diff --git a/avatar/settings.py b/avatar/settings.py
index 81a9f9ab..12d5db20 100644
--- a/avatar/settings.py
+++ b/avatar/settings.py
@@ -10,11 +10,10 @@
 AUTO_GENERATE_AVATAR_SIZES = getattr(settings, 'AUTO_GENERATE_AVATAR_SIZES', (AVATAR_DEFAULT_SIZE,))
 AVATAR_RESIZE_METHOD = getattr(settings, 'AVATAR_RESIZE_METHOD', Image.ANTIALIAS)
 AVATAR_STORAGE_DIR = getattr(settings, 'AVATAR_STORAGE_DIR', 'avatars')
-AVATAR_GRAVATAR_SSL = getattr(settings, 'AVATAR_GRAVATAR_SSL', False)
+AVATAR_GRAVATAR_BASE_URL = getattr(settings, 'AVATAR_GRAVATAR_BASE_URL', 'http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/')
 AVATAR_GRAVATAR_BACKUP = getattr(settings, 'AVATAR_GRAVATAR_BACKUP', True)
 AVATAR_GRAVATAR_DEFAULT = getattr(settings, 'AVATAR_GRAVATAR_DEFAULT', None)
 AVATAR_DEFAULT_URL = getattr(settings, 'AVATAR_DEFAULT_URL', 'avatar/img/default.jpg')
-AVATAR_BASE_URL = getattr(settings, 'AVATAR_BASE_URL', 'http://www.gravatar.com')
 AVATAR_MAX_AVATARS_PER_USER = getattr(settings, 'AVATAR_MAX_AVATARS_PER_USER', 42)
 AVATAR_MAX_SIZE = getattr(settings, 'AVATAR_MAX_SIZE', 1024 * 1024)
 AVATAR_THUMB_FORMAT = getattr(settings, 'AVATAR_THUMB_FORMAT', "JPEG")
diff --git a/avatar/templatetags/avatar_tags.py b/avatar/templatetags/avatar_tags.py
index b2364f4c..39b43179 100644
--- a/avatar/templatetags/avatar_tags.py
+++ b/avatar/templatetags/avatar_tags.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import urllib
+import urlparse
 
 from django import template
 from django.template.loader import render_to_string
@@ -9,7 +10,7 @@
 from django.contrib.auth.models import User
 
 from avatar.settings import (AVATAR_GRAVATAR_BACKUP, AVATAR_GRAVATAR_DEFAULT,
-                             AVATAR_DEFAULT_SIZE, AVATAR_BASE_URL)
+                             AVATAR_DEFAULT_SIZE, AVATAR_GRAVATAR_BASE_URL)
 from avatar.util import get_primary_avatar, get_default_avatar_url, cache_result
 from avatar.models import Avatar
 
@@ -22,17 +23,16 @@ def avatar_url(user, size=AVATAR_DEFAULT_SIZE):
     avatar = get_primary_avatar(user, size=size)
     if avatar:
         return avatar.avatar_url(size)
-    else:
-        if AVATAR_GRAVATAR_BACKUP:
-            params = {'s': str(size)}
-            if AVATAR_GRAVATAR_DEFAULT:
-                params['d'] = AVATAR_GRAVATAR_DEFAULT
-            return "%s/avatar/%s/?%s" % (
-                AVATAR_BASE_URL,
-                md5_constructor(user.email).hexdigest(),
-                urllib.urlencode(params))
-        else:
-            return get_default_avatar_url()
+
+    if AVATAR_GRAVATAR_BACKUP:
+        params = {'s': str(size)}
+        if AVATAR_GRAVATAR_DEFAULT:
+            params['d'] = AVATAR_GRAVATAR_DEFAULT
+        path = "%s/?%s" % (md5_constructor(user.email).hexdigest(),
+                           urllib.urlencode(params))
+        return urlparse.urljoin(AVATAR_GRAVATAR_BASE_URL, path)
+
+    return get_default_avatar_url()
 
 
 @cache_result
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index df3c09ee..929c730b 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -110,8 +110,8 @@
 There are a number of settings available to easily customize the avatars that
 appear on the site.  Listed below are those settings:
 
-AVATAR_BASE_URL
-    The base URL where to get avatars at gravatar.com. Defaults to ``http://www.gravatar.com``.
+AVATAR_GRAVATAR_BASE_URL
+    The base URL where to get avatars at gravatar.com. Defaults to ``http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/``.
 
 AUTO_GENERATE_AVATAR_SIZES
     An iterable of integers representing the sizes of avatars to generate on