server's email going to spam for yahoo users, possible SPF issue?

Question

Our website is sending out email verifications to members who sign up with our service.

Yahoo is throwing our messages in the spam box and displaying this message in the headers:

Received-SPF: none (domain of -.com does not designate permitted sender hosts)

I'm pretty sure this is the reason why.

I added a text record to our DNS:

v=spf1 mx:smtp.secureserver.net +all

Maybe I didn't set it up right? The yahoo message remains.

Our email has html and text versions and has received a score of .07 on spamassassin, so I highly doubt that anything in the email content itself is throwing a flag.

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 19 '14 at 23:37

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synergyweight.com. 3600 IN TXT "v=spf1 mx:smtp.secureserver.net +all"

There are several issues with your SPF record.

The mx field matches the MX record of the given domain. smtp.secureserver.net does not have an MX record. You probably intended on using a:smtp.secureserver.net or mx:synergyweight.com.

The +all mechanism matches and passes anything, which undermines the purpose of having an SPF record in the first place. -all (fail) or ~all (softfail) would be better choices.

answered Feb 19 '14 at 23:37

Mark Sturgill

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thank you, I had the smtp wrong. It was a:smtpout.secureserver.net – prospector Feb 19 '14 at 23:53
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@Prospector After reading your other comments that provide more details on your specific scenario you probably want to use a rule like this: "v=spf1 a:synergyweight.com include:secureserver.net -all" – Mark Sturgill Feb 19 '14 at 23:54
@Prospector In any case GoDaddy should be able to provide you with the correct fields to include in your SPF record. – Michael Hampton Feb 20 '14 at 00:18

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 19 '14 at 23:33

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Your SPF record contains +all, which means that everyone on the Internet is permitted to send mail for your domain.

Since this is obviously ridiculous, it's treated as though you don't have an SPF record.

Perhaps you meant to use -all instead, meaning that no one except those you designated elsewhere in the SPF record can send mail for your domain.

answered Feb 19 '14 at 23:33

Michael Hampton

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thank you for pointing that out, I changed it and am testing at the moment – prospector Feb 19 '14 at 23:39
No, it doesn't. – Michael Hampton Feb 19 '14 at 23:44
I know it doesn't, but here is my concern. If I allow that IP address, how will I know that godaddy will not send out the next email from a different ip address? – prospector Feb 19 '14 at 23:49
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@Prospector You don't, so you probably want a rule like this: "v=spf1 a:synergyweight.com include:secureserver.net -all" – Mark Sturgill Feb 19 '14 at 23:49

server's email going to spam for yahoo users, possible SPF issue?

2 Answers2