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Wednesday, February 23, 2022

A conversation with Google support

 You’re connected with agent Grace.

3:59 PM
2-4213000032568

Hi Michael Tobis. Thanks for being a Google One member. My name is Grace. How are you today?
Grace · 3:59 PM
OK thanks
I'm getting emails from an account hosted elsewhere flagged by gmail.
Gmail could not verify that it actually came from electricstreet.art. Avoid clicking links, downloading attachments, or replying with personal information.
This is interfering with my relationships with customers and vendors
My hosting service says DKIM is set up correctly
4:01 PM
I see, don't worry we will check on that.
I’ll do my best to help you. If we can’t find a solution, I will collect feedback for our developers and give you an external resource you might be able to use.
Can you please provide me with a screenshot of the error message you were getting when trying to send email messages?
Grace · 4:04 PM
The messages go through but they are flagged as quoted above...
Checking, thanks.
Alright, may i know when this issue started? And are you getting the same message when trying to send to other recipients?
Grace · 4:09 PM
Yes, all email from electricstreet.art is being flagged in this way; I have such an account and my wife has another. This was working fine until last weekend.
I have admin privileges at the host. These emails have all been sent via gmail via the 3rd party host
4:11 PM
Okay, and may I know if this email is a G=suite account or under Google My business?
Grace · 4:12 PM
I have no idea...
4:13 PM
I mean this electricstreet.art account, is it a Workspace account?
Grace · 4:13 PM
My screen says "Google One" and I have a "Google My Business" account and I never have any idea what these terms mean.
4:15 PM
Alright, but the email you were having issues with is a Google My business email, right?
Sorry for the delays as I experience technical issues.
Grace · 4:20 PM
I'm sorry but I am confused. I manage a small business listing through Google My Business. I am looking to see if the emails are listed there, but I don't recall connecting any email to this listing.
The domain is managed by a2hosting
4:22 PM
Alright.
Grace · 4:22 PM
You guys are flagging emails from there suddenly and they don't see anything wrong on theor end
4:23 PM
Please check your emails (both body and signature) for spammy content e.g. lots of exclamation marks; "must read"; attention getting, large and/or gaudy coloured text; text the same colour as the background; tiny text; [almost] zero height images; links hidden under text, images or links with a different URL; etc. All or any of these may mark you as a spammer at Google.
Grace · 4:23 PM
Promise there is nothing. We are a very staid little business. We sell original artworks and we communicate in plain text.
But the domain extension is ".art"
I am thinking this may have been a mistake!
4:24 PM
I see.
Also, if your recipients have previously marked your email as Spam, Google will have learnt from this. The recipients will need to mark as "Not Spam".
Grace · 4:26 PM
Look, this isn't marked as spam, it is marked as "not authenticated"
4:27 PM
Okay.
MIchael, when you create or set up the gallerista@electricstreet.art email account, have you done this via Google My business?
Grace · 4:28 PM
no
Just through gmail settings
4:29 PM
Do you mean the gallerista@electricstreet.art is not an actual email?
Grace · 4:31 PM
It is an email account at a2hosting; gmail is set up to interface to it.
We send from gmail; it authenticates with a third party host; then other people's gmail accounts flag it as illegitimate.
Or, to be fair "unverified beware of the rabid tiger"
I *need* to know how to turn this off. Your help screen says something about DKIM, but DKIM is set up.
4:36 PM
Alright, here is what we are going to do since your emails seem to be business email accounts which I have limited access to, we have a separate team that can help you further with this.
I'll provide you with the contact link for better help.
Grace · 4:37 PM
I'm not sure that "business email accounts" is correct from your point of view. These are just accounts.
However if you wish to put me in touch with somone else I will be fine with trying again.
4:39 PM
Please try this contact link https://support.google.com/a/answer/1047213#contact=1.
Grace · 4:39 PM
I do not have a google workspace account
So that won't work
The hosting service says everything is OK on their end. I need to get Google to stop flagging me.
4:41 PM
Okay, however your email does not have a Gmail domain, so this might be the issue preventing me from digging deeper in sorting things out.
Kindly provide me the page where you originally created the email?
Grace · 4:43 PM
page?
This are ordinary gmail messages
4:44 PM
Yes, the site where you created gallerista@electricstreet.art account.
