Total frustration

[Joanna]

A man recently won 3 of my auctions, the last ending today. I wrote up an email giving him the final tally with total cost, shipping and insurance. I sent the email and it was immediately bounced by his server because his freaking ISP isn't talking to my ISP. Or in the bounce notice's words "MAIL FORGED WITH Joanna's.NET IS BEING REJECTED BY Customer's.COM".

 

I wrote a letter to his ISP, hoping to clear this up, but who knows how long that's going to take. Meanwhile, my "fast, friendly communication" is being compromised! Argh!

 

So I went to ebay to send the notice through their service. That just bounced as well!

 

I just sent it again using the email I got with my web page (mac.com). My fingers are crossed that this one might work. I doubt hotmail will work -- if they're blocking a large, established cable internet company's ISP (my addy) because of spam, why would they allow the oft-abused hotmail? I'm just hoping mac.com isn't blocked as well.

 

Is anyone else running into this with the new, more aggressive spam blockers? I've had it happen before with ebay customers (with my old addy) and it is incredibly frustrating.

 

-- Joanna

[greggy]

How about sending them a PAYPAL invoice?

[Joanna]

How about sending them a PAYPAL invoice?

 

Because I wanted to send a letter. It's not just about "here are the figures", it's about speaking one to one with the customer. With a personal touch, I generate a lot of business. People who would've stopped buying start looking in my store (I lead them there), or cruising more of my auctions. A Paypal invoice gets the immediate business done, but a personal letter can lead to so much more.

 

-- Joanna

[greggy]

Can't you add comments with the invoice?

[Bugaboo-migration]

You could request his contact/phone information from ebay and give him a call to explain what's happening.

[Joanna]

Can't you add comments with the invoice?

 

Probably. But can I guarantee he'll read them? Comments in an invoice are very easy to miss. The focus is on the math, and that's what people look at. I'm sure some read the entire invoice, searching to see if there's a note, but not everyone.

 

I wanted to send an email. An email is the format that serves my purposes. Why should sending an email be made so terribly difficult? Why would some podunk ISP reject all the mail that comes from a large, legitimate ISP? It's not like it's a spam-only ISP. I'm with adelphia.net. There are tons of legitimate customers who use this service, either via phone lines or cable. I used to be with pacbell.net, and the same thing happened to me then. Again, a large, legitimate DSL service.

 

It just ticks me off, that's all.

 

-- Joanna

[PovertyRow]

You could request his contact/phone information from ebay and give him a call to explain what's happening.

 

Watch out! Bugs tring to impress the chick! ::ducking from Joanna::

[Shield]

A man recently won 3 of my auctions, the last ending today. I wrote up an email giving him the final tally with total cost, shipping and insurance. I sent the email and it was immediately bounced by his server because his freaking ISP isn't talking to my ISP. Or in the bounce notice's words "MAIL FORGED WITH Joanna's.NET IS BEING REJECTED BY Customer's.COM".

 

I wrote a letter to his ISP, hoping to clear this up, but who knows how long that's going to take. Meanwhile, my "fast, friendly communication" is being compromised! Argh!

 

So I went to ebay to send the notice through their service. That just bounced as well!

 

I just sent it again using the email I got with my web page (mac.com). My fingers are crossed that this one might work. I doubt hotmail will work -- if they're blocking a large, established cable internet company's ISP (my addy) because of spam, why would they allow the oft-abused hotmail? I'm just hoping mac.com isn't blocked as well.

 

Is anyone else running into this with the new, more aggressive spam blockers? I've had it happen before with ebay customers (with my old addy) and it is incredibly frustrating.

 

-- Joanna

 

 

It's because of how bad the spam problem has gotten. At work, I have our email server do a reverse DNS lookup before emails are allowed to receive (so joe blow can't load Exchange on a server and spam from just an IP address). The problem is your ISP's mail server is either an open relay or has been noted as spam host.

If you like, feel free to send me the email and the send to address, I have 4 non commercial valid email hosts I can send it from.

 

Thanks,

 

 

[Shield]

Can't you add comments with the invoice?

