What does the bounce message 'Recipient address rejected: Access denied' mean?

Email marketer from EmailAcademy explains that 'Recipient address rejected: Access denied' can indicate that the receiving server has blocked the sender's domain or IP address due to spam concerns, or because the email does not meet the server's security requirements.

Email marketer from Web Hosting Talk forum explains that this error message can be due to many reasons. It can be the recipient's server being down or not configured correctly or it may be a problem with the sender's email configuration.

Marketer from Email Geeks states they've always interpreted the 'Recipient address rejected: Access denied' bounce message as indicating an unknown user.

Marketer from Email Geeks shares their practice of adding addresses that generate this bounce to a block list to prevent future bounces.

Email marketer from SendPulse shares that a 'Recipient address rejected: Access denied' bounce means the receiving server actively refused to accept the email. This rejection can occur due to a variety of reasons, including security policies, anti-spam measures, or issues with the recipient's account.

Email marketer from Reddit, user 'jesse_b' responds that the error suggests the recipient's email server actively refused to accept the message. They note it is often a permanent rejection and the email address is invalid.

Email marketer from StackExchange, user 'JohnS' answers it means that the recipient server settings rejected the email address for possible spam. There may be sender restrictions in place.

Email marketer from Mailjet explains that a 'Recipient address rejected: Access denied' message is often returned as a hard bounce, this means there is a permanent reason an email cannot be delivered. It could be due to an invalid email address or the email address doesn't exist.

Marketer from Email Geeks identifies the bounce as a hard bounce from hybrid on-premise/Office 365 implementations, indicating the address doesn't exist at the gateway (Office 365). They note it can sometimes be a false positive.

Expert from Email Geeks says they have always treated 'recipient rejected - invalid user'.

Expert from Email Geeks suggests the bounce might be caused by a failure to look up the user in Active Directory, implying it could be a temporary issue. They also mention it can be caused if the user is forwarding mail and the forwarded address rejects it.

Expert from Email Geeks confirms, after contacting the recipient, that the person has left the company.

Expert from Word to the Wise explains that a 'Recipient address rejected: Access denied' error indicates the receiving server is refusing to accept email for the specified recipient. It can be due to the mailbox being full, the user being unknown on the system, or because of security settings implemented by the receiving server.

Expert from Spam Resource responds by saying the email may have been rejected due to security or policy measures by the recipients host

Expert from Email Geeks initially suggests the bounce message indicates a user unknown or spam block. They share the bounce message details and context, indicating they've seen similar bounces when someone has left a company.

Documentation from Postmark goes into detail about the different types of SMTP bounce codes which include the reason 'Recipient address rejected: Access denied', this is a permanent hard bounce due to a number of reasons from recipient doesn't exist to it being rejected for policy reasons.

Documentation from Exclaimer indicates that 'Recipient address rejected: Access denied' is generally categorised as a hard bounce, meaning the delivery failed due to a permanent issue. This is commonly due to the recipient's email address being invalid or non-existent.

Documentation from Microsoft Learn explains that 'Recipient address rejected: Access denied' can be related to Directory Based Edge Blocking (DBEB). DBEB blocks messages for recipients not present in the organization's directory, preventing directory harvesting attacks. It checks the recipient against the organization's directory before accepting the message.

Documentation from cPanel explains that a 'Recipient address rejected: Access denied' error typically indicates a problem with the recipient's email server or account. It can mean the recipient's mailbox is full, the user account is disabled, or the domain might not exist.