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SES bounced emails not registering in dashboard, SNS or notifying me

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Hi all,

First time using SES here. Our business uses 365 primarily for business email, however we have a couple of web applications that we'd like to put on SES for the outbound emails. Setup has gone well so far. I created a new subdomain specifically for sending SES emails, and this is verified in the identity as a valid MAIL FROM subdomain. When I configured my application originally however, I left the From: address as the main inbound contact address for my business, under the main domain and serviced by 365. This didn't seem to have significant issues - the emails were delivered fine, with nearly all green checkmarks from MXToolbox verifying message integrity and identity. The Return-Path header also specified the special subdomain which has an MX record pointing to Amazon's feedback endpoint so I thought it would be fine. However, when sending my first email campaign, a few bounces were sent directly to the From: address (the main company contact), ignoring the Return-Path which caused Amazon to not register the bounces, and my application did not receive the notifications from SNS (which is also configured and verified.)

I've now changed how the application sends emails, so that the From: field uses the subdomain. I can verify that the application still sends emails (I'm able to send test emails to myself) however, I'm still unable to get Amazon to register bounces in the dashboard, or send notifications to the Management Console account holder as enabled in the settings. Test emails sent directly from the dashboard also do not seem to do anything.

Can anyone tell immediately from this what I'm doing wrong? Any additional details I can provide?

Thanks in advance.

Additional Info

SES

This is the SES identity configuration for the domain in question. Identity status verified, same AWS region, Email feedback forwarding enabled, and Feedback notifications with links to bounce handler SNS topic for Bounce and Complaint notifications (but Delivery is empty. Seriously considering doing something with it though.)

SNS

This is the main SNS "Bounce Handler" topic configuration details, with a subscription for the webapp endpoint and a status of "confirmed"

Topics
Application IntegrationFront-End Web & MobileBusiness Applications
Tags
Amazon Simple Email ServiceAmazon Simple Notification Service (SNS)
Language
English
asked 10 months ago83 views
2 Answers
1

Based on your description, there are a few potential issues that could be causing the problems you're experiencing with Amazon SES bounces not registering and notifications not being received:

  1. Return-Path and From address mismatch: Initially, you were using a different domain for the From address compared to the Return-Path. This can cause issues with bounce handling, as some email providers may send bounces to the From address instead of the Return-Path. It's good that you've now changed the From address to use the subdomain, which should help align with the Return-Path.

  2. Notification configuration: Ensure that you have properly configured one method of receiving bounce and complaint notifications. Amazon SES requires this for sending emails. If you've disabled email feedback forwarding, you must enable notifications sent by Amazon SNS or use event publishing to an SNS topic or Firehose stream.

  3. SNS topic configuration: If you're using SNS for notifications, make sure the SNS topic is in the same AWS region as the Amazon SES endpoint you're using to receive email.

  4. Verification of notification email addresses: If you're expecting to receive notifications via email, ensure that the email addresses are verified with Amazon SES.

  5. Dashboard updates: The Amazon SES dashboard may not update immediately. There could be a delay in reflecting bounce information.

To troubleshoot further:

  1. Double-check your SNS configuration and ensure the topic is correctly set up and subscribed.
  2. Verify that your application is correctly applying any configuration sets that contain event publishing rules to each email you send.
  3. If you're using the SES API, make sure you're properly handling the message ID returned when you send an email, as this can be useful for tracking purposes.
  4. Consider enabling feedback forwarding via email temporarily, which will forward the full bounce message to you, helping you diagnose the issue.

If these steps don't resolve the issue, you may need to contact AWS support for further assistance, as there could be account-specific configurations or limitations at play.
Sources
Receiving Amazon SES notifications through email - Amazon Simple Email Service
Amazon SES notification problems - Amazon Simple Email Service
Bounce action - Amazon Simple Email Service

answered 10 months ago
EXPERT
reviewed 10 months ago
  • GG
    10 months ago
    1. SNS configuration appears to be correct, although I don't think SNS is playing a role here since the bounced emails don't appear to be received in the first place.
    2. No configuration sets have been configured in SES
    3. MessageIds are returned and available in my application, although I'm not sure what to do with them.
    4. This is already enabled.
  • GG
    10 months ago

    Also updated OP - thanks in advance!

0
Accepted Answer

I believe this may be solved at this point.

I corrected the earlier issue where the From field I was sending my emails with did not match the Return-Path. But besides that, I don't think that much changed. As of today, I can see in my webapp that bounces are being received, even though the SES or SNS dashboards do not indicate this activity. Very obscure, but everything seems to be working fine now!

answered 10 months ago

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