Temporary — will retry
SMTP 250
accepted, which is not the same as delivered
SMTP 250 means the receiving server accepted the command. In mailbox verification, a 250 in response to RCPT TO indicates the address is accepted — but on a catch-all domain the server answers 250 for every address, so a 250 alone does not prove a specific mailbox exists.
How it appears
250 2.1.5 Ok
250 Accepted
250 2.1.5 <user@example.com> Recipient ok
What causes it
- The mailbox genuinely exists and the server confirmed it.
- The domain is catch-all and accepts every address regardless.
- The server deliberately answers 250 to all probes to defeat address harvesting.
How to fix it
In order — try the first one first.
- Do not read 250 as proof on its own. A correct verifier separately tests whether the domain accepts an address that certainly does not exist, and reports catch-all results as risky.
- Accepted also does not mean delivered — a message accepted at the gateway can still be filed as spam or silently dropped afterwards.
- For outreach, send to catch-all addresses in a smaller separate batch and watch the bounce rate before committing the rest.
Common questions
- What does SMTP 250 mean?
- SMTP 250 means the receiving server accepted the command. In mailbox verification, a 250 in response to RCPT TO indicates the address is accepted — but on a catch-all domain the server answers 250 for every address, so a 250 alone does not prove a specific mailbox exists.
- Should I retry a 250 error?
- Yes, and your sending server does it automatically. 250 is a temporary deferral, and legitimate mail usually arrives on a retry within minutes or hours. Only investigate if it persists across many retries.
- How do I fix SMTP 250?
- Do not read 250 as proof on its own. A correct verifier separately tests whether the domain accepts an address that certainly does not exist, and reports catch-all results as risky.
Last reviewed 2026-09-11