diff --git a/cmd/cmd.go b/cmd/cmd.go
index d1dbab5bd..32b76908a 100644
--- a/cmd/cmd.go
+++ b/cmd/cmd.go
@@ -39,12 +39,13 @@ import (
 // Globals
 var (
 	// Flags
-	cpuProfile    = flags.StringP("cpuprofile", "", "", "Write cpu profile to file")
-	memProfile    = flags.StringP("memprofile", "", "", "Write memory profile to file")
-	statsInterval = flags.DurationP("stats", "", time.Minute*1, "Interval between printing stats, e.g 500ms, 60s, 5m. (0 to disable)")
-	dataRateUnit  = flags.StringP("stats-unit", "", "bytes", "Show data rate in stats as either 'bits' or 'bytes'/s")
-	version       bool
-	retries       = flags.IntP("retries", "", 3, "Retry operations this many times if they fail")
+	cpuProfile      = flags.StringP("cpuprofile", "", "", "Write cpu profile to file")
+	memProfile      = flags.StringP("memprofile", "", "", "Write memory profile to file")
+	statsInterval   = flags.DurationP("stats", "", time.Minute*1, "Interval between printing stats, e.g 500ms, 60s, 5m. (0 to disable)")
+	dataRateUnit    = flags.StringP("stats-unit", "", "bytes", "Show data rate in stats as either 'bits' or 'bytes'/s")
+	version         bool
+	retries         = flags.IntP("retries", "", 3, "Retry operations this many times if they fail")
+	retriesInterval = flags.DurationP("retries-sleep", "", 0, "Interval between retrying operations if they fail, e.g 500ms, 60s, 5m. (0 to disable)")
 	// Errors
 	errorCommandNotFound    = errors.New("command not found")
 	errorUncategorized      = errors.New("uncategorized error")
@@ -322,6 +323,9 @@ func Run(Retry bool, showStats bool, cmd *cobra.Command, f func() error) {
 		if try < *retries {
 			accounting.Stats.ResetErrors()
 		}
+		if *retriesInterval > 0 {
+			time.Sleep(*retriesInterval)
+		}
 	}
 	if showStats {
 		close(stopStats)
diff --git a/docs/content/docs.md b/docs/content/docs.md
index 63ded42c3..7c2eeceaf 100644
--- a/docs/content/docs.md
+++ b/docs/content/docs.md
@@ -591,6 +591,12 @@ files which didn't get transferred because of errors.
 
 Disable retries with `--retries 1`.
 
+### --retries-sleep=TIME ###
+
+This sets the interval between each retry specified by `--retries` 
+
+The default is 0. Use 0 to disable.
+
 ### --size-only ###
 
 Normally rclone will look at modification time and size of files to