diff --git a/apps/search/client.py b/apps/search/client.py
index 8e8bbf2807d..52f0fcb01a2 100644
--- a/apps/search/client.py
+++ b/apps/search/client.py
@@ -29,6 +29,9 @@ def get_category_id(category, application):
     if len(category):
         return category[0].id
 
+def sanitize_query(term):
+    term = term.strip('^$ ')
+    return term
 
 def extract_from_query(term, filter, regexp, options={}):
     """
@@ -227,6 +230,7 @@ def query(self, term, limit=10, offset=0, **kwargs):
         #   * Logging
 
         try:
+            term = sanitize_query(term)
             result = sc.Query(term)
         except socket.timeout:
             log.error("Query has timed out.")
diff --git a/apps/search/tests.py b/apps/search/tests.py
index 4bb2f2d5f8f..f4c4304fc14 100644
--- a/apps/search/tests.py
+++ b/apps/search/tests.py
@@ -223,6 +223,17 @@ def test_status_filter(self):
         eq_(query("MozEx",
                   status=[amo.STATUS_PUBLIC, amo.STATUS_SANDBOX])[0].id, 40)
 
+    def test_badchars(self):
+        """ Sphinx doesn't like queries that are entirely '$', '^' or '^ $' """
+        bad_guys = ('^', '$', '$ ^', '^ s $', '$s^', '  $ s  ^', ' ^  s  $',
+                    '^$', '^    $')
+
+        for guy in bad_guys:
+            try:
+                query(guy)
+            except SearchError:
+                assert False, "Error querying for %s" % guy
+
 
 class TestSearchForm(test_utils.TestCase):
     fixtures = ['base/addons']