ShopSite Tip: Order Notification Blocking May Affect You!

If your store is currently configured to send order notifications with the customer as the ‘From’ address (default setting), you may soon stop receiving these notifications.  This will apply to any merchant currently forwarding order notifications to GMail, Yahoo and other 3rd party mail servers.

This is true even if your store email address is at your domain.  Any action that would in turn forward that email off the server, would result in the message being marked as spam or rejected entirely.

Order notification settings can be verified under Commerce > Order System > E-Mail:

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Why The Change?

Yahoo recently upgraded their DNS to include a signature that tells ISP’s and other mail servers an email from their domain is valid.  This signature, also known as a DMARC record, is only included on emails originating from Yahoo servers.  An order notification email originates on the server your store is hosted on and does not contain the required signature.  Email providers like GMail will see your hosting account as the origin for these Yahoo, AOL, GMail, and other customer email addresses and subsequently block the email from being delivered.

What Options Exist?

Luckily, for most, this is a simple fix.  By setting the ‘from:’ address on email order notifications to an address that matches your domain.  This way the emails originate from a domain that is expected, and should help with avoiding them being marked as spam.

To change the default setting, navigate to Commerce > Order System > E-Mail.  Next, select the option to use a specific email address, then enter one at your domain.

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The only drawback is that you will not be able to directly reply to your customer from this order notification.  You would have to manually change the address.  It is worth it though if you forward your email.

It’s also *VERY* important that your store’s default email address is set to your domain, and not a GMail or Yahoo address. If not, customers may not get their receipts either.

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