Trying to send store emails via an smtp mailing service

Due to my inability to have my host (Hostgator) resolve some blacklist issues with ATT and AOL, I have decided to use an outside smtp service for handling all of my outgoing emails. I chose smtp2go.com to handle this and i am having a dickens of a time getting this to work.

I use outlook 2010 for my normal use and it is working ok with the outgoing smtp set along with correct pass/name combo. I just cannot get Zen to issue sales confirmations/or other website initiated emails unless the email transport is set to PHP. I have tried setting the Configuration>Email Options>Email Transport Method to SMTP and SMTPAUTH, here are the other settings from the options:

SMTP Email Account Mailbox [email protected] (email login name from smtp2go)
SMTP Email Account Password ********** (my pass)
SMTP Email Mail Host mail.smtp2go.com
SMTP Email Mail Server Port 587 (have also tried 2525)

I can see in the email archive that the email is generated but that's all I find...no errors or anything else... no trace of an email or error at the smtp host

Any ideas? Have I missed something?

Thanks,

Keith

have you tried port 25?

i'm guess you have ssh access to your server at hostgator? if so, the easiest way to troubleshoot this problem would be to login to your server at hostgator and then try telnet to the various ports to find what works. hostgator may be blocking one.

in the attached screenshot, you can see my host does NOT allow me to connect to smtp2go mail server on port 25 but they do on port 587.

you need to find out which port works on the command line and then use that in your configuration.

good luck!

Thanks, I am looking into this...

If I resolve this, I will post the resolution.

Keith

CabinetGuy:

Thanks, I am looking into this...

If I resolve this, I will post the resolution.

Keith

Well, I can tell you that HostGator is clueless...not to mention that their "help" is not what it says it is.

Does your host not offer an email account through your domain? This way emails from the store would be readily recognizeable...

CabinetGuy:

Due to my inability to have my host (Hostgator) resolve some blacklist issues with ATT and AOL, I have decided to use an outside smtp service for handling all of my outgoing emails.

mc,
i think the OP tried to use email from the host, but found some problems....

carlwhat:

mc,
i think the OP tried to use email from the host, but found some problems....

What I gathered from the statement was the possibility that the admin email was with aol or ATT, not that emails originating from a domain owned email address... This was also further compounded by the choice to use another "anonymous" email server rather than demand that the service paid for (email transport on the domain) be rresolved.

mc12345678:

What I gathered from the statement was the possibility that the admin email was with aol or ATT, not that emails originating from a domain owned email address... This was also further compounded by the choice to use another "anonymous" email server rather than demand that the service paid for (email transport on the domain) be rresolved.
More likely is that ATT and/or AOL had blacklisted the IP address of his shared hostgator server (because of spam from other accounts on that same physical server), and hostgator isn't going to bat for him to get the blacklists removed. Hence the need to change where he sends emails from/thru instead of continuing to use his own server to send emails for his domain-owned-email-address.
Another option would be to have hostgator move him to a new server. ... until someone else on that server starts spamming and he runs into the same problem again.
Or a dedicated server.
Or another host who specializes on ecommerce where spamming is less likely.
Or, as he's chosen, simply send domain-owned emails via a dedicated email-only service.