diff --git a/builtin-push.c b/builtin-push.c
index c1ed68d938..cc6666f75e 100644
--- a/builtin-push.c
+++ b/builtin-push.c
@@ -59,8 +59,17 @@ static int do_push(const char *repo, int flags)
 	if (remote->mirror)
 		flags |= (TRANSPORT_PUSH_MIRROR|TRANSPORT_PUSH_FORCE);
 
-	if ((flags & (TRANSPORT_PUSH_ALL|TRANSPORT_PUSH_MIRROR)) && refspec)
-		return -1;
+	if ((flags & TRANSPORT_PUSH_ALL) && refspec) {
+		if (!strcmp(*refspec, "refs/tags/*"))
+			return error("--all and --tags are incompatible");
+		return error("--all can't be combined with refspecs");
+	}
+
+	if ((flags & TRANSPORT_PUSH_MIRROR) && refspec) {
+		if (!strcmp(*refspec, "refs/tags/*"))
+			return error("--mirror and --tags are incompatible");
+		return error("--mirror can't be combined with refspecs");
+	}
 
 	if ((flags & (TRANSPORT_PUSH_ALL|TRANSPORT_PUSH_MIRROR)) ==
 				(TRANSPORT_PUSH_ALL|TRANSPORT_PUSH_MIRROR)) {