diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 269f299..224a039 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -71,6 +71,8 @@ You can set these up locally by simply copying `sample.env` to `.env` and changi
 
 ### 0.3.9
 
+* Improvement: Added a Retry-After header as suggested by the HTTP docs for HTTP code 503 for when the throttle cap is reached. The Retry-After header indicates when the site is available for the client again, which is implemented as when the all of the queued fetches are expected to have been made.
+
 ### 0.3.8
 
 * Bug fix: Shouldn't fail on pages with non-http(s) links like mailto:
diff --git a/lib/classes/webmentionping.js b/lib/classes/webmentionping.js
index 5009aba..1a526cb 100644
--- a/lib/classes/webmentionping.js
+++ b/lib/classes/webmentionping.js
@@ -54,6 +54,14 @@ throttleByKey = function (key, onWaitCallback) {
         console.log('Reached throttle cap of', options.throttleCap, 'for key:', key);
         err = new Error('Too many mentions from source host at the moment.');
         err.status = 503;
+        // Suggest that they ping again once we have emptied the queue so that we can fill it back up again
+        // The requests will get throttled right away if they do this, but it will ensure that we utilize
+        // the defined throttleSpan to the fullest and never stand idle for a millisecond.
+        //
+        // This should perhaps be set to just the time when there's any free spot in the queue at all, even
+        // if that would mean that the throttleCap would be reached immediately again. Would follow the spec
+        // more closely though: http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7231#section-7.1.3
+        err.retryAfter = Math.ceil(((time + throttledKeys[key] - 1) * options.throttleSpan - now) / 1000);
         reject(err);
 
         return;
diff --git a/lib/routes/api.js b/lib/routes/api.js
index 723380b..9ef32ce 100644
--- a/lib/routes/api.js
+++ b/lib/routes/api.js
@@ -129,6 +129,10 @@ pingErrorResponse = function (res, err) {
     response.message = err.message;
   }
 
+  if (err.status === 503 && err.retryAfter) {
+    res.set('Retry-After', err.retryAfter);
+  }
+
   res.format({
     'application/json': function () {
       res.send(status, response);