Email Soft Lock

🚫 Email Soft Lock Error 500 5.5.1

“You Have Sent Too Much Mail”

If you’re seeing this error:

SMTP Error 500 5.5.1 - You have sent too much mail, try again later.

…it means your outgoing mail has hit a rate limit. This is called a soft lock, and it’s enforced by a system called MagicSpam to protect the server from spam or abuse.

Let’s break down what it means and how to fix it.

🧙‍♂️ What Is MagicSpam?

MagicSpam is a server-side anti-spam tool that monitors outgoing email activity. It’s there to protect all clients on the server, not just you.

If MagicSpam detects high-volume sending from your account or anything that looks like spam behavior, it will temporarily “soft lock” your email — stopping you from sending more email for a a few hours.

🛑 What Triggers This Error?

You may trigger the 500 5.5.1 soft lock if:

• You send too many emails too quickly (bulk or marketing emails)
• You send to a large list of recipients in one go (even via BCC)
• You have an email forwarding loop (e.g., forwarding spam repeatedly)
• Your device or software retries too aggressively after a failed send
• A compromised email account is sending without your knowledge
• A Glitch with your Internet Service Provider (ISP)

🕒 What happens next?

This is a temporary block. Most email soft locks reset within 6–8 hours automatically — but if the sending pattern continues, the block may reoccur and start from 0 seconds and ultimately get a R500.00 fine to unblock the mail box in question when this happens 3 times on the same mailbox.

✅ What You Can Do

Here’s how to resolve the issue and avoid future soft locks:

1. 🕵️‍♂️ Review Your Email Sending Behavior

• Sending newsletters? Use a bulk email platform (like Mailchimp or Sendinblue).
• Avoid sending large volumes via Outlook, Gmail, or Apple Mail directly.
• Break up your recipient list into smaller batches.
• Send/Receive reports accumulate over time when the mailbox has not been used in a while on another device.

2. 🔒 Change Your Email Password (Recommended)

Just in case your account is compromised and sending in the background. Especially if you didn’t send anything large recently.

3. 🧼 Clear Your Outbox / Drafts

If your mail app is retrying over and over in the background, delete any stuck emails.

4. 📧 Contact Support If It Persists

If the error doesn’t resolve after a couple of hours, or you’re unsure why it happened:

Let us know your domain name and email address so we can investigate.

👉 Contact us here