A 554 email error is sometimes thought of as a catch-all of email errors. It is generally used when there is a generic delivery failure that another email error code doesn’t directly define a problem for.

Some mail servers also use a 554 error even if there is a specific error code that defines what went wrong already.

You should receive a bounce-back message from the server with a variation of email error 554 in the subject, and the body should contain your original message that you attempted to deliver.

Example bounce-back message

Common variations of the 554 email error

• 554 5.7.0 Message Size Violation
• 554 5.7.1 Message blocked due to spam content in the message
• 554 5.7.1 [P4] Message blocked due to spam content in the message.
• 554 5.7.1 <[email protected]>: Relay access denied</[email protected]>
• 554 5.7.9 Message not accepted for policy reasons.
• 554 RLY:B1
• 554 delivery error: dd This user doesn’t have a ymail.com account
• 554 Denied (Mode: normal)
• 554 Invalid recipient
• 554 Malformed mail denied!
• 554 Message is not RFC compliant; missing “Date” header
• 554 Message not allowed – [PH01] Email not accepted for policy reasons. Please visit https://postmaster.yahoo.com/errors/postmaster-27.html [120]
• 554 Message permanently rejected
• 554 Message refused
• 554 no valid recipients, bye
• 554 rejected due to spam content
• 554 rejected due to virus
• 554 <[email protected]>: Relay access denied</[email protected]>
• 554 Sorry, no mailbox here by that name.
• 554 Spam detected
• 554 Spam violation, the content of your e-mail contains illegal characters, re-sent after examination
• 554 Transaction Failed Spam Message not queued.554 Virus found, message permanently rejected (

  5.3.0)

Resolving a 554 email error bounceback

Because errors in the 554 series don’t always bounceback for a common reason, they could be either a hard or soft bounce. To better understand soft and hard bounces, and general email bounceback errors you can read why does email bounce, bounceback, or error?

In our example bounce-back error above the reason the message has failed is because an auto-reply was trying to be sent to an account that didn’t exist. So the RemoteDomain.com mail server responded back with a 554 Invalid recipient error.

SMTP error 554 indicates that the mail server did not accept the email. Several reasons typically cause this error:

1. Invalid Recipient Address - There are invalid recipient email addresses; in rare cases, the recipient email address may have been suspended or disabled.
2. Blocklisted IP Address - It indicates that the sender's IP Address might be within a blocklist; this may be because the sender can get flagged for sending spam or bulk emails.
3. Bad DNS Records - The recipient's email server rejects emails due to issues that it may see in the email server's DMARC, SPF, and DKIM for validating the sender.
4. SPF Record - The recipient may have configured SPF (Sender Policy Framework) to drop unwanted spam domains. The policy set by the recipient may be blocking the emails from being accepted by the recipient.
5. DKIM Record - DKIM records help a mail server verify whether a sender is legitimate. Some email servers reject emails if the sender doesn't have DKIM configured.
6. DMARC Record - DMARC records also help a recipient verify the authenticity of an email and its source; some email servers may reject emails if they identify invalid DMARC records.
7. Sender Flagged As Spam - Most email providers configure custom blocklists to drop potential spam users and domains; this can mean that the email address or domain falls into a blocklist, and the recipient drops all emails.
8. Email Violation Policy - Email service providers specify policies to ensure that emails must follow a particular set of criteria. The recipient can drop emails that are not according to the set policy.

Solution - Here's How To Resolve It

1. Invalid Recipient Address - Check if the email address(es) you are attempting to send the emails to is valid and if there are no spelling mistakes.
2. Blocklisted IP Address - The user must remove their IP Address or domain from public blocklists. You may use tools such as MXToolBox to verify if your domain is within any of these blocklists; this is possible by informing the blocklist owners.
3. Bad DNS Records - Make sure that the "DMARC," "SPF," and "DKIM" records configurations are valid.
4. SPF Record - Check with the recipient to verify if the email server or domain contains an SPF record and if so, check if this configuration blocks your domain.
5. DKIM Record - Check if the sender's DKIM record is valid.
6. DMARC Record - Check if the sender's DMARC record is valid.
7. Sender Flagged As Spam - Check if the sender's domains are marked as spam by the recipient or the recipient's email provider/server.
8. Email Violation Policy - Check with the recipient's email violation policy and adhere to the policy to resolve this issue.