diff --git a/lib/local-storage.js b/lib/local-storage.js
index 1c4fc66a1..342404464 100644
--- a/lib/local-storage.js
+++ b/lib/local-storage.js
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ Storage.prototype.update_versions = function(name, newdata, callback) {
 		}
 		for (var up in newdata._uplinks) {
 			var need_change =
-				!utils.is_object(data._uplinks[up]) || (newdata._uplinks[up].etag !== data._uplinks[up].etag)
+				!utils.is_object(data._uplinks[up]) || (newdata._uplinks[up].etag !== data._uplinks[up].etag || (newdata._uplinks[up].fetched !== data._uplinks[up].fetched))
 
 			if (need_change) {
 				change = true
diff --git a/lib/storage.js b/lib/storage.js
index ffbbbe6a9..0deb33c6a 100644
--- a/lib/storage.js
+++ b/lib/storage.js
@@ -339,10 +339,19 @@ Storage.prototype._sync_package_with_uplinks = function(name, pkginfo, options,
 
 	async.map(uplinks, function(up, cb) {
 		var _options = Object.create(options)
-		if (utils.is_object(pkginfo._uplinks[up.upname]))
+		if (utils.is_object(pkginfo._uplinks[up.upname])) {
+			var fetched = pkginfo._uplinks[up.upname].fetched
+			if (fetched && fetched > (Date.now() - up.maxage)) {
+				return cb()
+			}
+
 			_options.etag = pkginfo._uplinks[up.upname].etag
+		}
 
 		up.get_package(name, _options, function(err, up_res, etag) {
+			if (err && err.message === "bad status code: 304")
+				pkginfo._uplinks[up.upname].fetched = Date.now()
+
 			if (err || !up_res) return cb(null, [err || new Error('no data')])
 
 			try {
@@ -356,7 +365,8 @@ Storage.prototype._sync_package_with_uplinks = function(name, pkginfo, options,
 			}
 
 			pkginfo._uplinks[up.upname] = {
-				etag: etag
+				etag: etag,
+				fetched: Date.now()
 			}
 
 			try {
diff --git a/lib/up-storage.js b/lib/up-storage.js
index b1dc088c0..5eb36cd2e 100644
--- a/lib/up-storage.js
+++ b/lib/up-storage.js
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ function Storage(config, mainconfig) {
 	this.logger = Logger.logger.child({sub: 'out'})
 	this.server_id = mainconfig.server_id
 
+	this.maxage = (parseInt(this.config.maxage, 10) || 0) * 1000
 	this.url = URL.parse(this.config.url)
 	if (this.url.hostname === 'registry.npmjs.org') {
 		// npm registry is too slow working with ssl :(