The eMail Integrity CompanyFrequently Asked Questions

The response should go to the (SMTP) Envelope Sender address not the REPLY TO address. RFC 3834 (see http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc3834.html for more details) offers some heuristics to identify incorrect bounces based on the local part (left hand side before the @) of the address in anon-empty Return-Path, and it even defines a mail header field Auto-Reply to identify auto replies. But the mail header is a part of the mail data (SMTP command DATA), and MTAs typically don’t look into the mail. They deal with the envelope, that includes the MAIL FROM address (aka 2821-From,envelope-From,reverse path) but not, e.g., the 2822-From in the mail header field.

In order to deal with this anomaly, we recommend creating a drop-contact under Web Interface > System > Contacts for the offending auto-responder. This will prevent any future auto-responses from being considered as a reply to a SAV request. Furthermore, it is helpful to contact the hostmaster at the domain associated with the auto-responder to notify them of this issue.