Messages from eBay aren't being delivered

Problem reported by Michael - 3/21/2023 at 4:35 PM

Submitted

We have a new support ticket open on this, but I thought I'd reach out to the Community also to see if anyone has or has had this issue. We see eBay mail servers disconnecting from our Smarter Mail server during handshake and thus the message isn't delivered. These are mostly eBay user communications reaching out using the members.ebay.com messaging tools.

Here's an example from our SMTP logs.

There is no delivery, so there is no DELIVERY log.

eBay tries a number of times to connect/deliver. But it is never successful.

Even if the Smarter Mail SMTP-In setting “Continue delivery if session is disconnected by client” enabled, the messages are still not delivering.

Maybe part of the issue is that eBay is disconnecting in 30 seconds and it expects something to happen by then?

connected at 3/21/2023 1:43:08 PM

disconnected at 3/21/2023 1:43:38 PM

[2023.03.21] 13:43:08.266 [-][60729532] rsp: 220 mail.sm-server-domain.com

[2023.03.21] 13:43:08.266 [-][60729532] connected at 3/21/2023 1:43:08 PM

[2023.03.21] 13:43:08.266 [-][60729532] Country code: US

[2023.03.21] 13:43:08.286 [-][60729532] cmd: EHLO mxphxpool1015.ebay.com

[2023.03.21] 13:43:08.287 [-][60729532] rsp: 250-mail.sm-server-domain.com Hello [XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX]250-SIZE 34952533250-AUTH CRAM-MD5250-STARTTLS250-8BITMIME250-DSN250 OK

[2023.03.21] 13:43:08.308 [-][60729532] cmd: STARTTLS

[2023.03.21] 13:43:08.308 [-][60729532] rsp: 220 Start TLS negotiation

[2023.03.21] 13:43:08.372 [-][60729532] cmd: EHLO mxphxpool1015.ebay.com

[2023.03.21] 13:43:08.373 [-][60729532] rsp: 250-mail.sm-server-domain.com Hello [XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX]250-SIZE 34952533250-AUTH LOGIN CRAM-MD5250-8BITMIME250-DSN250 OK

[2023.03.21] 13:43:08.393 [-][60729532] cmd: MAIL From:yyyyyyyyy@members.ebay.com SIZE=33677

[2023.03.21] 13:43:08.394 [-][60729532] senderEmail(1): yyyyyyyyy@members.ebay.com parsed using: yyyyyyyyy@members.ebay.com

[2023.03.21] 13:43:38.422 [-][60729532] disconnected at 3/21/2023 1:43:38 PM

[2023.03.21] 13:43:49.969 [-][60729532] rsp: 250 OK yyyyyyyyy@members.ebay.com Sender ok

[2023.03.21] 13:43:49.969 [-][60729532] Sender accepted. Weight: 10. Block threshold: 40. Failed checks: SPAMHAUS - ZEN (10,failed)

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Kyle Kerst Replied

3/22/2023 at 6:53 AM

Employee Post

Hello Michael! This does appear to be a timeout during the MAIL FROM command, which is usually due to DNS delays while we're trying to do an RDNS check on the sender and verify SPF and whatnot. Can you try changing your DNS servers to the ones below? These settings are found in Settings>General:

1.1.1.1 (Cloudflare DNS)

8.8.8.8 (Google DNS)

Please let me know if that helps!

Kyle Kerst IT Coordinator SmarterTools Inc. www.smartertools.com

Michael Replied

3/22/2023 at 9:53 AM

Kyle, I guess I'd wonder why only eBay would be having this issue? We have no other DNS resolution issues with any other server/provider.

Kyle Kerst Replied

3/22/2023 at 10:39 AM

Employee Post

I'm betting its something to do specifically with the from domain. Do you see the same delay if you do an RDNS/PTR lookup on that domain from the server itself via nslookup? If not, there may be some difference between the DNS servers being used at the system (Windows) and SmarterMail levels.

Kyle Kerst IT Coordinator SmarterTools Inc. www.smartertools.com

Michael Replied

3/22/2023 at 11:29 AM

from domain is "members.ebay.com"

running the prt lookup using nslookup returns results in under 1 second on the server

> type=ptr members.ebay.com

Server: members.ebay.com

Addresses: 209.140.136.136

209.140.139.241

209.140.141.23

So I'm not so sure it's a DNS issue.

Perhaps more about how Smarter Mail handles the particular response from eBay?

I'm curious if anyone else sees similar issues.

It can be replicated using the contact seller tools from ebay so long as ebay is mailing a smarter mail server.

Kyle Kerst Replied

3/22/2023 at 12:49 PM

Employee Post

Are you using those DNS servers in SmarterMail, or do you have others configured? We'll use what's in SmarterMail first, then move to the network card DNS afterward. Curious if others are seeing this too!

Kyle Kerst IT Coordinator SmarterTools Inc. www.smartertools.com

Michael Replied

3/22/2023 at 1:57 PM

Smarter Mail's Primary and Secondary DNS settings in "Settings | General | Server Info" are blank, thus I believe Smarter Mail is using the machines default DNS servers. Again, all is working well... except messages received by eBay.

If this was a DNS resolution issue. Wouldn't the Smarter Mail logs say so someplace?

Zach Sylvester Replied

3/22/2023 at 3:14 PM

Employee Post

Hey Michael,

Based on this log that you shared.

[2023.03.21] 13:43:08.393 [-][60729532] cmd: MAIL From:yyyyyyyyy@members.ebay.com SIZE=33677
[2023.03.21] 13:43:08.394 [-][60729532] senderEmail(1): yyyyyyyyy@members.ebay.com parsed using: yyyyyyyyy@members.ebay.com
[2023.03.21] 13:43:38.422 [-][60729532] disconnected at 3/21/2023 1:43:38 PM
[2023.03.21] 13:43:49.969 [-][60729532] rsp: 250 OK

It looks like SmarterMail was doing Spam checks on the Address however, eBay gave up and disconnected 10 seconds too soon. This reminds me of a bug that we have that has since been fixed in beta. Can you please go to Settings->Antispam->Spam checks and then disable SPF for inbound SMTP checking?
After doing this please let me know if the issue continues.

Regards,

Zach Sylvester Software Developer SmarterTools Inc. www.smartertools.com

Michael Replied

3/24/2023 at 12:11 PM

Disable SPF for inbound SMTP checking does not solve the issue. eBay messages continue not to arrive.

[2023.03.24] 11:50:09.888 [XX][51207301] disconnected at 3/24/2023 11:50:09 AM

[2023.03.24] 11:50:19.514 [XX7][51207301] rsp: 250 OK <ebay@ebay.com> Sender ok

[2023.03.24] 11:50:19.514 XX][51207301] Sender accepted. Weight: 10. Block threshold: 40. Failed checks: SPAMHAUS - ZEN (10,failed)

I'm concerned because log shows:

Block threshold: 40

and (10,failed)

Block threshhold is the SMTP Blocking score threshold set under SMTP Blocking at Settings->Antispam

And so I can turn that off?

And then why does it show 10,failed

What is failing?

In the SMTP checks log I see:

[2023.03.24] 11:49:39.870 [[Sess: 51207301]] [XXX] Valid reverse DNS entry found: mxphxpool2012.ebay.com

Michael Replied

3/24/2023 at 6:17 PM

Update: I've turned OFF:

1. SPF inbound SMTP.

2. Under options I've turned off the buttons under SMTP blocking for Inbound Weight and Greylisting weight.

When taking BOTH actions we get the buyer/seller communications emails from ebay as normal.

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