Get the correct response from Yahoo SMTP - php

Question

I try to send a mail via php to an yahoo recipient.
Every time I connect to yahoo I get a 250 status code for the recipient address, even if it doesn't exist. I found a script which get the correct status code from yahoo, but I cannot find the differences or mistakes I did in my script. I tried to send different commands and run the script on several servers, but I always get a 250 response for the RCPT-TO-command.
Why do I don't get the correct response? I want to stop my script when a recipient doesn't exist!
Log of verify-email.org which gets the correct response:
MX record about yahoo.com exists.
Connection succeeded to g.mx.mail.yahoo.com SMTP.
=220 mta1062.mail.sp2.yahoo.com ESMTP YSmtp service ready
> HELO verify-email.org
=250 mta1062.mail.sp2.yahoo.com
> MAIL FROM: <check#verify-email.org>
=250 sender <check#verify-email.org> ok
> RCPT TO: <sdjrfvn3r#yahoo.com>
=554 delivery error: dd This user doesn't have a yahoo.com account (sdjrfvn3r#yahoo.com) [0] - mta1062.mail.sp2.yahoo.com
Log of my script which gets the wrong response:
C Connect to h.mx.mail.yahoo.com
S 220 mta1144.mail.mud.yahoo.com ESMTP YSmtp service ready
C HELO my-domain.com
S 250 mta1144.mail.mud.yahoo.com (152.70 ms)
C MAIL FROM: <existing-address#my-domain.com>
S 250 sender <existing-address#my-domain.com> ok (723.29 ms)
C RCPT TO: <sdjrfvn3r#yahoo.com>
S 250 recipient <sdjrfvn3r#yahoo.com> ok (152.67 ms)
C Close socket connection
S Connection closed gracefully
You can find the script which works properly here: http://verify-email.org
My script:
while(preg_match('/^\d\d\d-/', $r = fgets($sock))) {
$response .= $r;
}
$response .= $r;
return $response;
}
$mxRecord = "a.mx.mail.yahoo.com";
$domain = 'example.com';
$mailFrom = 'mailfrom#example.com';
$rcptTo = 'doesntexist2011#yahoo.com';
$commands = array(
"HELO ".$domain."\r\n",
"MAIL FROM: <".$mailFrom.">\r\n",
"RCPT TO: <".$rcptTo.">\r\n",
// "DATA\r\n",
// ... email subject and content
// ".\r\n",
"QUIT\r\n"
);
if($sock = fsockopen($mxRecord, 25, $errno, $errstr, 30)) {
foreach($array as $cmd) {
echo htmlentities($cmd);
echo '<br />';
fwrite($sock, $cmd);
echo htmlentities(getResponse($sock));
echo '<hr />';
}
fclose($sock);
}
else {
echo 'no connection';
}
?>
Some information:
I used my own domain (not example.com)
The script is located on the server where my domain refers to
The server isn't on any blacklist like spamhaus.org
The used mail address in "Mail From" does exist
I use getmxrr() to get the mx entries of yahoo.com
I tried HELO and EHLO -> always the same response

Answer 1

Do NOT waste your money on verify-email.org. I had written a class that works quite well at verifying email addresses, but had been having problems for days trying to return anything from Yahoo other than a 250 Recipient OK message. I finally came up with a work around which I would share here by unfortunately after hitting their servers about 10 times or so they blocked me for 12 hours. I then moved the class from my dev server to a live server with a good domain name, rDNS configured and everything that would allow me to send emails without getting blacklisted minus domain keys. Again, I got nothing but 250 responses with SMTP and again I got my IP blocked with my work around. I finally decided to break down and buy the script to "see what they're doing different". The answer: They aren't doing anything different. In fact, the script was garbage and almost identical to any rudimentary script you can find online. I loaded it on 2 different server and with two different configurations, followed the directions of the script to the letter ( it was only 1 or 2 instructions) and yet, got the same 250 response for the exact same email address that I received a 554 on the site. Digging a little deeper I found that it was potentially an email marketing company selling the script. They either have a relationship with Yahoo and others or its calling some other backend system, i dont know but I do know the sccript does not work. Furthermore, an emails sent to the seller and SWREG (a digital river company) have gone unanswered as well as a request for a refund. I sent screenshots of my results versus what they display on the site. I am now filing a dispute with my Credit Card company. Point being, DO NOT BUY from verify-email.org. Its a scam. That is unless you feel like pissing away $45.
My only advice is to form business relationships with the majors or go through a company like ReturnPath (very very expensive.) Or, send confirmation emails to each subscriber. I unfortunately work for a marketing company that can't send confirmation emails based on rules they have with their affiliate partners so I have to use a third party service (expensive) or come up with another solution. Good luck.

Answer 2

Did you read the FAQ of verify-email.org? "For some domains you can't verify whether the address is good or not, because their mail servers don't cooperate. For example: yahoo.com"
This is because these mail servers don't want spammers harvesting known-good email addresses.