diff --git a/impact.c b/impact.c
index fdf056f..d9c5eac 100644
--- a/impact.c
+++ b/impact.c
@@ -346,7 +346,7 @@ pkg_impact(char **pkgargs, int *rc)
 	Plisthead	*impacthead, *pdphead = NULL;
 	Pkglist		*pimpact, *tmpimpact, *pdp;
 	char		**ppkgargs, *pkgname;
-	int		istty;
+	int		istty, rv;
 #ifndef DEBUG
 	char		tmpicon;
 #endif
@@ -369,12 +369,11 @@ pkg_impact(char **pkgargs, int *rc)
 	/* retreive impact list for all packages listed in the command line */
 	for (ppkgargs = pkgargs; *ppkgargs != NULL; ppkgargs++) {
 
-		/* check if this is a multiple-version package (apache, ...)
-		 * and that the wanted package actually exists. Get pkgname
-		 * from unique_pkg, full package format.
-		 */
-		if ((pkgname = unique_pkg(*ppkgargs, REMOTE_PKG)) == NULL) {
-			/* package is not available in the repository */
+		if ((rv = find_preferred_pkg(*ppkgargs, &pkgname)) != 0) {
+			if (pkgname == NULL)
+				fprintf(stderr, MSG_PKG_NOT_AVAIL, *ppkgargs);
+			else
+				fprintf(stderr, MSG_PKG_NOT_PREFERRED, *ppkgargs, pkgname);
 			*rc = EXIT_FAILURE;
 			continue;
 		}
diff --git a/messages.h b/messages.h
index 498835a..c971e3a 100644
--- a/messages.h
+++ b/messages.h
@@ -116,8 +116,7 @@
 	"there's more than one version available for this package.\n\
 please re-run %s with a package name matching one of the following:\n"
 #define MSG_PKG_NOT_AVAIL "%s is not available in the repository\n"
-#define MSG_PKG_IS_PREFERRED "\rnot choosing %s, %s is preferred\n"
-#define MSG_PKG_NOT_INSTALLABLE "\r\n%s is not installable\n"
+#define MSG_PKG_NOT_PREFERRED "No %s package available that satisfies preferred match %s\n"
 #define MSG_BROKEN_DEP "%s has no dependency in pkg_summary(5), while it's a reverse dependency for %s (missing package in repository ?). Default behaviour is to remove %s. "
 
 /* pkglist.c */
diff --git a/pkg_str.c b/pkg_str.c
index 8a9e06d..484324b 100644
--- a/pkg_str.c
+++ b/pkg_str.c
@@ -31,6 +31,70 @@
 
 #define GLOBCHARS "{<>[]?*"
 
+/*
+ * Return list of potential candidates from a package match, or NULL if no
+ * valid matches are found.
+ */
+static Plistnumbered *
+find_remote_pkgs(const char *pkgname)
+{
+	const char *query;
+
+	query = exact_pkgfmt(pkgname) ? UNIQUE_EXACT_PKG : UNIQUE_PKG;
+
+	return rec_pkglist(query, REMOTE_PKG, pkgname);
+}
+
+/*
+ * Return best candidate for a remote package, taking into consideration any
+ * preferred.conf matches.
+ *
+ * A return value of -1 indicates no remote packages matched the request.  A
+ * return value of 0 with a NULL result indicates that all remote packages
+ * failed to pass the preferred.conf requirements.  Otherwise 0 is returned
+ * and result contains the best available package.
+ */
+int
+find_preferred_pkg(const char *pkgname, char **result)
+{
+	Plistnumbered	*plist;
+	Pkglist		*p, *pkg = NULL;
+
+	*result = NULL;
+
+	/* No matching packages available */
+	if ((plist = find_remote_pkgs(pkgname)) == NULL)
+		return -1;
+
+	/* Find best match */
+	SLIST_FOREACH(p, plist->P_Plisthead, next) {
+		/*
+		 * Check that the candidate matches any potential
+		 * preferred.conf restrictions, if not then skip.
+		 */
+		if (chk_preferred(p->full, result) != 0)
+			continue;
+
+		/* Save best match */
+		if (pkg == NULL)
+			pkg = p;
+		else if (dewey_cmp(p->version, DEWEY_GT, pkg->version))
+			pkg = p;
+	}
+
+	if (pkg != NULL) {
+		/* In case a previous version failed the match */
+		if (*result != NULL)
+			free(*result);
+		*result = xstrdup(pkg->full);
+	}
+
+	free_pkglist(&plist->P_Plisthead);
+	free(plist);
+
+	return (pkg == NULL) ? 1 : 0;
+}
+
 /**
  * \fn unique_pkg
  *
@@ -39,7 +103,6 @@
 char *
 unique_pkg(const char *pkgname, const char *dest)
 {
-	uint8_t		ispref = 0;
 	char		*u_pkg = NULL;
 	Plistnumbered	*plist;
 	Pkglist		*best_match = NULL, *current;
@@ -53,19 +116,6 @@ unique_pkg(const char *pkgname, const char *dest)
 		return NULL;
 
