1 message out of 89 bounced but not sure why.

[#1]

Can someone give me a pointer please.

I run a small email list with about 89 subscribers. I use MS Access & Word and merge to email addresses so each email is a separate item. It's worked faultlessly for several years. I don't need the bells and whistles of dedicated mail list solutions.

I just sent my latest message and just one of the batch of emails bounced. The following was in the headers of the returned message:-

X-pn-pstn-db:" Spam 99
X-PN-Virus-Filtered: by PlusNet MXCore (v5.00)
X-PN-Spam-Filtered: by PlusNet MXCore (v5.00)
Subject: Mail delivery failed: returning message to sender

I've now sent the message using a different server without any problem. I just wonder why this one message out of all the others bounced?

p.s. - Could it be that I've miscounted the number of subscribers and the "Spam 99" is a cut off point?

[#2]

Just added a counter to my Access query, it currently returns 85 records so my guess at the "Spam 99" being significant is wrong 🤔

[#3]

Hi @longedge

What were the headers of the email you've tried to send?

If you post it publicly I'd remove anything private like an email address. 

[#4]

@Gandalf  Thanks for the response 😊. As far as I can see the only private info is my email address which I've replaced (but I've got a long history of missing the obvious) -

Return-path: <>
Envelope-to: MY EMAIL ADDRESS
Delivery-date: Mon, 13 Sep 2021 12:21:32 +0100
Received: from [212.159.14.27] (helo=avasin-peh-007.plus.net)
      by inmx10.plus.net with esmtp (PlusNet MXCore v2.00) id 1mPk1k-0005U7-24
      for MY EMAIL ADDRESS; Mon, 13 Sep 2021 12:21:32 +0100
Received: from avasout04.plus.net ([84.93.223.46])
    by Plusnet Cloudmark Gateway with ESMTP
    id PjwamhEr62qH1Pk1jmj8o9; Mon, 13 Sep 2021 12:21:31 +0100
X-CM-Score: 0.00
X-CNFS-Analysis: v=2.4 cv=M7Uulw8s c=1 sm=1 tr=0 ts=613f343c cx=a_idp_d
 a=t1A14LVAsJ8csEQeVeuYqg==:117 a=JpQFdOCcWwLefhrs:21 a=HpEJnUlJZJkA:10
 a=jmdcTMp_Gj4A:10 a=r77TgQKjGQsHNAKrUKIA:9 a=NSbUFM72AAAA:8
 a=ZJBQcd3GU851oevA_6MA:9 a=QEXdDO2ut3YA:10 a=8lOr5k_SYWQA:10
 a=Gyza6doaPI1JDLtBVdYA:9 a=T2pIF5N5jVoA:10 a=cUMafP51rZsA:10 a=EBOSESyhAAAA:8
 a=2rjgVtKK3mVZb1Eqao4A:9 a=DAwyPP_o2Byb1YXLmDAA:9 a=LzEvaQ3EDvKpJ4jpsCwA:9
 a=CjuIK1q_8ugA:10 a=yMhMjlubAAAA:8 a=SSmOFEACAAAA:8 a=g9JmGeQd6bNIHEe53cwA:9
 a=06J_FA8xoF9n--8E:21 a=gKO2Hq4RSVkA:10 a=UiCQ7L4-1S4A:10 a=hTZeC7Yk6K0A:10
 a=frz4AuCg-hUA:10 a=gDJ_fslVTezk4YA3wpoA:9 a=AeMpOJsJ1fsuvTQN:18
 a=KQqxNPgzF0kA:10 a=VEiTNn8F7TgA:10 a=9Sb_W9_GsaO4hHiKSCgA:9
 a=V4QuOMz6ZBorpi3k:18 a=Luete-mL-jEWgwNTrnrC:22 a=yJM6EZoI5SlJf8ks9Ge_:22
Date: Mon, 13 Sep 2021 12:21:31 +0100
From: <>
To: MY EMAIL ADDRESS
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/report; boundary="------------I305M09060309060P_294716315320910"
X-CMAE-Envelope: MS4xfC8h9R9ZNqkh43GlGkrHfoQtO66EOLajk9nQ0c5pXCnfba0xFWXQ62TyoT4efMw0nuX40Si47LDnbmSt6dqCxzXr891dFZdaiN/BSIuZJLR4L3+eFQc+
 l81WESQA3vr0l0lRx9qncz9lNvB6AOofA89B2WIPdUW1h8x1lSToaXBj
Message-ID: <E1mPk1k-0005U7-24@inmx10.plus.net>
X-pn-pstn-db:" Spam 99
X-PN-Virus-Filtered: by PlusNet MXCore (v5.00)
X-PN-Spam-Filtered: by PlusNet MXCore (v5.00)
Subject: Mail delivery failed: returning message to sender

p.s. that's the headers of the bounce. I don't keep the sent items, just delete them immediately after I've done the merge. But all 85 were sent in a single pass so 84 went and this one didn't?

[#5]

Thanks for getting back to me @longedge

I've discussed this with an email guru of our NetOps team, and the rejection seems to be coming from the other end, the recipient. It's tagged as a high spam mail and we're thinking that they don't have spam filtering enabled.

It's odd though that you were able to send them the same email using a different server with no problem. 

I think if it happens again we'd need the headers of the email itself including the email address of the person in question. 

[#6]

What does the body of the bounce message say? There's usually an indication given as to why a message wasn't delivered eg an SMTP error code and human-readable error message. It's often not conclusive but is a good start. The headers of the bounce message are a red herring (as they pertain to the bounce message not your original sent message).

[#7]

Unfortunately, as I said I always delete the sent items immediately after send is completed and I empty my deleted items as well. I'll just have to bear it in mind next month and see if it happens again. I'm a bit OCD about keeping Outlook tidy (as I see it).

Thanks for the replies anyway and if it does happen again I'll resurrect this thread.

[#8]

It's the body of the bounce message (the body of the message you posted the headers from above) that I'm referring to.

[#9]

Yes I understand but, after grabbing the headers I deleted that as well 🙄.

However, it just occurred to me that the bounce message would still be available via webmail on the PlusNet server so I've opened it there and am p.m.'ing it in full to @Gandalf  for confirmation that it was the recipients mail server that refused to accept the email.

If that is the case, then it still makes me wonder why I was able to send to the message to the recipient using another account, although that was a forwarded message rather than the mail merged one, perhaps that is where the answer lies.

[#10]

@longedge 

Having had raised a NetOps task with the headers you've given, one of our email guru's said that the clue is in the header "Diagnostic-Code: smtp; 530 4.7.0 Connection refused" which suggests the recipient had rejected it. 

He's done some digging into the associated MX and found that there's one MX on the recipient's domain server, which doesn't like our outbound avasout mail server (relay). Potentially there's a blacklist on the other end blocking it. 

At least we've got to the bottom of the issue

[#11]

@Gandalf  - thanks for the information. As I said previously, I was able to send the message by another route so for now the problem is solved. If it happens again next month then I'll know how to get around it 😊

[#12]

No problem @longedge at least you have a way around it

Let me know if you need any further help