regardless of how it ended up on your mailing list, if you send a mailing to it, it tells the receiving system one sure thing: that you don’t confirm email addresses before adding them to your mailing lists.
And, if you send email to that same non-existent email address after receiving the 550 message that the mailbox doesn’t exist, it tells that receiving system that not only don’t you confirm email addresses, but that you don’t care very much about list hygiene - i.e. that you don’t maintain your mailing lists according to best practices, either.
And, having determined this, very soon those receiving systems, including ISPs, will simply stop delivering your email to the inbox - first diverting it to the junk folder, then not delivering it at all, and then perhaps even blacklisting all of your email.
Now, it’s possible that a mailbox will be unavailable because a user has let their inbox get full. And we often get asked whether, because of that possibility, it’s ok to not remove an email address which has returned a 550 error?
Think about this: in this day and age of nearly unlimited email storage (nearly all ISPs now offer multiple Gigs of email storage), just how inactive does a user have to be in order for their inbox to fill up? And, even if they are going to come back some day and clear out their inbox, do you think that they are really going to stop to read your email? Or will they delete it unopened and unread, creating even more problems for you?
The bottom line is: why hang on to an email address that belongs to a user who will never be a positive asset for you, and can only cause you trouble?
So the next time an email that you send bounces back, take a good look at the information in the bounce message, and take the appropriate action based on that message. And don’t forget to check your mail logs for bounce messages too!
P.S. If you are actually receiving bounce messages that include “mail from refused spam site” or a similar message, the odds are good that your mail already has been blacklisted, and you’ll need to deal with that immediately.
16 Comments
What about the 450 message? From what I know 4xx messages indicate a temporary failure, but isn’t a “full mailbox” also a temporary failure? A lot of MTA’s will immediately generate a bounce message for 550 but most will keep trying to deliver a message that fails with 450 for about a week ( or whatever the “queue life time” is for a certain server). If this considered harmful by the ISPs?
Should we remove these email addresses ( that fail with a 450 error after trying for a week ) immediately from the list ( like we do with 550 codes ) or should we maybe send another mailing ?
Some free email providers will deactivate an account if is inactive for X days. ( I think yahoo used to do this or still does ) . In this they would send a 450 message not a 550 message as the user can still reactivate his account by simply logging in.
Hi there,
we have an unusual 550 problem, when we send out mail via our web site to a specific email address we get a 550 mail bounced straight back to us, however if we use the same email address vai outlook (using the same smtp server to send it) then the messages get through without a problem? Any suggestions??
The bounce we get is (with actual email address an IP’s removed):
Your message did not reach some or all of the intended recipients.
Sent: 19 Jan 2010 20:07:38 +0000
Subject: Password Reset
The following recipient(s) could not be reached:
xxxx.xxxx@EcoSkies.com
Error Type: SMTP
Remote server (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) issued an error.
hMailServer sent: .
Remote server replied: 550 xxxx.xxxx@EcoSkies.com)
Hi Reuben
To answer your question, you will need to tell us the specific 550 error, usually it will tell you what has happened. Also check whether your mail servers are not appearing on any spam blacklists.
Thanks for that exhaustive yet concise description which I have bookmarked. And while I did normally remove 550s I usually left the “over quota” guys in in the (as you explained quite vain) hope they might eventually clear up their mailbox and read the mails. No, you’re right, I probably wouldn’t either. But I wasn’t aware of the ramifications and that it would lower my “sender credit score” so to speak.
I’m having a 550 problem that I have not been able to get a solution on for more than 3 years. The error I get is:
Your message did not reach some or all of the intended recipients.
Subject: FW: The Clinical Device Newsletter
Sent: 6.5.2010 08:12
The following recipient(s) could not be reached:
‘aaaaa@bbbbb.bb’ on 6.5.2010 08:12
550 Error: Lets just say we’re removing now.
No one that I have been in contact with has any knowledge of this error. I have used Outlook 2003/2007, Eudora 8 and Thunderbird 2 and 3 and I allways get the same error sending HTML mail with pictures(these are newsletters). I use a POP account and my IT provider claims that this is not on his side, he has informed me that during this period he has changed mail-server hardware and software so that this should not be his fault. Can anyone help with this weird error??
BTW. There is no problem sending text mail even HTML text mail to the same recipents.
