How to Remove Your IP Address from the Yahoo!’s Blacklist

Can’t send emails to Yahoo! subscribers? It’s highly possible that your sending IP address was blacklisted by this provider.

Users of Yahoo!, Google, Hotmail, and other major mailbox providers are often victims of spammers. Mailbox providers are forced to introduce filters and blacklists to protect their users from unsolicited emails.

Why Your Email Can Be Rejected by Yahoo!

Yahoo! does not disclose specific information about their email filtering practices. But like most mailbox providers, Yahoo! looks at the sender’s IP reputation to decide if an email should go through and where it should be placed.

Here are the factors that impact the sender reputation:

IPs listed in Spamhaus and other spam databases
Bounce rates
Complaint rates
Spam trap hits
Changes in email volume
User engagement

Typical behavior that leads to blacklisting issues is:

– Compromised user accounts used to send spam.
– Bulk emailing from mailing lists, newsletters, forums and blogs (even if they are opt-in).
– Bulk emailing to unconfirmed subscribers.
– Bulk forwarding of spam emails to Yahoo! users.

The last one is often overlooked. If you forward an email to a Yahoo! address and you then mark it as spam, Yahoo! will penalize your server. This problem is often seen with shared hosting servers. Some users may just forward all of their emails to Yahoo!. These are often junk accounts that receive tons of spam messages.

Your Yahoo! Blacklist Investigation Process

Unlike public blacklists, you cannot simply check an IP at Yahoo! to see if it is blacklisted. Typically, the only way you know your IP is blacklisted and your email is rejected by Yahoo! is when you receive a bounce message like this:

421 4.7.0 [TS01] Messages from <1.2.3.4> temporarily deferred due to user complaints
<1.2.3.4> ;see http://postmaster.yahoo.com/421-ts01.html

553 5.7.1 [BL21] Connections will not be accepted from 1.2.3.4,
	because the ip is in Spamhaus's list; 
see http://postmaster.yahoo.com/550-bl23.html

You can use the GlockApps Bounce Monitor to track bounces and look for rejected emails from Yahoo!.

Check this list of Yahoo!’s SMTP Error Codes so you know exactly why you are unable to deliver emails:

SMTP Error	Diagnostic Error Message	Description
421	421 Message temporarily deferred – [numeric code]	The message content contained objectionable content, we’re seeing unusual traffic from your servers, or emails from your mail server are generating complaints from Yahoo Mail users.
421	421 4.7.0 [TS01] Messages from x.x.x.x temporarily deferred due to user complaints – 4.16.55	We’re seeing unusual traffic patterns from your server.
421	421 4.7.0 [TS02] Messages from x.x.x.x temporarily deferred due to user complaints – 4.16.55	We’re seeing unusual traffic patterns from your server or your mailings are generating complaints from Yahoo Mail users.
421	421 4.7.1 [TS03] Messages from x.x.x.x permanently deferred. Retrying will NOT succeed	We’re seeing a high volume of e-mails from your server that are indicative of unsolicited mailings.
451	451 Resources temporarily not available – Please try again later [numeric code]	This error indicates that our servers were busy and temporarily unable to process your transaction at the time of connection.
451	451 VS1-IP Excessive unknown recipients – possible Open Relay (#4.1.8)	Your mail server is configured as an open relay or proxy.
451	451 VS1-MF Excessive unknown recipients – possible Open Relay (#4.4.5)	The senders MAIL FROM address has been sending to excessive bouncing accounts (non-active, don’t exist). Review your mailing lists, and remove any addresses that generate bounces.
553	553 5.7.1 [BLXX] Connections not accepted from IP addresses on Spamhaus PBL	The sending IP is listed on a Spamhaus blacklist. You can check your status on Spamhaus’ site
554	554 Message not allowed – [numeric code]	Your emails have become deprioritized due to the message content triggering our filters. We ask that you review the email’s header and message content for potentially objectionable content.
554	Delivery error: dd This user doesn’t have a yahoo.com account (******@yahoo.com) [-5] – mta1126.mail.gq1.yahoo.com [BODY]	The Yahoo account that you’re trying to send to doesn’t exist. We recommend that you contact the recipient directly to confirm their correct email address.
554	554 5.7.9 Message not accepted for policy reasons	Your message wasn’t delivered because Yahoo was unable to verify that it came from a legitimate email sender.

If your IP was blacklisted, there is a reason for it. If you don’t find and fix that reason, you will be blacklisted again. Before you try to request removal, be sure to analyze your server to find out why you were listed in the first place.

If you have found the problem, then simply wait. In many cases, the block is removed in under 48 hours.

How to Request Removal from the Yahoo!’s Blacklist

Before contacting Yahoo! make sure that your DNS settings are in order, in particular:

Reverse DNS resolves to a hostname.
SPF is valid.
DKIM is working properly.
The hostname has a A record.

DNS is one of the most critical elements in email delivery, so always check and fix DNS issues as they could be why your emails are rejected in the first place.

Now you can start the removal process.

1. Get Removed from Spamhaus

Yahoo! uses Spamhaus. Make sure your IP is not listed there. If it is, then you need to request removal from Spamhaus before you contact Yahoo!.

You may find that once you are removed from Spamhaus, Yahoo! will start delivering your emails again.

2. Complete the Yahoo! Sender Form

No matter how many emails you send, you will need to complete the Yahoo! Sender Form.

Though some fields are optional, it is recommended to provide as much information as possible, especially, in the “Additional information” area.

You will want to explain in 2-3 sentences what you did to fix the reason for email rejections. Keep it short and technical. The Yahoo! postmaster staff receives a hundred of requests daily, so being short and to the point helps get removed from the Yahoo! blacklist.

Visit the Yahoo! postmaster page to find more information about the Yahoo! best email standards and deliverability troubleshooting tips.

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