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[Hilton]

Hi Jim,

I do a lot of work with email lists with my marketing department at work and work with email hosting with some customers that have similar problems from time to time.

If your not already doing it, It's best practice to break your marketing lists up to smaller batches several hours apart with such large numbers, or spam filters can automatically get your IPs blocked because it can come across as a spam attack when hundreds of thousands of email go out at once.

Spam filters now track senders reputation by sending domain, and /or by DKIM identity, and virtually all blacklists now share reputation information among themselves in near real-time.    

You also don’t have to be a spammer to get reported for spamming.
Clean lists that are 100-percent double opt-in will normally get one or two abuse reports per 50,000 recipients. Sometimes it’s a simple user mistake when a user cleans their spam folder, any email that was in the spam folder can be recorded as spam by Microsoft and they have to act.

But even if it’s a mistake, getting reported for abuse is serious. If a major ISP receives even a small handful of complaints about your emails, then they’ll start blocking all email from your server.

Also do you send your own email or use a service? Maybe the service provider has been blacklisted, its not uncommon for them to get hijacked or abused occasionally and effect real paying customers. Your JRiver.com domain isn't blacklisted anywhere that I can find.

You do have a problem somewhere though.


FAIL
Acceptance of postmaster Mailserver rejected mail to postmaster. Mailservers are required by RFC822 6.3, RFC1123 5.2.7, and RFC2821 4.5.1 to have a valid postmaster address that is accepting mail. The Mailserver provided is:

216.14.187.176 | unexpected response to [RCPT TO: ] | 450 Rcpt to  - Temporary local problem - I said try later
 

FAIL
Acceptance of abuse Mailserver rejected mail to abuse. Mailservers are required by RFC2142 Section 2 to have a valid abuse address that is accepting mail.

216.14.187.176 | unexpected response to [RCPT TO: ] | 450 Rcpt to  - Temporary local problem - I said try later


WARN
SMTP greeting Malformed greeting or no A records found matching banner text for following servers, and banner is not an address literal. RFC5321 requires one or the other (should not be a CNAME). If this is not set correctly, some mail platforms will reject or delay mail from you, and can cause hard to diagnose issues with deliverability. Mailserver details:

216.14.187.176 | WARNING: The hostname in the SMTP greeting does not match the reverse DNS (PTR) record for your mail server. This probably won't cause any harm, but may be a technical violation of RFC5321

[Hilton]

You can also try this automated system which might get you some further info to get you white listed again on Microsoft.

https://support.msn.com/eform.aspx?productKey=edfsmsbl2&ct=eformts&scrx=1

Or this one
https://postmaster.live.com/snds/index.aspx

[JimH]

Thanks, Hilton.  

We send our own email.  

We're pretty careful to keep the list clean.

An unsubscribe is at the bottom of the e-mail.

We send in chunks, but not small chunks.

We never have problems with Google or Yahoo.

We often have problems with AOL.

This is the first time I remember a problem with Microsoft.

The email comes from a different address than the one you list.  I believe it's:

216.14.187.167

Bob usually handles mail problems, but he's watching baseball games on the West Coast right now.

Thanks again.

[Hendrik]

Yeah some mail servers are particularly picky on standards compliance for sending mails, especially in bulk. Something for Bob to look at when he is back.

[Vincent Kars]

Recently a lot of my emails bounced, not because of the bulk (53 residents) but because my ISP was blacklisted for sending to much spam by some mailservers

[bob]

Since we source email from 3 different IP's (depending on function) it seems to me there is a blanket block in place.

[Vocalpoint]

Since we source email from 3 different IP's (depending on function) it seems to me there is a blanket block in place.

Bob,

Another possible cause for the sudden blocking "could" be Canada's new anti-spam laws. If any of your Canadian targets has complained about your emails - that could have a drastic effect on your ability to send emails like this.

Per the new laws up here - ALL vendors regardless of who they are or what they sell - were required to send a specifically worded email asking for my permission to send their marketing emails. From what I understand - this was strictly limited to Canadian based vendors per the rules - but it had to be done on or before July 1.

If any Canadian vendor did not send a request for "permission"...and they continued to send unsolicited mail and a complaint was filed - the fines could be massive and the ability to send email very difficult.

