diff --git a/cmd/rekor-cli/app/search.go b/cmd/rekor-cli/app/search.go
index 335d45034961b2899bd5d2e38f944c686d95ed7e..e447d235efdeed19fa6b327466b16bce4647ba3f 100644
--- a/cmd/rekor-cli/app/search.go
+++ b/cmd/rekor-cli/app/search.go
@@ -196,6 +196,10 @@ var searchCmd = &cobra.Command{
 			}
 		}
 
+		if len(resp.Payload) == 0 {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("no matching entries found")
+		}
+
 		return &searchCmdOutput{
 			uuids: resp.GetPayload(),
 		}, nil
diff --git a/tests/e2e_test.go b/tests/e2e_test.go
index a5f62a73e67f3b18bc908348652e285861a0eb00..c21079382b8b6fb16a8deea4ff73546dbb9bf510 100644
--- a/tests/e2e_test.go
+++ b/tests/e2e_test.go
@@ -226,6 +226,10 @@ func TestGet(t *testing.T) {
 	outputContains(t, out, uuid)
 }
 
+func TestSearchNoEntriesRC1(t *testing.T) {
+	runCliErr(t, "search", "--email", "noone@internetz.com")
+}
+
 func TestMinisign(t *testing.T) {
 	// Create a keypair
 	keyPath := filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "minisign.key")