diff --git a/docs/docs/repositories.md b/docs/docs/repositories.md
index d281f6ca77a..f1b9572c538 100644
--- a/docs/docs/repositories.md
+++ b/docs/docs/repositories.md
@@ -120,6 +120,10 @@ a custom certificate authority or client certificates, similarly refer to the ex
 `certificates` section. Poetry will use these values to authenticate to your private repository when downloading or
 looking for packages.
 
+401 or 403 responses from secondary repositories will generate a warning
+message but are not considered as fatal, as some types of private repository
+servers may return a 403 if a request is made for a package not present on the
+server.
 
 ### Disabling the PyPI repository
 
diff --git a/poetry/repositories/legacy_repository.py b/poetry/repositories/legacy_repository.py
index d14d48fe2fe..4652a1172c1 100644
--- a/poetry/repositories/legacy_repository.py
+++ b/poetry/repositories/legacy_repository.py
@@ -395,6 +395,7 @@ def _get(self, endpoint: str) -> Optional[Page]:
             response = self.session.get(url)
             if response.status_code == 404:
                 return
+
             response.raise_for_status()
         except requests.HTTPError as e:
             raise RepositoryError(e)
diff --git a/poetry/repositories/pool.py b/poetry/repositories/pool.py
index 20579b5fdab..6ee1a0f9eb4 100644
--- a/poetry/repositories/pool.py
+++ b/poetry/repositories/pool.py
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+import logging
+
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
 from typing import Dict
 from typing import List
@@ -5,6 +7,7 @@
 
 from .base_repository import BaseRepository
 from .exceptions import PackageNotFound
+from .exceptions import RepositoryError
 from .repository import Repository
 
 
@@ -13,6 +16,9 @@
     from poetry.core.packages import Package
 
 
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
 class Pool(BaseRepository):
     def __init__(
         self,
@@ -162,8 +168,16 @@ def find_packages(self, dependency: "Dependency") -> List["Package"]:
             return self.repository(repository).find_packages(dependency)
 
         packages = []
-        for repo in self._repositories:
-            packages += repo.find_packages(dependency)
+        for (idx, repo) in enumerate(self._repositories):
+            try:
+                packages += repo.find_packages(dependency)
+            except RepositoryError:
+                if idx < self._secondary_start_idx:
+                    raise
+                self._log(
+                    "error checking secondary repository {}".format(repo.name),
+                    level="warning",
+                )
 
         return packages
 
@@ -178,3 +192,7 @@ def search(self, query: str) -> List["Package"]:
             results += repository.search(query)
 
         return results
+
+    @classmethod
+    def _log(cls, msg, level="info"):
+        getattr(logger, level)("<debug>{}:</debug> {}".format(cls.__name__, msg))
diff --git a/tests/repositories/test_pool.py b/tests/repositories/test_pool.py
index 54a405e555a..1c3815de4a8 100644
--- a/tests/repositories/test_pool.py
+++ b/tests/repositories/test_pool.py
@@ -1,9 +1,49 @@
+import shutil
+
+from pathlib import Path
+from urllib.parse import urlparse
+
 import pytest
 
+from poetry.factory import Factory
 from poetry.repositories import Pool
 from poetry.repositories import Repository
 from poetry.repositories.exceptions import PackageNotFound
+from poetry.repositories.exceptions import RepositoryError
 from poetry.repositories.legacy_repository import LegacyRepository
+from poetry.repositories.legacy_repository import Page
+
+
+class MockRepository(LegacyRepository):
+
+    FIXTURES = Path(__file__).parent / "fixtures" / "legacy"
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        super(MockRepository, self).__init__(
+            "legacy", url="http://legacy.foo.bar", disable_cache=True
+        )
+
+    def _get(self, endpoint):
+        parts = endpoint.split("/")
+        name = parts[1]
+
+        fixture = self.FIXTURES / (name + ".html")
+        if not fixture.exists():
+            return
+
+        with fixture.open(encoding="utf-8") as f:
+            return Page(self._url + endpoint, f.read(), {})
+
+    def _download(self, url, dest):
+        filename = urlparse(url).path.rsplit("/")[-1]
+        filepath = self.FIXTURES.parent / "pypi.org" / "dists" / filename
+
+        shutil.copyfile(str(filepath), dest)
+
+
+class ErrorRepository(MockRepository):
+    def _get(self, endpoint):
+        raise RepositoryError()
 
 
 def test_pool_raises_package_not_found_when_no_package_is_found():
@@ -69,3 +109,26 @@ def test_repository_with_normal_default_and_secondary_repositories():
     assert pool.repository("foo") is repo1
     assert pool.repository("bar") is repo2
     assert pool.has_default()
+
+
+def test_default_repository_failure():
+    default = ErrorRepository()
+    secondary = MockRepository()
+    pool = Pool()
+    pool.add_repository(secondary, secondary=True)
+    pool.add_repository(default, default=True)
+
+    with pytest.raises(RepositoryError):
+        pool.find_packages(Factory.create_dependency("pyyaml", "*"))
+
+
+def test_secondary_repository_failure():
+    secondary = ErrorRepository()
+    default = MockRepository()
+    pool = Pool()
+    pool.add_repository(secondary, secondary=True)
+    pool.add_repository(default, default=True)
+
+    packages = pool.find_packages(Factory.create_dependency("pyyaml", "*"))
+
+    assert len(packages) == 1