It seems out domain has been listed in one of the blackhole list for
alleged spammers. Our company strictly adheres to opt-in only email
lists and never sends out any unsolicited emails. How can I find out
which lists my domain is listed on (domain: surefiremarketing.com or
email address: yanik@surefiremarketing.com) and how can I get off of
those lists?

Hi Yanik,

You problem is unfortunately not uncommon. I'm running myself a
website/opt-in email service and had to deal with emergencies more
than once. What happens if a domain name is reported as a spammer is
that a large number of servers will refuse email from the reported
IP-address (and that is sometimes different from a web site).
A report concerning spamming is enough to get an IP-address
blacklisted. While those reports might mostly be legitimate
complaints, it can also be a way for competitors to hinder others in
doing their business in a proper way. The main thing the 'accused' web
site can do is convincing its ISP it takes complaints very, very
serious. The ISP has to deal with the organizations that organize
those lists.

I have checked a list (Better Ethics Online) that gives details on
domain names that are reported for spamming and your domain name is
not on the lists I have checked. There are more blacklists, but this
is the most comprehensive one I have found.

The is the good news, the rest might be less good.

Most likely you are sharing a server at a hosting service. In most
cases a hosting service is notified when spam is coming from their
server, allowing them a few days to clean up their act and take the
accused web site out of service.
What happens is that the more responsible hosting companies would
contact a client who has been reported as a spammer, forces them to
clean up their act and often end the service. Being blacklisted is a
rather drastic measure and will block all websites that are co-hosted
on this server, including all web sites that have nothing to do with
the spammer. Most hosting services are very eager to avoid that
hassle.

Less responsive hosting services would do nothing. 

The effects of being blacklisted vary quite a lot. When you business
is mostly in the USA, being blacklisted can effectively stop your
online business. China (where I happen to live) is still in the
process of cleaning its online business and even many of the larger
ISP's are blacklisted, including the one I'm using in Shanghai.
To be honest: when you are living in China, being blacklisted does not
mean that much, although the government might have to take action
soon. Most ISP's are government-owned companies.

There are two things you can do.

1. Get in touch with your ISP, the company that is hosting your web
site and see what they do to solve your problem. Also when your web
site has been reported as a spammer, they should know.
2. When that does not help, the only solution is to find another, more
responsible ISP. I know changing ISP is quite a hassle, but when a
blacklisting is really hurting your activities, that can be the only
solution.

Good luck in your efforts.

Regards,

Fons

Links:
A web site detailing the blacklisted web sites:
http://www.isp.cc/better-ethics-online/blacklist5.htm

An ISP telling what they do with spammers:
http://www.ultradesign.com/support/antispam.html

A Chinese web site telling about their problems with blacklisting.
http://216.239.39.100/search?q=cache:cPXwfwYSYXMC:www.chinaimporters.com/investing/+blacklisted+email+China&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

A report on Chinese lawmakers asking for action against e-mail blocks
http://www.mailutilities.com/news/archive/112/1799.html


Search terms on Google:
Blacklisted emails
Blacklisted emails China

Good answer with some excellent resources. Thank you.

Sometimes a blacklisting will occur if you are not sending spam, but,
your domain is being used by spammers through what is called an "Open
Relay" in your (or your ISP's) mail server.

Typically, when one of these black lists registers your domain, they
send an email with links to direct you to instructions on how to close
your Open Relay and how to get your domain removed from the blacklist.

Having said that, you have apparently only been blocked in one
database and this particular database is not a collection of Open
Relays.  Here's a link to the blacklist you are on:
http://selwerd.cx/xbl/

and they seem more interested in your IP address than your domain:
64.176.45.218
This particular database blocks address ranges that are connected to
spam.  If your ISP has other companies on your mail server, it is
possible that they are the ones who are spamming and causing you
trouble.

There are instructions at the link above for getting off the list,
though there are no guarantees.  You may want to forward the
information to your ISP or to you IT department for follow-up.

These sites may also be of interest to you:
http://www.spamcon.org/directories/shared-blacklists.shtml
http://relays.osirusoft.com/cgi-bin/rbcheck.cgi
http://www.dorkslayers.com/orbs/

Never be tempted to send spam.  It's really not cool.  I am happy to
hear that your company does not send unsolicited email... I wish all
were that courteous.

First, make sure that your opt-in process can't be used by
mailbombers.  In other words, just getting someone's address doesn't
mean they opted in.  It could be forged (not just theoretical - this
happens ALL the time).  When you get the email, you should send a
confirmation email to that address which contains the date, time, and
IP address associated with the submission (useful for tracking down
mail bombers).  There should also be a unique token in the email that
can't be guessed trivially.  If the email is returned for subscription
or a link (composed of the unique token) is clicked, then you've got a
genuinely interested person. Also, don't send any ads with the
confirmation email - doing so makes it just another spam.

If you want to know who has you blackholed, you should look at the
bounce messages you receive.  They will explain it.  Checking at
http://relays.osirusoft.com/cgi-bin/rbcheck.cgi  will also tell you,
if it's one of the big ones.  Even the owner of the selwerd list
recommends that people don't use it to block mail.