 

Probably. But can I guarantee he'll read them? Comments in an invoice are very easy to miss. The focus is on the math, and that's what people look at. I'm sure some read the entire invoice, searching to see if there's a note, but not everyone.

 

I wanted to send an email. An email is the format that serves my purposes. Why should sending an email be made so terribly difficult? Why would some podunk ISP reject all the mail that comes from a large, legitimate ISP? It's not like it's a spam-only ISP. I'm with adelphia.net. There are tons of legitimate customers who use this service, either via phone lines or cable. I used to be with pacbell.net, and the same thing happened to me then. Again, a large, legitimate DSL service.

 

It just ticks me off, that's all.

 

-- Joanna

 

I hadn't noticed you were from adelphia.net. I believe they are flagged as an open relay.

 

Some investigation shows they are/were at some point recently:

 

LINK

 

It's your ISP's problem, not yours.

[greggy]

What's an open relay?

[BachelorOfComix]

What's an open relay?

Your arse.........

[Bugaboo-migration]

What's an open relay?

Your arse.........

[Joanna]

I hadn't noticed you were from adelphia.net. I believe they are flagged as an open relay.

 

As greggy asked, what's an open relay?

[Joanna]

 

 

If you like, feel free to send me the email and the send to address, I have 4 non commercial valid email hosts I can send it from.

 

 

Thank you. So far, I haven't gotten the mac.com mail back, so I'm hoping that went through. If I don't hear anything (I asked him to tell me if he got my note), I'll take you up on your offer.

 

Sasslefrassle openrelay whatevertheheckthatmeans.

 

-- Joanna

[Joanna]

You could request his contact/phone information from ebay and give him a call to explain what's happening.

 

Yeah, I thought of that, but I'd prefer to do this via email. My voice is so intensely sexy that he would instantly become a stalker.

 

-- Joanna

[BigMan]

Hey Joanna, when you tired to send it through eBay did it just give you his email address and you copied and pasted the letter to the address again? If thats what you did try contacting him through ebay but not through your auctions. Just click on his feedback number find a old item either bought or sold click on that and then on his ID again. Send him the message that way by the Question for ebay member method hopefully he will get that.

[Joanna]

Hey Joanna, when you tired to send it through eBay did it just give you his email address and you copied and pasted the letter to the address again? If thats what you did try contacting him through ebay but not through your auctions. Just click on his feedback number find a old item either bought or sold click on that and then on his ID again. Send him the message that way by the Question for ebay member method hopefully he will get that.

 

Nah, I'm not that dopey! I contacted him through an old auction win I found in his feedback. Copying and pasting his email addy wouldn't have accomplished a thing because it was the same addy I had been sending to. Naturally, I checked just in case he had a different address on ebay than the mail he'd sent me.

 

-- Joanna

 

 

[BigMan]

Hey Joanna, when you tired to send it through eBay did it just give you his email address and you copied and pasted the letter to the address again? If thats what you did try contacting him through ebay but not through your auctions. Just click on his feedback number find a old item either bought or sold click on that and then on his ID again. Send him the message that way by the Question for ebay member method hopefully he will get that.

 

Nah, I'm not that dopey! I contacted him through an old auction win I found in his feedback. Copying and pasting his email addy wouldn't have accomplished a thing because it was the same addy I had been sending to. Naturally, I checked just in case he had a different address on ebay than the mail he'd sent me.

 

-- Joanna

 

Ok just checking if you tried the other method

[Joanna]

 

Ok just checking if you tried the other method

 

 

It was a valid point. Thank you for making sure.

 

-- Joanna

[Dave_Hennen]

What's an open relay?

 

An open relay is a mail server that accepts and forwards email without authenticating the sender or verifying they are sourcing from the domain the mail server is serving.

 

So Joe Blow can write any address in the from field. A message from GWBush@whitehouse.gov for example is more likely to be read than JoeBlow@spammer.com. The open relay email server happily forwards the message or millions of them in which case it's a spammers delight.

 

There are organizations out there who track and publish "Black Lists" of these naughty boxes and publish that info for ISPs to use in an effort to filter spam which sometimes causes problems for legit users as you've discovered

 

dave h