Hi… I need some help with the 550 returned mail error.. the email address was active few hours ago (and for the last 8 years), and then all my email to the recipient was returned with the the 550 error… how do I resolve this?
Thanks
Same here. I am the host and I get this email bouncing back but it sends fine in Gmail.
Hey Dude …(assuming you are a Dude)
I give this article an A+
Excellent with very useful information
Thanks GC
hey im having the same problem as TIN
Tin
May 11, 2010 5:26
Hi… I need some help with the 550 returned mail error.. the email address was active few hours ago (and for the last 8 years), and then all my email to the recipient was returned with the the 550 error… how do I resolve this?
Thanks
recently ive been trying to contact someone as well an their email has worked jus fine for years and its like all of a sudden i cant get them on IM and i cant get them in email my mail bounces back and im not sure if maybe they just havent been on and it could be that their mailbox is just full. but this is the first time in years ive ever had a problem with this..please help!
I think it can also be said that just because you have a 55X error message, doesn’t necessarily mean your list isn’t clean or that you don’t check your list for hygiene.
Consider the case where a mail sender hasn’t e-mailed the list in longer than 30 days — it is quite possible to receive a 55X range error message in that case, because people close their e-mail accounts, etc quite frequently.
That said, I think it can be argued (and in my own experience) most ISP’s don’t just automatically assume that you don’t confirm your e-mails simply because they issued you a 55X response code.
Now of course, if you receive the same 55X error code for the same *exact* e-mail address a 2nd or a 3rd time, then yes, it can be assumed you don’t sanitize your mailing list, but simply receiving a 55X error code one time, doesn’t necessarily indicate that you don’t sanitize your list.
This is especially true with mail providers such as Yahoo! and Gmail (in my own experience).
hey im having the same problem as TIN
Hi… I need some help with the 550 returned mail error.. the email address was active few hours ago (and for the last 8 years), and then all my email to the recipient was returned with the the 550 error… how do I resolve this?
Ramesh,
Please bear in mind that 550 could also mean that the user’s mailbox is full.
Different ISP’s respond differently in this regard, so if after a few tries (say 2-3 tries) you’re still not getting mail delivered, it’s probably safe to temporarily remove the subscriber from your list (try again in a subsequent mailing).
Probably the mailing after your next one depending on the frequency of your mailings may be a good idea (for example, if you e-mail once per month, it’s probably safe to e-mail them in the month following your next mailing).
If at that point you receive a 550 again, it’s probably safe to permanently remove the e-mail from your list for the following reasons:
1) If the mailbox is full, it probably means the user is not actively reading/monitoring e-mail sent to that account in the first place.
2) Something else could be wrong, but in any case, no point in mailing to a subscriber who is almost surely not receiving your messages anyway.
Let me know how you get on. . .
We do electronic billing. Have just received this message:
“There was a SMTP communication problem with the recipient’s email server. Please contact your system administrator.
”
After sending successfully for the past few weeks, this just occurred today. Am I reading correctly that the recipient is telling me that we are sending “spam?”
Richard,
No probably not.
The problem is on the recipient’s side, not yours:
“There was a SMTP communication problem with the recipient’s email server. Please contact your system administrator”
This means something is wrong on their end (assuming you pasted the error message in its entirety).
hi
I have The problem to conect mailserver
title eror is :
SMTP -> FROM SERVER:220 agri-jahad.org ESMTP MDaemon 10.0.5; Thu, 24 Nov 2011 09:36:30 +0330
SMTP -> FROM SERVER: 250-agri-jahad.org Hello es.maj.ir, pleased to meet you 250-ETRN 250-AUTH=LOGIN 250-AUTH LOGIN CRAM-MD5 250-8BITMIME 250 SIZE
SMTP -> FROM SERVER:250 , Sender ok
SMTP -> FROM SERVER:550 parseh@agri-jahad.org must check for new mail first
SMTP -> ERROR: RCPT not accepted from server: 550 parseh@agri-jahad.org must check for new mail first
SMTP Error: The following recipients failed: q.night2.q@gmail.com SMTP Error: The following recipients failed: q.night2.q@gmail.com
SMTP server error: parseh@agri-jahad.org must check for new mail first
plz help me .
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This article originally written on January 25, 2010, and is as relevant now as when it was first written.