250 2.0.0
Requested mail action okay, completed
The receiving server accepted the message. This isn't an error - it's the success response.
250 2.0.0 OK <queue-id> - accepted for delivery
What it means in practice
A 250 is the receiving server saying it has taken responsibility for the message. Everything after that point, spam filtering, folder placement, the recipient's own rules, happens inside the recipient's mailbox provider and doesn't come back to you as an SMTP code.
So a 250 followed by "I never got it" usually means the spam folder, a mailbox rule or a quarantine, not a delivery failure. The text after 2.0.0 is the receiving server's own queue or message ID. Keep it: it's what a postmaster will ask for if you open a ticket about a specific message.
With AWS SES, a 250 from the recipient's server is what produces the Delivery event. SES's Send event alone only means SES accepted the message from you, not that the recipient's server did.
Common causes
- Normal, successful delivery to the receiving mail server.
What to do
- →Nothing to fix - this means the message was accepted. A 250 doesn't guarantee inbox placement, only that the receiving server took the message.