Introduction

Have you ever had your vendor emails bouncing, or your vendors not finding your emails in their inbox? Typically these bounces happen either because of a mistake in the contact details or for other outside factors. Therefore, often it is outside of Onport's control to debug it. This article outlines the actions that you can take to either fix or understand why a bounce has happened.

Hard and soft bounces

Firstly, it’s important to understand that there are different types of bounces.

Hard bounces happen when an email cannot be delivered for a permanent reason, such as the email address being invalid. Fixing a hard bounce requires a change.

Soft bounces however mean that the address was valid and the email reached the server, but for other factors, it got bounced. In the cases of soft bounces, change may not be required.

Checking bounced emails In Onport

You can retrieve a list of all your bounced emails to vendors in Onport. Go to the Dropship Providers > tab and click > Bounced emails.

Actions you can take when an email bounces

• Check the address: One of the most common reasons for hard bounces is that the email address is invalid or has a misspelled domain. Do double-check all your contact details before sending an email.
  
  
• Validate your list: As incorrect/outdated addresses are usually the main reason for bounces, it is a good practice to clean and update your contacts list on a regular basis. You might want to use a third-party tool to validate your email list (https://www.mailgun.com/blog/bulk-validations-accurate-fast/) to save time and ensure accuracy.
  
  
• Contact your vendor: Many of the soft bounces are caused by a variety of issues that can be on the receiver’s side, such as their server being currently down, or their inbox being full. Also, it might be that they have certain restrictions that mark your emails as spam. If you have another way of contacting your vendor, do so to find out what is causing the bounce.
  
  
• Check your sending limits: There may be certain limitations when sending emails, such as when sending too many emails at a time. For example, your email service provider might have placed limits on your account, in which case you should contact them directly. Also, your vendors may not have consented to receive emails from you, which can create a limitation.