diff --git a/apis/s3/src/main/java/org/jclouds/s3/S3AsyncClient.java b/apis/s3/src/main/java/org/jclouds/s3/S3AsyncClient.java
index d0e1a6e78f..a7dff35d90 100644
--- a/apis/s3/src/main/java/org/jclouds/s3/S3AsyncClient.java
+++ b/apis/s3/src/main/java/org/jclouds/s3/S3AsyncClient.java
@@ -202,10 +202,9 @@ public interface S3AsyncClient extends Closeable {
    /**
     * @see S3Client#bucketExists
     */
-   @Named("ListBucket")
-   @GET
+   @Named("BucketExists")
+   @HEAD
    @Path("/")
-   @QueryParams(keys = "max-keys", values = "0")
    @Fallback(FalseOnContainerNotFound.class)
    ListenableFuture<Boolean> bucketExists(
             @Bucket @EndpointParam(parser = AssignCorrectHostnameForBucket.class) @BinderParam(BindAsHostPrefixIfConfigured.class) @ParamValidators(BucketNameValidator.class) String bucketName);
diff --git a/apis/s3/src/test/java/org/jclouds/s3/PathBasedS3ClientExpectTest.java b/apis/s3/src/test/java/org/jclouds/s3/PathBasedS3ClientExpectTest.java
index 42af044101..14be66285e 100644
--- a/apis/s3/src/test/java/org/jclouds/s3/PathBasedS3ClientExpectTest.java
+++ b/apis/s3/src/test/java/org/jclouds/s3/PathBasedS3ClientExpectTest.java
@@ -42,10 +42,10 @@ public class PathBasedS3ClientExpectTest extends BaseS3ClientExpectTest {
    @Test
    public void testBucketExistsReturnsTrueOn200AndFalseOn404() {
       
-      HttpRequest bucketFooExists = HttpRequest.builder().method("GET")
-                                               .endpoint("https://s3.amazonaws.com/foo?max-keys=0")
+      HttpRequest bucketFooExists = HttpRequest.builder().method("HEAD")
+                                               .endpoint("https://s3.amazonaws.com/foo")
                                                .addHeader("Date", CONSTANT_DATE)
-                                               .addHeader("Authorization", "AWS identity:p32RsBr2inawMBeCkkiA228BT2w=")
+                                               .addHeader("Authorization", "AWS identity:lLD0mzo2bZPIWhxlFDZoT09MKUQ=")
                                                .build();
                                     
       S3Client clientWhenBucketExists = requestSendsResponse(bucketFooExists, HttpResponse.builder().statusCode(200).build());
diff --git a/apis/s3/src/test/java/org/jclouds/s3/S3AsyncClientTest.java b/apis/s3/src/test/java/org/jclouds/s3/S3AsyncClientTest.java
index a82ef9e9ab..c0561f40e1 100644
--- a/apis/s3/src/test/java/org/jclouds/s3/S3AsyncClientTest.java
+++ b/apis/s3/src/test/java/org/jclouds/s3/S3AsyncClientTest.java
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ public abstract class S3AsyncClientTest<T extends S3AsyncClient> extends BaseS3A
       Invokable<?, ?> method = method(S3AsyncClient.class, "bucketExists", String.class);
       GeneratedHttpRequest request = processor.createRequest(method, ImmutableList.<Object> of("bucket"));
 
-      assertRequestLineEquals(request, "GET https://bucket." + url + "/?max-keys=0 HTTP/1.1");
+      assertRequestLineEquals(request, "HEAD https://bucket." + url + "/ HTTP/1.1");
       assertNonPayloadHeadersEqual(request, "Host: bucket." + url + "\n");
       assertPayloadEquals(request, null, null, false);
 
diff --git a/apis/s3/src/test/java/org/jclouds/s3/S3ClientExpectTest.java b/apis/s3/src/test/java/org/jclouds/s3/S3ClientExpectTest.java
index 67baa7b68e..577c8412ff 100644
--- a/apis/s3/src/test/java/org/jclouds/s3/S3ClientExpectTest.java
+++ b/apis/s3/src/test/java/org/jclouds/s3/S3ClientExpectTest.java
@@ -31,11 +31,11 @@ public class S3ClientExpectTest extends BaseS3ClientExpectTest {
    @Test
    public void testBucketExistsReturnsTrueOn200AndFalseOn404() {
       
-      HttpRequest bucketFooExists = HttpRequest.builder().method("GET").endpoint(
-               URI.create("https://s3.amazonaws.com/foo?max-keys=0")).headers(
+      HttpRequest bucketFooExists = HttpRequest.builder().method("HEAD").endpoint(
+               URI.create("https://s3.amazonaws.com/foo")).headers(
                ImmutableMultimap.<String, String> builder()
                   .put("Date", CONSTANT_DATE)
-                  .put("Authorization", "AWS identity:p32RsBr2inawMBeCkkiA228BT2w=")
+                  .put("Authorization", "AWS identity:lLD0mzo2bZPIWhxlFDZoT09MKUQ=")
                   .build()).build();
       
       S3Client clientWhenBucketExists = requestSendsResponse(bucketFooExists, HttpResponse.builder().statusCode(200).build());
diff --git a/apis/s3/src/test/java/org/jclouds/s3/handlers/S3RedirectionRetryHandlerExpectTest.java b/apis/s3/src/test/java/org/jclouds/s3/handlers/S3RedirectionRetryHandlerExpectTest.java
deleted file mode 100644
index 11360f9336..0000000000
--- a/apis/s3/src/test/java/org/jclouds/s3/handlers/S3RedirectionRetryHandlerExpectTest.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,55 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
- * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
- * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
- * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
- * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
- * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
- *
- *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
- *
- * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
- * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
- * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
- * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
- * limitations under the License.
- */
-package org.jclouds.s3.handlers;
-
-import java.net.URI;
-
-import org.jclouds.http.HttpRequest;
-import org.jclouds.http.HttpResponse;
-import org.jclouds.s3.S3Client;
-import org.jclouds.s3.internal.BaseS3ClientExpectTest;
-import org.testng.annotations.Test;
-
-import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMultimap;
-
-@Test(groups = "unit", testName = "S3RedirectionRetryHandlerExpectTest")
-public class S3RedirectionRetryHandlerExpectTest extends BaseS3ClientExpectTest {
-
-   public void testRedirectOnHeadBucketChangesRequestToGetBucket() {
-
-      HttpRequest bucketFooExists = HttpRequest.builder().method("HEAD").endpoint(
-               URI.create("https://s3.amazonaws.com/foo?max-keys=0")).headers(
-               ImmutableMultimap.<String, String> builder().put("Date",
-                        CONSTANT_DATE).put("Authorization", "AWS identity:p32RsBr2inawMBeCkkiA228BT2w=").build())
-               .build();
-
-      HttpResponse redirectResponse = HttpResponse.builder().statusCode(301).build();
-
-      HttpRequest bucketFooExistsNowUsesGET = HttpRequest.builder().method("GET").endpoint(
-               URI.create("https://s3.amazonaws.com/foo?max-keys=0")).headers(
-               ImmutableMultimap.<String, String> builder().put("Date",
-                        CONSTANT_DATE).put("Authorization", "AWS identity:p32RsBr2inawMBeCkkiA228BT2w=").build())
-               .build();
-
-      HttpResponse success = HttpResponse.builder().statusCode(200).build();
-
-      S3Client clientWhenBucketExists = requestsSendResponses(bucketFooExists, redirectResponse, bucketFooExistsNowUsesGET, success);
-      
-      assert clientWhenBucketExists.bucketExists("foo");
-
-   }
-}