diff --git a/plugins/Amazon.py b/plugins/Amazon.py
index 7b6f479ca..1657c7505 100644
--- a/plugins/Amazon.py
+++ b/plugins/Amazon.py
@@ -120,7 +120,8 @@ class Amazon(callbacks.PrivmsgCommandAndRegexp):
                 else:
                     results['url'] = ' <%s>' % results['url']
                 s = reply % results
-                s.encode('utf-8')
+                s = u'%s' % s
+                s = s.encode('utf-8')
                 res.append(str(s))
             except amazon.AmazonError, e:
                 self.log.warning(str(e))
diff --git a/test/test_Amazon.py b/test/test_Amazon.py
index 6c73d93d4..faf6ea6dc 100644
--- a/test/test_Amazon.py
+++ b/test/test_Amazon.py
@@ -40,6 +40,9 @@ if LICENSE_KEY != 'INITIAL_NON_LICENSE_KEY' and network:
             PluginTestCase.setUp(self)
             conf.supybot.plugins.amazon.licensekey.set(LICENSE_KEY)
 
+        def testUnicode(self):
+            self.assertNotError('artist husker du')
+
         def testIsbn(self):
             self.assertHelp('isbn')
             self.assertRegexp('isbn 0738203793',