Trying to set up 3rd party spam filtering

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I've got an account with a 3rd party spam filtering service. They've given me the MX records to add in cPanel, and I've done so, with the priorities they've suggested (10, 20, 30, 40). Their instructions say to set email routing to local, and I check to make sure that's the case. Currently, our domain MX is still at 0, the highest priority, and we're still getting a lot of spam.

When I've set the domain MX priority to 50 to test, no email gets through. It seems to get hung up at the filtering service. The undelivered messages headers return a 550 error, so I've set the mail host port at the spam filter service to 465, like for email clients, but that makes no difference. The undeliverable email goes on to say that the service's server is not permitted to relay 550 through IMH's server without authenication.

The spam service says that SPF can interfere with the filtering, and it's on for our domain. I've got the list of the service's server IPs, but I'm not about to mess with anything further for fear of screwing it up.

Have I mentioned that a lot of this goes over my head?

I hope this can be a discussion between a newb (me) and someone with more knowledge than I. I am fully willing to provide as much detail as needed. I may not be able to respond to replies immediately, as I have many other duties as the only tech at this small business, but I will be checking this thread once in the morning and once in the afternoon at a minimum.

Any help will be _greatly_ appreciated.
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johnpaulb-imhs1
Hello JenaTool_Tech, Thank you for your question. If your '0' priority record is pointing to your domain, then most email is being delivered directly to the server, and not being directed to the 3rd party. I recommend reviewing their installation notes again, on how specifically to set the MX records, then troubleshoot from their side. The authentication error is correct, you must authenticate (login with a username and password) to connect to the server. This is for security reasons. Also, we provide spam fighting options, that can easily be enabled. If you have any further questions, feel free to post them below, or contact live Tech Support. They are available 24/7 via: Email: inmotionhosting.com Phone: 888-321-HOST (4678) 757-416-6575 (Intl.) & Chat (there is a link on the top right). Thank you, -John-Paul