Unable to send to Yahoo accounts

[rlowe]

Hi,
I am (and have been for some time) unable to send mail to Yahoo from my domain at FQ. Sometimes I get a mail delayed notice from FQ, but 9 out of 10 times it just never shows up. Mail goes through fine when sending from any other POP account.
Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Rick

[Bob]

Hello Rick,

Yahoo has been employing Greylisting for some time, searching the forums will reveal some other posts...

If you will send an email to the Service Desk with some details for messages that didn't bounce and never got delivered we can search the logs and see if Yahoo accepted them.
Service@FutureQuest.net

From address
To address
Date and Time (in ET if possible)

Thanks,
Bob

[johnfl68]

I just sent a test message from a FQ account to my Yahoo account. It took almost 10 minutes to arrive, usually it is much quicker.

If you do not have DomainKey signing turned on for you account(s), I recommend you try this, as it should help with Yahoo delivery of email, they seem to give DomainKey signed email higher priority.

John

[rlowe]

Hi again!
I turned on Domain Keys and tested email for 3 days. Email from my domain - at least for now, shows up at Yahoo - mostly with delayed delivery notices from FQ.

Email (same subject line & text) sent from Gmail (POP or web) goes to the inbox and the same email sent from my domain ends up in the spam box (instead of lost in limbo). I guess I will simply reply to Yahoo accounts w/Gmail instead of my domain unless someone has another idea.

Thanks for the heads up on Domain Keys!
Rick

[DebNCgal]

I had similar problems as rlowe this past week when sending email to Yahoo addresses using my FQ email account. I checked my DomainKeys setting, and it has been set to "Sign all" -- I left it that way.

I received a "Delayed delivery notice" three times for one particular email sent to a Yahoo address that was not delivered as long as a day later. After that happened, I sent some test emails from my FQ email account to one of my own Yahoo accounts. I didn't get a "Delayed delivery notice," but the test emails went into Yahoo's "Spam" folder. When I sent the same test email from my ISP email account to the same Yahoo address, that email did NOT go into the Spam folder. I only tested for a few minutes, though; and in that instance, I did not experience a "Delayed delivery notice." But it's important to know that I haven't always gotten a "Delayed delivery notice" when occasionally replying to emails from a friend who has a Yahoo address -- only sometimes.

It just so happened that last week I had a lot of opportunities to reply to Yahoo email because I was selling photo equipment and had inquiries from several Yahoo account holders. That's when I realized there was something consistently going awry when at least replying to Yahoo email.

As a safeguard, I've resorted to responding to Yahoo emails by using my ISP's personal email account; but I'd prefer to use my FQ email address (my business email address), which individuals are initially using to contact me.

Can someone provide some input that might help clear up this issue with Yahoo email? Would it be helpful for someone to look over the logs of one of the delayed emails?

What I'm aiming for regarding sending to Yahoo email addresses is: 1) To avoid the "Delayed delivery notice" issue; and 2) to avoid having normal email (that is, email which doesn't have typical Spam-like characteristics) end up in Yahoo's Spam filter.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Jeff]

I wonder if it would be helpful if everyone experiencing such an issue also contacted yahoo to inquire why yahoo is placing the mail from their futurequest in the spam folder... there might be power in numbers.

[rlowe]

The fact that "plain jane" email sent from FQ to Yahoo ends up in the spam folder is disturbing for 2 reasons.

1. How long has this been happening and how many sales have I lost from customers not receiving my mail.

2. How many other email domains is this happening with? Yahoo is checkable, others are not.

[DebNCgal]

So have I correctly understood the gist of this thread to be that there is nothing that can be done on the FQ side to solve this issue with Yahoo mail -- that it's strictly a problem on Yahoo's end? :sad:

[rlowe]

-- that it's strictly a problem on Yahoo's end? :sad:

Odd, I never use my shell account, but any email (8 so far) I send to Yahoo from my shell account goes to the inbox fine. All emails sent from any of my other accounts get delayed delivery then go to the spam box or go directly to the spam box. Yahoo or FQ, somethings not right with the way my mail arrives at Yahoo.

