diff --git a/.chloggen/prw-error-permanent-classification.yaml b/.chloggen/prw-error-permanent-classification.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..b5b8011053b88
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.chloggen/prw-error-permanent-classification.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+# Use this changelog template to create an entry for release notes.
+
+# One of 'breaking', 'deprecation', 'new_component', 'enhancement', 'bug_fix'
+change_type: bug_fix
+
+# The name of the component, or a single word describing the area of concern, (e.g. receiver/filelog)
+component: exporter/prometheusremotewrite
+
+# A brief description of the change.  Surround your text with quotes ("") if it needs to start with a backtick (`).
+note: Fix 5xx responses being incorrectly classified as `error_permanent="true"` on `otelcol_exporter_send_failed_metric_points_total`
+
+# Mandatory: One or more tracking issues related to the change. You can use the PR number here if no issue exists.
+issues: [48431]
+
+# (Optional) One or more lines of additional information to render under the primary note.
+# These lines will be padded with 2 spaces and then inserted directly into the document.
+# Use pipe (|) for multiline entries.
+subtext:
+
+# If your change doesn't affect end users or the exported elements of any package,
+# you should instead start your pull request title with [chore] or use the "Skip Changelog" label.
+# Optional: The change log or logs in which this entry should be included.
+# e.g. '[user]' or '[user, api]'
+# Include 'user' if the change is relevant to end users.
+# Include 'api' if there is a change to a library API.
+# Default: '[user]'
+change_logs: [user]
diff --git a/exporter/prometheusremotewriteexporter/exporter.go b/exporter/prometheusremotewriteexporter/exporter.go
index f94b030fb09cf..e62fd38e0c215 100644
--- a/exporter/prometheusremotewriteexporter/exporter.go
+++ b/exporter/prometheusremotewriteexporter/exporter.go
@@ -413,7 +413,7 @@ func (prwe *prwExporter) handleRequests(ctx context.Context, input chan *prompb.
 			}
 
 			if errExecute := prwe.execute(ctx, reqBuf); errExecute != nil {
-				errs = multierr.Append(errs, consumererror.NewPermanent(errExecute))
+				errs = multierr.Append(errs, errExecute)
 			}
 		}
 	}
@@ -523,8 +523,10 @@ func (prwe *prwExporter) execute(ctx context.Context, buf []byte) error {
 	}
 
 	if err != nil {
-		// A permanent error is being returned here so we don't retry on context deadline exceeded.
-		return consumererror.NewPermanent(err)
+		if errors.Is(err, context.Canceled) || errors.Is(err, context.DeadlineExceeded) {
+			return consumererror.NewPermanent(err)
+		}
+		return err
 	}
 
 	return nil
diff --git a/exporter/prometheusremotewriteexporter/exporter_test.go b/exporter/prometheusremotewriteexporter/exporter_test.go
index 105458cebfc82..3bdab0ee06750 100644
--- a/exporter/prometheusremotewriteexporter/exporter_test.go
+++ b/exporter/prometheusremotewriteexporter/exporter_test.go
@@ -1111,6 +1111,10 @@ func assertPermanentConsumerError(t assert.TestingT, err error, _ ...any) bool {
 	return assert.True(t, consumererror.IsPermanent(err), "error should be consumererror.Permanent")
 }
 
+func assertNonPermanentError(t assert.TestingT, err error, _ ...any) bool {
+	return assert.False(t, consumererror.IsPermanent(err), "error should not be consumererror.Permanent")
+}
+
 func TestRetries(t *testing.T) {
 	tts := []struct {
 		name             string
@@ -1118,6 +1122,7 @@ func TestRetries(t *testing.T) {
 		expectedAttempts int
 		httpStatus       int
 		RetryOnHTTP429   bool
+		retryEnabled     bool
 		assertError      assert.ErrorAssertionFunc
 		assertErrorType  assert.ErrorAssertionFunc
 		ctx              context.Context
@@ -1128,6 +1133,7 @@ func TestRetries(t *testing.T) {
 			4,
 			http.StatusInternalServerError,
 			false,
+			true,
 			assert.NoError,
 			assert.NoError,
 			t.Context(),
@@ -1138,6 +1144,7 @@ func TestRetries(t *testing.T) {
 			4,
 			http.StatusTooManyRequests,
 			true,
+			true,
 			assert.NoError,
 			assert.NoError,
 			t.Context(),
@@ -1148,6 +1155,7 @@ func TestRetries(t *testing.T) {
 			1,
 			http.StatusTooManyRequests,
 			false,
+			true,
 			assert.Error,
 			assertPermanentConsumerError,
 			t.Context(),
@@ -1158,6 +1166,7 @@ func TestRetries(t *testing.T) {
 			1,
 			http.StatusBadRequest,
 			false,
+			true,
 			assert.Error,
 			assertPermanentConsumerError,
 			t.Context(),
@@ -1168,10 +1177,33 @@ func TestRetries(t *testing.T) {
 			0,
 			http.StatusInternalServerError,
 			false,
+			true,
 			assert.Error,
 			assertPermanentConsumerError,
 			canceledContext(),
 		},
+		{
+			"test 5xx with retry disabled returns non-permanent error",
+			4,
+			1,
+			http.StatusServiceUnavailable,
+			false,
+			false,
+			assert.Error,
+			assertNonPermanentError,
+			t.Context(),
+		},
+		{
+			"test 4xx with retry disabled returns permanent error",
+			4,
+			1,
+			http.StatusBadRequest,
+			false,
+			false,
+			assert.Error,
+			assertPermanentConsumerError,
+			t.Context(),
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, tt := range tts {
@@ -1202,7 +1234,7 @@ func TestRetries(t *testing.T) {
 				client:         http.DefaultClient,
 				retryOnHTTP429: tt.RetryOnHTTP429,
 				retrySettings: configretry.BackOffConfig{
-					Enabled: true,
+					Enabled: tt.retryEnabled,
 				},
 				settings:  testTel.NewTelemetrySettings(),
 				telemetry: telemetry,