Customers not receiving receipt emails from !&1 server

[Mike Hughes]

Sellerdeck might have changed the smtp code for 2014 which could affect the patch.

An alternative, which I've been using with 1&1 for a few months now, is to use sendgrid. They have a free service which allows you to send up to 400 transactional emails a day. You just need to create a free account and set up the smtp details they'll give you. I think you might need to change the port number in sellerdeck but after that it's all pretty much plain sailing.

They also reformat the plain text emails in passing so they appear correctly formatted which is quite clever.

Mike

[saucysal]

Thank you Mike

I shall look into using sendgrid. Sounds good. Thanks.

Sarah

[saucysal]

Sendgrid

I have set up an account with Sendgrid. It looks like all that I need to do is enter their smtp name in the box in SD Web Settings, enter my Sendgrid user name and password, test, upload, and done. Is this all that you did, Mike? Seems too easy!

There is also a recommendation to use SMTP API, which looks more complicated. It adds a header. Did you do this?

Sarah

[Mike Hughes]

Yup. That's it (but no not the API - Just the straightforward smtp setup).

I think 1and1 block port 25 which sellerdeck uses by default so you'll have to change that.

The instructions are here http://community.sellerdeck.com/showthread.php?p=293175 but the line number will almost certainly be different.

What you need to is find this line in actinic.pm

$nSmtpPort = 25; # Use default port

which should be set to 25 and change it to 2525 which isn't blocked (sendgrid will accept smtp on ports 25, 2525, and 587). I think 587 is blocked by 1and1 too.

A search for '$nsmtport' in actinic.pm should find the right place.

Once you've edited actinic.pm remember to update the website so the changes take effect.

And that's it. It's easy to test once set. Just send one of the customer emails to yourself from within the sellerdeck application.

[saucysal]

Should user name with email address?

Hello Mike. I have followed yours and Sendmail's instructions, but get the error message when testing in Web settings in SD that the smtp address is wrong. I have been entering my User Name as the user name given to Sendmail, but perhaps it should be my email address given to Sendmail. I don't like to keep trying different possibilities more than necessary, as everytime I try something and then put back to previous settings, for some reason it messes everything up, for example customers get sent up to 4 confirmation emails each and some none, and it takes at least 24 hours for the system to get back to normal.

Sarah

[saucysal]

I tried email address for user name

I tried using my email address rather than user name in the user name box but this produced the same error message. It seems that I get the same error message about not being an smtp address, whatever I try, in setting up Sendgrid and previously in trying to set up Sendmail (using Norman's fix).

Sarah

[Mike Hughes]

Hi Sarah,

My sendgrid settings are:

SMTP server: smtp.sendgrid.net

Username and Password Required: Ticked

Username; My sendgrid username (not my email address)

Password: my password

SMTP port changed to 2525 as described above.

I've also just run a network test and that fails the sellerdeck smtp test. It does work though as I've just send email to myself via sellerdeck.

Conclusion: The sellerdeck test is falsely reporting an SMTP failure with sendgrid smtp settings.

Mike

[NormanRouxel]

The SD network test used a standalone script TestSettings.pl so you could try locating (around line 480)

	$nSmtpPort = 25;

And change that 25 to 2525, then see if it works.

.

[Mike Hughes]

Thanks Norman, making that change to testsettings.pl means the sendgrid settings now pass the network test.

[saucysal]

Will try tonight

Thank you Norman and Mike. I will try again tonight, including the change in TestSettings.pl. That may also explain why previous attempts at setting up Sendmail also brought up that error message, and anything else that I tried.

Sarah

[Mike Hughes]

Hi Sarah,

That may also explain why previous attempts at setting up Sendmail also brought up that error message,

It only makes sense to make this change in testsettings.pl if you've also changed the SMTP port number in actinic.pm. Doing to for any other changes will introduce an inconsistency between the test settings and what you're actually using from the network setup.

Mike

[saucysal]

Success!

I have successfully set up Sendgrid - working fine - emails send immediately and look good.

Thanks for all your help - changing smtp port in TestSettings.pl did it, as well as in actinic.pm.

Sarah

[NormanRouxel]

If using SendGrid, it might help to set up a Variable to define the SMTP port.

Go to Design / Library / Variables, right-click Site and choose New Variable.
Create one called ExternalSMTPPort as per the attached screenshot .

Then edit both ACTINIC.pm and TestSettings.pl and replace:

	$nSmtpPort = 25;

With:

	$nSmtpPort = <actinic:variable name="ExternalSMTPPort" />;

Now you can adjust the port to use within Settings / Site Options / Properties / Site.
The port setting of 2525 works fine with Sendgrid when tested in March 2016.
And, of course this will easily let you set it back to the default 25 that SellerDeck had hard-coded.

Use Network Setup settings as per post 22 above:

SMTP server: smtp.sendgrid.net

Username and Password Required: Ticked

Username; My sendgrid username (not my email address)

Password: sendgrid my password

[Mike Hughes]

Hi Karen,

Why do you need an IP address for Sagepay? Can you explain a bit?

[Mike Hughes]

Would that not be the IP address of the server that's connecting to them with payment information?

I'm not sure I understand why Sagepay would want to know the IP address of your outgoing email server.