There are many different reasons that can cause an e-mail to bounce. Sometimes it is something that you can do something about, e.g. when your e-mail has been blocked by a Content Filter or Blacklist Filter. In other situations, such as when you encounter a Temporary Error, the only thing you can do will usually be to wait a while and hope for the problem to resolve. It is tempting to sigh and throw a bounce message directly to the trash bin, but spending a few seconds reading it is actually a better idea since bounce messages tend to be filled with useful information that can help you decide whether you should pick up the phone and call your recipient, contact your own Internet Service Provider, resend the e-mail within a few hours or simply sit back and wait. In this article you will find just a few examples of very common problems that can cause an e-mail to bounce back to you.
· Mailbox unknown
If the program is unable to find the address you are trying to send an e-mail to, it will tell you in the bounce message. Different programs use different expressions, such as “invalid mailbox", “user unknown", “mailbox unknown" or “not our customer". If you wish to send an e-mail to mary@company.com but accidentally spell it mar@company.com, you will most likely receive this type of bounce message. The same thing can happen if you try to send an e-mail to mary@company.com when Mary is no longer working there and her e-mail account has been cancelled.
· Host unknown
If you try to send an e-mail to mary@company.com but accidentally spell it mary@commpany.com, you can get this type of bounce message. A company can also change its name and all its e-mail accounts without forwarding e-mails sent to the old address, thereby causing “host unknown" bounce messages to be sent out to anyone who tries to send an e-mail to one of the old addresses. Different programs use different terms to describe this problem. “Host unknown" and “Domain Lookup Failed" are two of the most commonly used expressions.
· Mailbox full
Many e-mail services have limits on how much space the user's e-mails are allowed to occupy. If you get a bounce message that says “Mailbox full" or “Quote Exceeded", you have to wait until the recipient cleans up his or her mailbox. In many cases you will have to resend your e-mail, since the server will erase it. When a free e-mail account is abandoned by its user it will gradually fill up with new mail until the mailbox gets full, so a “Mailbox full" or “Quote Exceeded" bounce message can be a sign that tells you that the address you got is no longer in use.
· Temporary Error
There are many types of temporary errors. If the bounce message says something like “Connection Timed Out", “Resources temporarily unavailable", “No Adequate Servers" or “Out of memory" you are most likely dealing with a temporary error. Some programs will erase your e-mail, while others will try to deliver it over the next few days. You can usually find out by reading the bounce message.
· All your e-mails bounce
If all your e-mails bounce, there is most likely a problem with your email client configuration. Check your settings, including the outgoing or SMTP server information, and look for errors. If you can not pin down the problem, contact your Internet Service Provider and tell them that all your e-mails bounce. *** you can read more information in our http://www.fast-i.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.5 section.