[squillo]

1. How long has this been happening and how many sales have I lost from customers not receiving my mail.

2. How many other email domains is this happening with? Yahoo is checkable, others are not.

The first time I noticed this behavior was 5/23/07, and every time I checked, the mail did make it through eventually. I have not seen it happen with other domains except five scattered examples from 2001 to 2003.

While I hope FQ will take whatever steps it reasonably can to improve delivery, I do not have a high opinion of free email services and won't hold my breath.

best, squillo

[Juan G]

I turned on Domain Keys and tested email for 3 days. Email from my domain - at least for now, shows up at Yahoo - mostly with delayed delivery notices from FQ.

Email (same subject line & text) sent from Gmail (POP or web) goes to the inbox and the same email sent from my domain ends up in the spam box (instead of lost in limbo). I guess I will simply reply to Yahoo accounts w/Gmail instead of my domain unless someone has another idea.



I had similar problems as rlowe this past week when sending email to Yahoo addresses using my FQ email account. I checked my DomainKeys setting, and it has been set to "Sign all" -- I left it that way.

I received a "Delayed delivery notice" three times for one particular email sent to a Yahoo address that was not delivered as long as a day later. After that happened, I sent some test emails from my FQ email account to one of my own Yahoo accounts. I didn't get a "Delayed delivery notice," but the test emails went into Yahoo's "Spam" folder. When I sent the same test email from my ISP email account to the same Yahoo address, that email did NOT go into the Spam folder.

Maybe the following Tom's hypothetical example is a possible explanation to this (from the thread [FQuest Notice] Do Not Bounce or Forward Spam - Action Requested (http://www.aota.net/forums/showthread.php?postid=161852#post161852), where solutions to prevent this kind of problem are discussed):

how a customer here is considered a spammer by doing nothing more -- READ THIS -- nothing more than forwarding a message someplace else to be read and answered.
Very simple.

About 60-70% of the incoming mail on my main domain is spam. So let's say that I get 1,000 e-mails in a week, of which 650 are spam.

And I forward everything--all of those e-mails to my Yahoo account.

Yahoo sees that my domain is sending 650 spam messages into their system and they start the beatdown not only on my domain, but on everybody else on the same server by blacklisting the IP address. It's crummy, but true.

We've had instances in the past when someone torqued AOL and AOL basically blocked everyone on FQ, who then had to scramble to remove the blacklist.

I used to forward mail to Yahoo maybe 8 or 9 many years ago and had to stop for the exact same reasons discussed in this thread. Now I use Questmail when I'm at the office and a second spam filter that works great for me, but it requires daily management.

[DebNCgal]

Thank you for your input, Juan G. I don't send or forward mass emails to my Yahoo account. If someone else on FQ is or has been causing a problem with Yahoo, I would think there would be more of us experiencing the delays, the mail going into the Yahoo "Bulk" folder, or the failures to deliver.

I'm still experiencing some of these Yahoo issues, but within the past week I have also now seen these same issues with emails sent to addresses other than Yahoo.

This leads me to ask about something that might be completely unfeasible...but I'll ask anyway! About once a month, I download and install an updated Hosts file from www.mvps.org. It helps in blocking ads, banners, third-party cookies and other intrusive web events. On the rare occasion when I can't get to a particular website, it's most likely due to that website being listed in the Hosts file as one that is to be blocked. When that occurs, I do a workaround to get to that website.

On 12/21/07 I installed the most recent Hosts file. Later that day, I began experiencing repeated "Delayed Delivery Notices" on an email sent to a vendor (not a Yahoo address) that I correspond with on a regular basis. When I tried resending the email to them using my Road Runner account (instead my FQ account), I got a Road Runner notice containing the following error:

"smtp; 553 Sorry that domain isn't in my list of allowed rcpthosts"

I did some research online and double-checked my SMTP Server setting in my email program, to confirm that "Authentication allowed" is turned on. Other than that, I don't know what else I should/could do about that. I inquired to Road Runner in an email, but have not yet received a response from them.

