diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index e92d31665..209eb2159 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@
 	  incoming connection
 	* added more detailed instrumentation of the disk I/O thread
 
+	* improved web seed retry behavior
 	* fixed announce issue
 
 0.15.3 release
diff --git a/include/libtorrent/http_parser.hpp b/include/libtorrent/http_parser.hpp
index 0a615413e..7b639d940 100644
--- a/include/libtorrent/http_parser.hpp
+++ b/include/libtorrent/http_parser.hpp
@@ -55,6 +55,12 @@ POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 namespace libtorrent
 {
 	
+	// return true if the status code is 200, 206, or in the 300-400 range
+	bool is_ok_status(int http_status);
+
+	// return true if the status code is a redirect
+	bool is_redirect(int http_status);
+
 	class TORRENT_EXPORT http_parser
 	{
 	public:
diff --git a/src/http_connection.cpp b/src/http_connection.cpp
index 220967bc4..71f5f840c 100644
--- a/src/http_connection.cpp
+++ b/src/http_connection.cpp
@@ -46,7 +46,6 @@ namespace libtorrent {
 
 enum { max_bottled_buffer = 1024 * 1024 };
 
-
 void http_connection::get(std::string const& url, time_duration timeout, int prio
 	, proxy_settings const* ps, int handle_redirects, std::string const& user_agent
 	, address const& bind_addr
diff --git a/src/http_parser.cpp b/src/http_parser.cpp
index cd8e10e12..a6b7fd331 100644
--- a/src/http_parser.cpp
+++ b/src/http_parser.cpp
@@ -45,6 +45,21 @@ using namespace libtorrent;
 
 namespace libtorrent
 {
+
+	bool is_ok_status(int http_status)
+	{
+		return http_status == 206 // partial content
+			|| http_status == 200 // OK
+			|| (http_status >= 300 // redirect
+				&& http_status < 400);
+	}
+
+	bool is_redirect(int http_status)
+	{
+		return http_status >= 300
+			&& http_status < 400;
+	}
+
 	http_parser::http_parser()
 		: m_recv_pos(0)
 		, m_status_code(-1)
diff --git a/src/http_seed_connection.cpp b/src/http_seed_connection.cpp
index 49e71739a..864a440f6 100644
--- a/src/http_seed_connection.cpp
+++ b/src/http_seed_connection.cpp
@@ -320,12 +320,13 @@ namespace libtorrent
 				}
 
 				// if the status code is not one of the accepted ones, abort
-				if (m_parser.status_code() != 200 // OK
-					&& m_parser.status_code() != 503
-					&& !(m_parser.status_code() >= 300 // redirect
-						&& m_parser.status_code() < 400))
+				if (!is_ok_status(m_parser.status_code()))
 				{
-					t->remove_web_seed(this);
+					int retry_time = atoi(m_parser.header("retry-after").c_str());
+					if (retry_time <= 0) retry_time = 5 * 60;
+					// temporarily unavailable, retry later
+					t->retry_web_seed(this, retry_time);
+
 					std::string error_msg = to_string(m_parser.status_code()).elems
 						+ (" " + m_parser.message());
 					if (m_ses.m_alerts.should_post<url_seed_alert>())
@@ -347,7 +348,7 @@ namespace libtorrent
 			// we just completed reading the header
 			if (!header_finished)
 			{
-				if (m_parser.status_code() >= 300 && m_parser.status_code() < 400)
+				if (is_redirect(m_parser.status_code()))
 				{
 					// this means we got a redirection request
 					// look for the location header
@@ -408,12 +409,9 @@ namespace libtorrent
 				if (!m_parser.finished()) return;
 
 				int retry_time = atol(std::string(recv_buffer.begin, recv_buffer.end).c_str());
-				if (retry_time <= 0) retry_time = 0;
+				if (retry_time <= 0) retry_time = 60;
 #ifdef TORRENT_VERBOSE_LOGGING
-				else
-				{
-					(*m_logger) << time_now_string() << ": retrying in " << retry_time << " seconds\n";
-				}
+				(*m_logger) << time_now_string() << ": retrying in " << retry_time << " seconds\n";
 #endif
 
 				// temporarily unavailable, retry later
@@ -422,6 +420,7 @@ namespace libtorrent
 				return;
 			}
 
+
 			// we only received the header, no data
 			if (recv_buffer.left() == 0) break;
 
diff --git a/src/web_peer_connection.cpp b/src/web_peer_connection.cpp
index a6866c58c..f555a9134 100644
--- a/src/web_peer_connection.cpp
+++ b/src/web_peer_connection.cpp
@@ -423,17 +423,12 @@ namespace libtorrent
 					(*m_logger) << "   " << i->first << ": " << i->second << "\n";
 #endif
 				// if the status code is not one of the accepted ones, abort
-				if (m_parser.status_code() != 206 // partial content
-					&& m_parser.status_code() != 200 // OK
-					&& !(m_parser.status_code() >= 300 // redirect
-						&& m_parser.status_code() < 400))
+				if (!is_ok_status(m_parser.status_code()))
 				{
-					if (m_parser.status_code() == 503)
-					{
-						std::string retry_after = m_parser.header("retry-after");
-						// temporarily unavailable, retry later
-						t->retry_web_seed(this, atoi(retry_after.c_str()));
-					}
+					int retry_time = atoi(m_parser.header("retry-after").c_str());
+					if (retry_time <= 0) retry_time = 5 * 60;
+					// temporarily unavailable, retry later
+					t->retry_web_seed(this, retry_time);
 					std::string error_msg = to_string(m_parser.status_code()).elems
 						+ (" " + m_parser.message());
 					if (m_ses.m_alerts.should_post<url_seed_alert>())
@@ -445,7 +440,7 @@ namespace libtorrent
 					disconnect(errors::http_error, 1);
 					return;
 				}
-				if (m_parser.status_code() >= 300 && m_parser.status_code() < 400)
+				if (is_redirect(m_parser.status_code()))
 				{
 					// this means we got a redirection request
 					// look for the location header