diff --git a/deb/publish.go b/deb/publish.go
index b1331b63..f3d32d8f 100644
--- a/deb/publish.go
+++ b/deb/publish.go
@@ -1202,7 +1202,10 @@ func (collection *PublishedRepoCollection) Remove(publishedStorageProvider aptly
 
 	err = repo.RemoveFiles(publishedStorageProvider, removePrefix, removePoolComponents, progress)
 	if err != nil {
-		return err
+		if !force {
+			return fmt.Errorf("published files removal failed, use -force-drop to override: %s", err)
+		}
+		// ignore error with -force-drop
 	}
 
 	collection.list[len(collection.list)-1], collection.list[repoPosition], collection.list =
diff --git a/s3/public.go b/s3/public.go
index 75f11128..440642d7 100644
--- a/s3/public.go
+++ b/s3/public.go
@@ -190,6 +190,12 @@ func (storage *PublishedStorage) Remove(path string) error {
 	}
 	_, err := storage.s3.DeleteObject(params)
 	if err != nil {
+		if aerr, ok := err.(awserr.Error); ok {
+			if aerr.Code() == s3.ErrCodeNoSuchBucket {
+				// ignore 'no such bucket' errors on removal
+				return nil
+			}
+		}
 		return errors.Wrap(err, fmt.Sprintf("error deleting %s from %s", path, storage))
 	}
 
@@ -206,6 +212,12 @@ func (storage *PublishedStorage) RemoveDirs(path string, progress aptly.Progress
 
 	filelist, _, err := storage.internalFilelist(path, false)
 	if err != nil {
+		if aerr, ok := errors.Cause(err).(awserr.Error); ok {
+			if aerr.Code() == s3.ErrCodeNoSuchBucket {
+				// ignore 'no such bucket' errors on removal
+				return nil
+			}
+		}
 		return err
 	}
 
@@ -356,7 +368,7 @@ func (storage *PublishedStorage) internalFilelist(prefix string, hidePlusWorkaro
 	})
 
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("error listing under prefix %s in %s: %s", prefix, storage, err)
+		return nil, nil, errors.WithMessagef(err, "error listing under prefix %s in %s: %s", prefix, storage, err)
 	}
 
 	return paths, md5s, nil
diff --git a/s3/public_test.go b/s3/public_test.go
index 305f3830..72fe21ac 100644
--- a/s3/public_test.go
+++ b/s3/public_test.go
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import (
 type PublishedStorageSuite struct {
 	srv                      *Server
 	storage, prefixedStorage *PublishedStorage
+	noSuchBucketStorage      *PublishedStorage
 }
 
 var _ = Suite(&PublishedStorageSuite{})
@@ -32,6 +33,8 @@ func (s *PublishedStorageSuite) SetUpTest(c *C) {
 	c.Assert(err, IsNil)
 	s.prefixedStorage, err = NewPublishedStorage("aa", "bb", "", "test-1", s.srv.URL(), "test", "", "lala", "", "", false, true, false, false)
 	c.Assert(err, IsNil)
+	s.noSuchBucketStorage, err = NewPublishedStorage("aa", "bb", "", "test-1", s.srv.URL(), "no-bucket", "", "", "", "", false, true, false, false)
+	c.Assert(err, IsNil)
 
 	_, err = s.storage.s3.CreateBucket(&s3.CreateBucketInput{Bucket: aws.String("test")})
 	c.Assert(err, IsNil)
@@ -170,6 +173,11 @@ func (s *PublishedStorageSuite) TestRemove(c *C) {
 	s.AssertNoFile(c, "lala/xyz")
 }
 
+func (s *PublishedStorageSuite) TestRemoveNoSuchBucket(c *C) {
+	err := s.noSuchBucketStorage.Remove("a/b")
+	c.Check(err, IsNil)
+}
+
 func (s *PublishedStorageSuite) TestRemovePlusWorkaround(c *C) {
 	s.storage.plusWorkaround = true
 
@@ -218,6 +226,11 @@ func (s *PublishedStorageSuite) TestRemoveDirsPlusWorkaround(c *C) {
 	c.Check(list, DeepEquals, []string{"a", "b", "c", "lala/a", "lala/b", "lala/c", "testa"})
 }
 
+func (s *PublishedStorageSuite) TestRemoveDirsNoSuchBucket(c *C) {
+	err := s.noSuchBucketStorage.RemoveDirs("a/b", nil)
+	c.Check(err, IsNil)
+}
+
 func (s *PublishedStorageSuite) TestRenameFile(c *C) {
 	c.Skip("copy not available in s3test")
 }