It may be entirely coincidental that the same day I updated my Hosts file was the first time I experienced an email issue with a regular non-Yahoo correspondent. Plus...the Hosts file may not even be connected to email processes at all! I don't know -- I just noticed the timing and thought I'd mention this.

If anyone has any further thoughts or suggestions, I'd really appreciate it.

Thank you.

P.S. I'm also curious as to whether rlowe and I are possibly on the same FQ email server -- I'm on Scooter.

[Jeff]

> "smtp; 553 Sorry that domain isn't in my list of allowed rcpthosts"

I would have guessed that this is a problem with their account on their mail server (the address you were sending to)

[DebNCgal]

Thanks, Jeff. I wasn't sure if that Road Runner error was related at all.

However, yesterday I experienced another delayed email from my FQ account with a customer who's not on Yahoo. I've not had that happen before when emailing them.

I realize the world of email is not a perfect one, but I guess I'm getting a little paranoid now, because I've never experienced as many delays and failures as I've experienced in the last few weeks.

When I send an email from my FQ account now, I'm wondering if it will get to its destination fairly soon or if I'll get a delay notice a few hours later. By then, it sometimes means the loss of some valuable time. So I'm feeling insecure about my FQ email at this time. :sad:

[frankc]

Deb, I've been using that HOSTS file for eons with no problems (and lovin' it!), so I rather doubt it's the source of the problem. It simply may be that the receiver's email system(s) are getting more defensive, funky, overwhelmed, attacked, etc.

[DebNCgal]

Thanks, Frank. I suppose my mind was recklessly grasping for solutions (regarding the HOSTS file). Sometimes I overdo my analysis! By the way, I really like the "Perfectionism" quote in your signature. I can relate to that so well! :smile:

[johnmcfarland]

I've been trying to work with yahoo to resolve the delayed delivery or failed delivery for months now without success. I've had to drop nearly all of my yahoo email customers from my real estate service, and I'm not accepting any new customers using yahoo addresses. Can FutureQuest do anything to help? :dunno:

[Bob]

I took a look at a few email logs for your email address and messages to Yahoo last week and all that were sent were either accepted on the first, second or third tries.

The messages that were not accepted on the first try all had the same delayed delivery notice.

2008-04-20 08:51:13.526602500 delivery 1069352: deferral: Connected_to_68.142.202.247_but_greeting_failed./Remote_host_said:_421_4.7.0_[TS02]_Messages_from_69.5.XX.XX_temporarily_deferred_due_to_user_compla ints_-_4.16.56.1;_see_http://postmaster.yahoo.com/421-ts02.html/

Then within a few minutes the message was accepted for delivery to Yahoo.

The IP identified in the Failed delivery notice is the IP assigned to your domain and would be specific to you.

Before the delay noted above Yahoo accepted two messages from you without any delay. Now we cannot say what happens to those messages once Yahoo accepts them but they did accept them.

In all the Yahoo searches we have done we have never seen any specific pattern emerge, it is almost as if Yahoo defers on a whim and accepts the same way. I have seen logs with three failed delivery attempts with three different reasons given for the same message within 30 minutes of each other.

We have no means of communication with Yahoo beyond what you have and while we would love to sign up for Yahoo's Feedback loop reports, as we have for AOL, RoadRunner and Hotmail/MSN as after some time working with those Feedback loops (especially for AOL and RR) we have eliminated many of the "problems" as they saw them, which has made a difference in successful deliveries to them, however Yahoo's Feedback Loop has been closed for many months.

If Yahoo asks for mail logs please send an email to the Service desk with dates and addresses and we will do our best to provide you the information they request however just last week another site owner jumped through the Yahoo hoops and after sending Logs to them Yahoo wrote back asking for the same logs basically...

-Bob