 	SLIST_FOREACH(current, plist->P_Plisthead, next) {
-		/*
-		 * there was a preferred.conf file and the current package
-		 * matches one of the lines
-		 */
-		if (chk_preferred(current->full)) {
-			/*
-			 * package is listed in preferred.conf but the
-			 * version doesn't match requirement
-			 */
-			ispref = 1;
-			continue;
-		}
-
 		/* first result */
 		if (best_match == NULL)
 			best_match = current;
@@ -80,11 +130,6 @@ unique_pkg(const char *pkgname, const char *dest)
 	free_pkglist(&plist->P_Plisthead);
 	free(plist);
 
-	/* chosen package has no installation candidate */
-	if (u_pkg == NULL && !ispref)
-		printf(MSG_PKG_NOT_INSTALLABLE, pkgname);
-
-	/* u_pkg might be NULL if a version is preferred and not available */
 	return u_pkg;
 }
 
diff --git a/pkgin.h b/pkgin.h
index 0843a17..bdf97af 100644
--- a/pkgin.h
+++ b/pkgin.h
@@ -259,6 +259,7 @@ uint64_t	fs_room(const char *);
 void		clean_cache(void);
 char		*read_repos(void);
 /* pkg_str.c */
+int		find_preferred_pkg(const char *, char **);
 char	   	*unique_pkg(const char *, const char *);
 Pkglist		*map_pkg_to_dep(Plisthead *, char *);
 uint8_t		non_trivial_glob(char *);
@@ -311,6 +312,6 @@ void		pkgindb_stats(void);
 /* preferred.c */
 void		load_preferred(void);
 void		free_preferred(void);
-uint8_t		chk_preferred(char *);
+uint8_t		chk_preferred(char *, char **);
 
 #endif
diff --git a/preferred.c b/preferred.c
index 67dea48..8fec35b 100644
--- a/preferred.c
+++ b/preferred.c
@@ -105,18 +105,27 @@ is_preferred(char *fullpkg)
 	return NULL;
 }
 
+/*
+ * Given a full package name in "pkg" (e.g. "foo-1.0"), look for any
+ * corresponding entries for "foo" in preferred.conf and if so check that
+ * any version requirements are satisfied.
+ *
+ * Return 0 if either there are no matches or the requirement is satisfied,
+ * otherwise return 1.  If there is a match it is stored in *matchp.
+ */
 uint8_t
-chk_preferred(char *match)
+chk_preferred(char *pkg, char **matchp)
 {
 	char *pref;
 
-	if ((pref = is_preferred(match)) != NULL && !pkg_match(pref, match)) {
-			/*
-			 * package is listed in preferred.conf but the
-			 * version doesn't match requirement
-			 */
-		printf(MSG_PKG_IS_PREFERRED, match, pref);
-		return 1;
+	if ((pref = is_preferred(pkg)) == NULL) {
+		/* No matches for pkg in preferred.conf */
+		*matchp = NULL;
+		return 0;
 	}
-	return 0;
+
+	if (*matchp == NULL)
+		*matchp = xstrdup(pref);
+
+	return (pkg_match(pref, pkg) == 0) ? 1 : 0;
 }