diff --git a/spring-vault-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/vault/client/VaultClients.java b/spring-vault-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/vault/client/VaultClients.java
index 3314a165..38ce1ea1 100644
--- a/spring-vault-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/vault/client/VaultClients.java
+++ b/spring-vault-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/vault/client/VaultClients.java
@@ -208,15 +208,20 @@ public class VaultClients {
 	}
 
 	/**
-	 * Strip/add leading slashes from {@code uriTemplate} depending on wheter the base
-	 * url* has a trailing slash.
+	 * Strip/add leading slashes from {@code uriTemplate} depending on whether the base
+	 * url has a trailing slash.
 	 *
 	 * @param uriTemplate
 	 * @return
 	 */
 	static String prepareUriTemplate(@Nullable String baseUrl, String uriTemplate) {
 
+		if (uriTemplate.startsWith("http:") || uriTemplate.startsWith("https:")) {
+			return uriTemplate;
+		}
+
 		if (baseUrl != null) {
+
 			if (uriTemplate.startsWith("/") && baseUrl.endsWith("/")) {
 				return uriTemplate.substring(1);
 			}
diff --git a/spring-vault-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/vault/client/VaultClientsUnitTests.java b/spring-vault-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/vault/client/VaultClientsUnitTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b81361aa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-vault-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/vault/client/VaultClientsUnitTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.springframework.vault.client;
+
+import java.net.URI;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import org.springframework.vault.client.VaultClients.PrefixAwareUriTemplateHandler;
+
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+
+/**
+ * Unit tests for
+ * {@link org.springframework.vault.client.VaultClients.PrefixAwareUriTemplateHandler}.
+ *
+ * @author Mark Paluch
+ */
+public class VaultClientsUnitTests {
+
+	@Test
+	public void shouldPrefixRelativeUrl() {
+
+		VaultEndpoint localhost = VaultEndpoint.create("localhost", 8200);
+		PrefixAwareUriTemplateHandler handler = new PrefixAwareUriTemplateHandler(
+				() -> localhost);
+
+		URI uri = handler.expand("/path/{bar}", "bar");
+
+		assertThat(uri).hasHost("localhost").hasPort(8200).hasPath("/v1/path/bar");
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void shouldNotPrefixAbsoluteUrl() {
+
+		VaultEndpoint localhost = VaultEndpoint.create("localhost", 8200);
+		PrefixAwareUriTemplateHandler handler = new PrefixAwareUriTemplateHandler(
+				() -> localhost);
+
+		URI uri = handler.expand("https://foo/path/{bar}", "bar");
+
+		assertThat(uri).hasScheme("https").hasHost("foo").hasPort(-1)
+				.hasPath("/path/bar");
+	}
+}