diff --git a/endpoint/endpoint.go b/endpoint/endpoint.go
index 0003e82..842f938 100644
--- a/endpoint/endpoint.go
+++ b/endpoint/endpoint.go
@@ -766,21 +766,30 @@ func (s *Receiver) Receive(ctx context.Context, req *pdu.ReceiveReq, receive io.
 		return nil, visitErr
 	}
 
+	log := getLogger(ctx).WithField("proto_fs", req.GetFilesystem()).WithField("local_fs", lp.ToString())
+
 	// determine whether we need to rollback the filesystem / change its placeholder state
 	var clearPlaceholderProperty bool
 	var recvOpts zfs.RecvOptions
 	ph, err := zfs.ZFSGetFilesystemPlaceholderState(ctx, lp)
-	if err == nil && ph.FSExists && ph.IsPlaceholder {
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "cannot get placeholder state")
+	}
+	log.WithField("placeholder_state", fmt.Sprintf("%#v", ph)).Debug("placeholder state")
+	if ph.FSExists && ph.IsPlaceholder {
 		recvOpts.RollbackAndForceRecv = true
 		clearPlaceholderProperty = true
 	}
+
 	if clearPlaceholderProperty {
+		log.Info("clearing placeholder property")
 		if err := zfs.ZFSSetPlaceholder(ctx, lp, false); err != nil {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot clear placeholder property for forced receive: %s", err)
 		}
 	}
 
 	if req.ClearResumeToken && ph.FSExists {
+		log.Info("clearing resume token")
 		if err := zfs.ZFSRecvClearResumeToken(ctx, lp.ToString()); err != nil {
 			return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "cannot clear resume token")
 		}
@@ -791,7 +800,7 @@ func (s *Receiver) Receive(ctx context.Context, req *pdu.ReceiveReq, receive io.
 		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "cannot determine whether we can use resumable send & recv")
 	}
 
-	getLogger(ctx).Debug("acquire concurrent recv semaphore")
+	log.Debug("acquire concurrent recv semaphore")
 	// TODO use try-acquire and fail with resource-exhaustion rpc status
 	// => would require handling on the client-side
 	// => this is a dataconn endpoint, doesn't have the status code semantics of gRPC
@@ -801,14 +810,27 @@ func (s *Receiver) Receive(ctx context.Context, req *pdu.ReceiveReq, receive io.
 	}
 	defer guard.Release()
 
-	getLogger(ctx).WithField("opts", fmt.Sprintf("%#v", recvOpts)).Debug("start receive command")
+	log.WithField("opts", fmt.Sprintf("%#v", recvOpts)).Debug("start receive command")
 
 	snapFullPath := to.FullPath(lp.ToString())
 	if err := zfs.ZFSRecv(ctx, lp.ToString(), to, receive, recvOpts); err != nil {
-		getLogger(ctx).
+		log.
 			WithError(err).
 			WithField("opts", fmt.Sprintf("%#v", recvOpts)).
 			Error("zfs receive failed")
+
+		// best-effort rollback of placeholder state if the recv didn't start
+		_, resumableStatePresent := err.(*zfs.RecvFailedWithResumeTokenErr)
+		disablePlaceholderRestoration := envconst.Bool("ZREPL_ENDPOINT_DISABLE_PLACEHOLDER_RESTORATION", false)
+		if !disablePlaceholderRestoration && !resumableStatePresent && recvOpts.RollbackAndForceRecv && ph.FSExists && ph.IsPlaceholder && clearPlaceholderProperty {
+			log.Info("restoring placeholder property")
+			if phErr := zfs.ZFSSetPlaceholder(ctx, lp, true); phErr != nil {
+				log.WithError(phErr).Error("cannot restore placeholder property after failed receive, subsequent replications will likely fail with a different error")
+				// fallthrough
+			}
+			// fallthrough
+		}
+
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
@@ -816,13 +838,13 @@ func (s *Receiver) Receive(ctx context.Context, req *pdu.ReceiveReq, receive io.
 	toRecvd, err := to.ValidateExistsAndGetVersion(ctx, lp.ToString())
 	if err != nil {
 		msg := "receive request's `To` version does not match what we received in the stream"
-		getLogger(ctx).WithError(err).WithField("snap", snapFullPath).Error(msg)
-		getLogger(ctx).Error("aborting recv request, but keeping received snapshot for inspection")
+		log.WithError(err).WithField("snap", snapFullPath).Error(msg)
+		log.Error("aborting recv request, but keeping received snapshot for inspection")
 		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, msg)
 	}
 
 	if s.conf.UpdateLastReceivedHold {
-		getLogger(ctx).Debug("move last-received-hold")
+		log.Debug("move last-received-hold")
 		if err := MoveLastReceivedHold(ctx, lp.ToString(), toRecvd, s.conf.JobID); err != nil {
 			return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "cannot move last-received-hold")
 		}