diff --git a/apis/sts/src/main/java/org/jclouds/aws/handlers/ParseAWSErrorFromXmlContent.java b/apis/sts/src/main/java/org/jclouds/aws/handlers/ParseAWSErrorFromXmlContent.java
index 53b3e96792..d71ea176dd 100644
--- a/apis/sts/src/main/java/org/jclouds/aws/handlers/ParseAWSErrorFromXmlContent.java
+++ b/apis/sts/src/main/java/org/jclouds/aws/handlers/ParseAWSErrorFromXmlContent.java
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ import org.jclouds.http.HttpResponseException;
 import org.jclouds.logging.Logger;
 import org.jclouds.rest.AuthorizationException;
 import org.jclouds.rest.InsufficientResourcesException;
+import org.jclouds.rest.ResourceAlreadyExistsException;
 import org.jclouds.rest.ResourceNotFoundException;
 import org.jclouds.util.Strings2;
 
@@ -128,7 +129,12 @@ public class ParseAWSErrorFromXmlContent implements HttpErrorHandler {
             }
             break;
          case 409:
-            exception = new IllegalStateException(message, exception);
+            if ("BucketAlreadyExists".equals(errorCode)) {
+               exception = new ResourceAlreadyExistsException(exception);
+            } else {
+               exception = new IllegalStateException(message, exception);
+            }
+            break;
       }
       return exception;
    }
diff --git a/apis/sts/src/test/java/org/jclouds/aws/handlers/ParseAWSErrorFromXmlContentTest.java b/apis/sts/src/test/java/org/jclouds/aws/handlers/ParseAWSErrorFromXmlContentTest.java
index bf6d4a5067..b74ed73ba0 100644
--- a/apis/sts/src/test/java/org/jclouds/aws/handlers/ParseAWSErrorFromXmlContentTest.java
+++ b/apis/sts/src/test/java/org/jclouds/aws/handlers/ParseAWSErrorFromXmlContentTest.java
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ import org.jclouds.http.functions.config.SaxParserModule;
 import org.jclouds.rest.AuthorizationException;
 import org.jclouds.rest.InsufficientResourcesException;
 import org.jclouds.rest.RequestSigner;
+import org.jclouds.rest.ResourceAlreadyExistsException;
 import org.jclouds.rest.ResourceNotFoundException;
 import org.testng.annotations.Test;
 
@@ -110,6 +111,22 @@ public class ParseAWSErrorFromXmlContentTest {
                InsufficientResourcesException.class);
    }
 
+   @Test
+   public void test409WithBucketAlreadyExistsMakesResourceAlreadyExistsException() {
+      assertCodeMakes(
+               POST,
+               URI.create("https://ec2.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/"),
+               CONFLICT.getStatusCode(),
+               "",
+               "<Response><Errors><Error>" +
+               "<Code>BucketAlreadyExists</Code>" +
+               "<Message>The requested bucket name is not available." +
+               " The bucket namespace is shared by all users of the system." +
+               " Please select a different name and try again.</Message>" +
+               "</Error></Errors><RequestID>c14f531a-cc35-4b48-8149-2655c7e6dc76</RequestID></Response>",
+               ResourceAlreadyExistsException.class);
+   }
+
    @Test
    public void test400WithInUseCodeSetsIllegalStateException() {
       assertCodeMakes(GET, URI.create("https://amazonaws.com/foo"), BAD_REQUEST.getStatusCode(), "",
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/rest/ResourceAlreadyExistsException.java b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/rest/ResourceAlreadyExistsException.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e096a5c9e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/rest/ResourceAlreadyExistsException.java
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+/*
+ * 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.rest;
+
+/**
+ * Thrown when creating a resource that already exists.
+ *
+ * @author Andrew Gaul
+ */
+public class ResourceAlreadyExistsException extends RuntimeException {
+   public ResourceAlreadyExistsException() {
+      this(null, null);
+   }
+
+   public ResourceAlreadyExistsException(String message) {
+      this(message, null);
+   }
+
+   public ResourceAlreadyExistsException(Throwable cause) {
+      this(null, cause);
+   }
+
+   public ResourceAlreadyExistsException(String message, Throwable cause) {
+      super(message, cause);
+   }
+}