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Yahoo and AOL · permanent error

554: permanent 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.

Yahoo
Provider
Permanent (5xx)
Class
Sources checked
By , email deliverability consultant
Author

At a glance

Code
554
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 it means

Yahoo documents 554 with 553 as its permanent errors, without saying which reasons go with which code: an invalid recipient address, a failed DMARC or DKIM check for your sending domain, content Yahoo will not accept for policy reasons, other suspicious behaviour, and a sending IP listed by Spamhaus. It also names 554 as the permanent form of an unresolvable sender domain, among its other policy errors, and in its sample bounce for an account that does not exist. Content blocks are labelled with codes that begin PH and cover viruses, phishing, ransomware, other malicious software and links to any of these; Yahoo does not publish what each PH number means. Retrying the same message fails the same way, so read the reply and fix the cause first.

Common causes

  • The message contains, or links to, a virus, a phishing page, ransomware or other malicious software.
  • The message failed authentication against your domain's DMARC or DKIM policy.
  • Your sending IP is listed by Spamhaus, or Yahoo saw behaviour suspicious enough to reject the connection.
  • The recipient address is not valid, or the sender domain could not be resolved.

How to fix it

  1. 01Do not retry the message. Read the full reply for the reason and any code in square brackets.
  2. 02If the code starts PH, check every link and attachment, including tracking, redirect and shortened links, and remove anything that leads to malicious content.
  3. 03Confirm that SPF, DKIM and DMARC pass and align with the From domain, and check your sending IP on Spamhaus.
  4. 04If you did not write the message, examine your outbound queue for abuse and secure the account or server that sent it.
  5. 05Remove addresses the reply reports as invalid, then send a corrected message instead of retrying the original.

Sources

What this page rests on, checked on 20 Oct 2026. The explanation is ours; the reply text is the server's.

  1. 553Permanent rejection (553).Yahoo or AOL rejected the message for good with a 553. Yahoo groups 553 with 554 as its permanent errors, so retrying will not help until the cause is fixed.YahooPermanent
  2. 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.YahooPermanent
  3. 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.YahooPermanent
  4. 550Refused for a header or address problem.Yahoo or AOL refused the message for a policy reason tied to its headers, its addresses or the sending domain's DNS. Yahoo lists these as other policy errors, sent as 550 or 554.YahooPermanent
  5. 554Transaction failed.The server permanently refused the transaction, often after receiving the message data or straight away when the connection opened.StandardPermanent

554 at other providers

  1. 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.ComcastPermanent
  2. 554Rejected 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.DEPermanent
  3. 554IP address on the GMX blocklist.Your sending IP is on a blocklist that GMX manages itself, so its servers refuse the connection. GMX keeps a strict no tolerance policy toward spam.GMX, WEB.DEPermanent
  4. 554IP address on a Spamhaus blocklist.GMX refused the connection because your sending IP is listed on a Spamhaus blocklist. GMX makes no exceptions; the listing has to be removed at Spamhaus.GMX, WEB.DEPermanent
  5. 554Reverse DNS does not meet GMX requirements.GMX refused the connection because the reverse DNS (PTR) record of your IP looks generic or dynamic. GMX expects a fixed IP with its own mail host name.GMX, WEB.DEPermanent
  6. 554No reverse DNS for your IP.GMX refused the connection because the IP address of your mail server has no PTR record, so it is not tied to any domain name in DNS.GMX, WEB.DEPermanent

Further reading

All 7 Yahoo codesEvery code in the wikiPaste your own bounce

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