diff --git a/shub/deploy.py b/shub/deploy.py
index 986fc6b2..8c6b2537 100644
--- a/shub/deploy.py
+++ b/shub/deploy.py
@@ -43,7 +43,6 @@
 @click.option("--egg", help="deploy the given egg, instead of building one")
 @click.option("--build-egg", help="only build the given egg, don't deploy it")
 def cli(target, project, version, list_targets, debug, egg, build_egg):
-    exitcode = 0
     if not inside_project():
         log("Error: no Scrapy project found in this location")
         sys.exit(1)
@@ -55,32 +54,30 @@ def cli(target, project, version, list_targets, debug, egg, build_egg):
 
     tmpdir = None
 
-    if build_egg:
-        egg, tmpdir = _build_egg()
-        log("Writing egg to %s" % build_egg)
-        shutil.copyfile(egg, build_egg)
-    else:
-        target = _get_target(target)
-        project = _get_project(target, project)
-        version = _get_version(target, version)
-        if egg:
-            log("Using egg: %s" % egg)
-            egg = egg
-        else:
-            log("Packing version %s" % version)
+    try:
+        if build_egg:
             egg, tmpdir = _build_egg()
-        if _upload_egg(target, egg, project, version):
-            click.echo("Run your spiders at: https://dash.scrapinghub.com/p/%s/" % project)
+            log("Writing egg to %s" % build_egg)
+            shutil.copyfile(egg, build_egg)
         else:
-            exitcode = 1
-
-    if tmpdir:
-        if debug:
-            log("Output dir not removed: %s" % tmpdir)
-        else:
-            shutil.rmtree(tmpdir)
-
-    sys.exit(exitcode)
+            target = _get_target(target)
+            project = _get_project(target, project)
+            version = _get_version(target, version)
+            if egg:
+                log("Using egg: %s" % egg)
+                egg = egg
+            else:
+                log("Packing version %s" % version)
+                egg, tmpdir = _build_egg()
+
+            _upload_egg(target, egg, project, version)
+            click.echo("Run your spiders at: https://dash.scrapinghub.com/p/%s/" % project)
+    finally:
+        if tmpdir:
+            if debug:
+                log("Output dir not removed: %s" % tmpdir)
+            else:
+                shutil.rmtree(tmpdir)
 
 
 def _get_project(target, project):
diff --git a/shub/exceptions.py b/shub/exceptions.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f0dea19c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/shub/exceptions.py
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+from click import ClickException
+
+
+class AuthException(ClickException):
+    def __init__(self):
+        msg = 'Authentication failure. Make sure your API key is valid.'
+        super(AuthException, self).__init__(msg)
diff --git a/shub/fetch_eggs.py b/shub/fetch_eggs.py
index 6f7f4404..a4b86026 100644
--- a/shub/fetch_eggs.py
+++ b/shub/fetch_eggs.py
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 import click
 import requests
+from click import ClickException
 
 from shub.utils import find_api_key
 from shub.click_utils import log
+from shub.exceptions import AuthException
 
 
 @click.command(help="Download a project's eggs from the Scrapy Cloud")
@@ -12,6 +14,8 @@ def cli(project_id):
     url = "https://dash.scrapinghub.com/api/eggs/bundle.zip?project=%s" % project_id
     rsp = requests.get(url=url, auth=auth, stream=True, timeout=300)
 
+    assert_response_is_valid(rsp)
+
     destfile = 'eggs-%s.zip' % project_id
     log("Downloading eggs to %s" % destfile)
 
@@ -20,3 +24,11 @@ def cli(project_id):
             if chunk:
                 f.write(chunk)
                 f.flush()
+
+
+def assert_response_is_valid(rsp):
+    if rsp.status_code == 403:
+        raise AuthException()
+    elif rsp.status_code != 200:
+        msg = 'Eggs could not be fetched. Status: %d' % rsp.status_code
+        raise ClickException(msg)
diff --git a/shub/utils.py b/shub/utils.py
index 45a53140..f806cdaf 100644
--- a/shub/utils.py
+++ b/shub/utils.py
@@ -9,7 +9,10 @@
 
 import requests
 
+from click import ClickException
+
 from shub.click_utils import log
+from shub.exceptions import AuthException
 
 SCRAPY_CFG_FILE = os.path.expanduser("~/.scrapy.cfg")
 OS_WIN = True if os.name == 'nt' else False
@@ -48,7 +51,6 @@ def get_key_netrc():
     if key:
         return key
 
-
 def make_deploy_request(url, data, files, auth):
     try:
         rsp = requests.post(url=url, auth=auth, data=data, files=files,
@@ -59,12 +61,14 @@ def make_deploy_request(url, data, files, auth):
         return True
     except requests.HTTPError as exc:
         rsp = exc.response
-        log("Deploy failed ({}):".format(rsp.status_code))
-        log(rsp.text)
-        return False
+
+        if rsp.status_code == 403:
+            raise AuthException()
+
+        msg = "Deploy failed ({}):\n{}".format(rsp.status_code, rsp.text)
+        raise ClickException(msg)
     except requests.RequestException as exc:
-        log("Deploy failed: {}".format(exc))
-        return False
+        raise ClickException("Deploy failed: {}".format(exc))
 
 
 def pwd_git_version():
diff --git a/tests/test_fetch_eggs.py b/tests/test_fetch_eggs.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..804d7eae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_fetch_eggs.py
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+import unittest
+import mock
+from collections import namedtuple
+
+from click.testing import CliRunner
+from shub import tool
+
+FakeResponse = namedtuple('FakeResponse', ['status_code'])
+
+@mock.patch('shub.fetch_eggs.requests', autospec=True)
+class FetchEggsTest(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.runner = CliRunner()
+
+    def test_raises_auth_exception(self, requests_mock):
+        fake_response = FakeResponse(403)
+        requests_mock.get.return_value = fake_response
+        output = self.runner.invoke(tool.cli, ['fetch-eggs', 'xxx']).output
+        self.assertTrue('Authentication failure' in output)
+
+    def test_raises_exception_if_request_error(self, requests_mock):
+        fake_response = FakeResponse(400)
+        requests_mock.get.return_value = fake_response
+        output = self.runner.invoke(tool.cli, ['fetch-eggs', 'xxx']).output
+        self.assertTrue('Eggs could not be fetched' in output)