I am fairly certain this has no bearing on US vendors but I must assume that Microsoft would take this law very seriously as the fines can be in the millions for continued spam abuse. They may be blocking just to ensure they can't get dragged into an uncomfortable situation.

It may be nothing or it maybe something....

VP

[JimH]

I looked for information on Canada.  I found this on a Canadian government site:

I'm a legitimate business owner who uses bulk email to reach my customers. How will I be affected by these new anti-spam measures?
Legitimate businesses that use email to market their products to Canadians should not be negatively impacted by this law. The regime to allow for email marketing is based on a consumer opt-in approach, which stipulates that businesses must get consent prior to sending commercial email or have a pre-existing business relationship with a consumer.

We have an "opt in" list, since it is composed of:

1.  Customers who gave us their e-mail address when purchasing software.

2.  Inquiries who gave us their e-mail address (not required) when downloading trial software.

In every outbound e-mail, we include an easy way to unsubscribe.  We also process any requests manually.

[Vocalpoint]

We have an "opt in" list

Jim,

I realize that you logically think that because I have accepted email from JRiver in the past and am a very satisified customer that this automatically = "opt-in". But that's not what the spam law defines it as.

Case in point - I have numerous vendors that I deal with - from all over the place. I have received license keys, marketing blasts and so on for many years - but as soon as our spam law was about to come into play - in May and June 2014 - ALL of my Canadian based vendors had to actually send me a special "opt-in" email that was in compliance with the spam law and expressly gave them permission to continue sending me email.

This is not the same as what you describe (Customer gives email, unsubscribe link and so on). Basically - just because I allowed a vendor to interface with me for 5 years prior to July 1, 2014 - does not give them the right to keep doing it AFTER July 1 - without my permission.

Clearly - this would not apply to JRiver as you are a US based vendor - but clearly there is something going on with you and Microsoft.

Also - I have complained to the Canadian GOV about several other US based IT vendors that somehow got my work email address and were spamming the crap out of me - but the emails from them suddenly (and violently) stopped almost overnight after the complaints were filed.

I do not know what the government did but my spam from these clowns at work has dwindled to a very low ebb - where it was out of control on June 30 and prior.

Hope you get this sorted.

VP

[Hendrik]

If you have bought a product, doesn't that count as a preexisting business relationship then?

[JimH]

It does.  

Even a download establishes a relationship.  It's like someone walking into a retail store to try on shoes, and voluntarily leaving their name and address.  That is a business relationship, even when it doesn't result in a purchase.

[Vocalpoint]

Even a download establishes a relationship.  It's like someone walking into a retail store to try on shoes, and voluntarily leaving their name and address.  That is a business relationship, even when it doesn't result in a purchase.

Well - it may have established a "relationship" in Canada prior to July 1 - but not today.

Seems that (Canadian vendors for now) need my permission via separate (and specific) email to send me anything now. An "opt out" link does not cut it anymore. And we all know what "opt out" links really do - just gives the sender a valid email to use for other purposes.

In May/June 2014 - I got at least 30 specific requests to grant my permission for a vendor to continue sending me anything - regardless if I bought anything from them or accepted any email from them in the distant past. It's a very serious law with serious implications if not taken seriously. I guess us Canucks are finally fed up with all the crap.

Not sure how far this new law stretches to Canadian email servers (or others) - but it's logically to assume that if a Canadian user complained about a US vendor that would not give up spamming - something is bound to happen.

VP

[JimH]

Can we send you mail?

[Vocalpoint]

Can we send you mail?

I haven't received anything from you guys in a while.

Used to get updates from the forum on subscribed threads but that seems to have stopped in the last couple weeks. Last one for a forum topic notify is from 8/6/14.

My main account is on Outlook.com so it's not surprising that it stopped if MS is blocking you.

VP

[JimH]

That means you won't be able to have your licenses mailed to you.

[Vocalpoint]

That means you won't be able to have your licenses mailed to you.

Luckily I got my v20 license before the "freeze". That said - I won't be changing email providers simply because you guys have been possibly blacklisted.

I am hopeful you will find a way to get your marketing lists corrected and back in action soon.

VP

[JimH]

... get your marketing lists corrected ...

I don't think this is a JRiver issue.  It is a Microsoft issue.

[Vocalpoint]

I don't think this is a JRiver issue.  It is a Microsoft issue.

Fair enough. Either way - I hope it gets sorted.

VP