554: rejected for breaking GMX guidelines
GMX refused the message permanently because the connection broke its guidelines. GMX points to its requirements page and asks for the full error message if the problem continues.
- GMX, WEB.DE
- Provider
- Permanent (5xx)
- Class
- Sources checked
- Author
At a glance
- Code
- 554
- Provider
- GMX, WEB.DE and mail.com
- Temporary or permanent
- PermanentRefused for good: the message comes back to the sender, and resending it gets the same answer.
- Who has to act
- The sender. The fix is on the sending side: your domain, your server or your list.
- What the server says
554 Transaction failed
What it means
Case r0010 is a permanent rejection GMX applies in certain cases where a connection violates its guidelines. It is the 554 counterpart of the temporary case r0011. The case page does not say which guideline was broken, so the work is on your side: prevent misuse of your system, make sure you meet the GMX requirements and recommendations, and only then write to the postmaster team. GMX asks for the full error message as text, since the last line of the reply holds the details its team needs to look the case up.
Common causes
- Your system does not meet one of the GMX requirements for senders.
- Traffic from your system looked like abuse, such as spam or unwanted connections.
- A compromised account or open relay on your system is sending on its own.
How to fix it
- 01Read the GMX requirements and recommendations and check each point against your setup.
- 02Stop any unwanted outbound traffic and secure the accounts and services that sent it.
- 03Resend only after the cause is fixed, since the message will not be retried.
- 04If the rejections continue, contact GMX through the form on the case page with the full error message in text form.
Sources
What this page rests on, checked on 20 Oct 2026. The explanation is ours; the reply text is the server's.
- GMX Postmaster case r0010: 554 Transaction failed, Reject due to policy restrictionspostmaster.gmx.net
- Error messages (GMX Postmaster)postmaster.gmx.net
Related codes
- 451Temporary reject for misuse or guideline violations.GMX deferred your mail with a 451 because of an exceptional blocklist or a breach of its sending guidelines. The message is retried, but the cause has to be removed first.
- 554Transaction failed.The server permanently refused the transaction, often after receiving the message data or straight away when the connection opened.
554 at other providers
- 554Permanent rejection (554).Yahoo or AOL rejected the message for good with a 554. Yahoo uses this code for several problems, from failed authentication to unacceptable content, so the wording of the reply tells you which.
- 554Failed authentication.Yahoo or AOL refused the message because it failed the checks that confirm the sending domain, such as DKIM against the domain's policy. Yahoo lists this among its permanent 553 and 554 errors.
- 554Recipient does not exist.The Yahoo or AOL account you wrote to does not exist. The failure is permanent: check the address with the recipient, and remove it from any list.
- 554No reverse DNS (PTR) record.Xfinity refused the connection because your sending IP has no PTR record. Every server sending to Xfinity needs valid reverse DNS, so the owner of the IP must add one.
- 554No reverse DNS for your IP.IONOS refused your mail because the IP address of your mail server has no domain name assigned to it in DNS (no PTR record).
- 554Reverse DNS does not meet IONOS policy.IONOS refused your mail because the PTR record of your IP does not meet its policy, typically a generic or dynamic-looking provider name.
Further reading
All 57 GMX, WEB.DE codesEvery code in the wikiPaste your own bounce