Grace · 4:44 PM
you mean the host service? a2hosting.com
4:44 PM
Checking,
Okay, I’d like to be respectful of your time and point you to the best resource to have your issue resolved. The Help Center is the same resource we’d use on our end.
I'll check possible reasons why your email is being flagged.
Grace · 4:48 PM
Authentication-Results: mx.google.com;
spf=softfail (google.com: domain of transitioning gallerista@electricstreet.art does not designate 209.85.161.48 as permitted sender) smtp.mailfrom=gallerista@electricstreet.art
Received-SPF: softfail (google.com: domain of transitioning gallerista@electricstreet.art does not designate 209.85.161.48 as permitted sender) client-ip=209.85.161.48;
4:48 PM
Michael, can you please try to send screenshot instead?
Grace · 4:49 PM
Of the headers?
I already sent a screenshot of the warning
4:49 PM
No, the authentication settings page.
Grace · 4:49 PM
here it is again
Look I found a clue "(google.com: domain of transitioning gallerista@electricstreet.art does not designate 209.85.161.48 as permitted sender"
I am not sure what you are looking for, though
My gmail settings for the account?
4:51 PM
Yes, the authentication results.
Grace · 4:51 PM
I am sorry, what do you mean?
4:52 PM
And upon further checking, if this is about more on email forwarding issues , just note that some email software or services change the envelope sender to your domain when forwarding messages. If the envelope sender is changed to your domain for forwarded spam, Gmail might learn that your domain sends spam. Gmail might treat future messages from your domain as spam.
I am referring to the authentication results that you have sent above, if you can send a screenshot instead of pasting the text.
Grace · 4:52 PM
Again, this isn't about spam. It's about "does not designate 209.85.161.48 as permitted sender"
4:53 PM
You can see possible reasons there why you are being flagged.
Grace · 4:54 PM
This is not being marked as spam
I'm sorry but I have already said this several times. This is not a spam filter issue.
I am asking how to resolve "does not designate 209.85.161.48 as permitted sende
4:56 PM
We have established that 209.85.161.48 belongs to Google. So what is happening seems to be that Google does not trust Google.
4:58 PM
It seems that this might have something to do with your email domain. Gmail doesn't accept allowlist requests from third-party email senders. We can't guarantee messages will pass Gmail’s spam filters.
Grace · 5:00 PM
This has nothing to do with spam.
Two different gmail loging have both started sending out error messages to my customers telling them to beware of me.
and my partner
Pretty much simultaneously.
Alright, let me further check on this.
Please allow me 3 - 5 minutes.
Grace · 5:06 PM
I guess I need an IP range to permit
5:06 PM
Let's see.
And when you try to send out using your personal email are you getting the same messages saying that it's been flagged?
Grace · 5:08 PM
no, if I use mtobis@gmail.com as far as I know there is no problem. The problem is pretty clearly authentication at a2hosting.com accourding to the link I found (through your excellent search engine!)
It appears I have to greenlight some google IP addresses
5:10 PM
Okay, thanks.
Thanks for patiently waiting.
Can we please try to add the email address in your contact and see if it's not blocked?
Grace · 5:17 PM
Again I don't understand your question
5:18 PM
Can we please try to add the email address in your contact?.
Grace · 5:20 PM
"the email address in your contact"? I do not know what you mean
You probably should be pointing me to https://support.google.com/a/answer/10684623?hl=en
5:23 PM
Oh, please try these steps.
Please open the email from the sender you want to add to your contacts.
Grace · 5:25 PM
I think you're typing into the wrong conversation at this point.
There is no "sender" other than myself
5:29 PM
I mean the recipient.
Then please tap the three dots icon to the right of the message.
Please let me know if you need more time.
Grace · 5:35 PM
You want me to open the headers of the message I sent?
5:35 PM
The email where you get the error message.
Grace · 5:36 PM
I have clicked the 3 dots
The sender doesn't see the message; the recipient does. I can give you either one as I have two accounts open in 2 browsers
5:36 PM
Then please click Add to Contacts list and it will be saved instantly.
Grace · 5:37 PM
I'm sorry, add whom to whose contacts?
5:38 PM
To your contact please.
Grace · 5:39 PM
The sender or the recipient? I have both accounts open.
But I do not have access to the account of my customers and vendors, so cannot add a contact. Further, this will not resolve the issue with the SPF record.
This is not a spam filter issue.
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Posted by Michael Tobis at 2:43 PM 0 comments
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