diff --git a/shub/deploy.py b/shub/deploy.py
index f7ef3836..f3195e66 100644
--- a/shub/deploy.py
+++ b/shub/deploy.py
@@ -22,8 +22,7 @@
 from shub.exceptions import (BadParameterException, NotFoundException,
                              ShubException)
 from shub.utils import (create_default_setup_py, create_scrapinghub_yml_wizard,
-                        get_config, inside_project, make_deploy_request,
-                        run_python)
+                        inside_project, make_deploy_request, run_python)
 from shub.image.upload import upload_cmd
 
 
@@ -158,8 +157,7 @@ def _upload_egg(endpoint, eggpath, project, version, auth, verbose, keep_log,
 def _build_egg():
     if not inside_project():
         raise NotFoundException("No Scrapy project found in this location.")
-    settings = get_config().get('settings', 'default')
-    create_default_setup_py(settings=settings)
+    create_default_setup_py()
     d = tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix="shub-deploy-")
     run_python(['setup.py', 'clean', '-a', 'bdist_egg', '-d', d])
     egg = glob.glob(os.path.join(d, '*.egg'))[0]
diff --git a/shub/utils.py b/shub/utils.py
index a69ec486..59777409 100644
--- a/shub/utils.py
+++ b/shub/utils.py
@@ -70,6 +70,8 @@ def create_default_setup_py(**kwargs):
     with remember_cwd():
         os.chdir(os.path.dirname(closest))
         if not os.path.exists('setup.py'):
+            if 'settings' not in kwargs:
+                kwargs['settings'] = get_config().get('settings', 'default')
             with open('setup.py', 'w') as f:
                 f.write(_SETUP_PY_TEMPLATE % kwargs)
             click.echo("Created setup.py at {}".format(os.getcwd()))
diff --git a/tests/test_deploy.py b/tests/test_deploy.py
index 568f01a2..88a85210 100644
--- a/tests/test_deploy.py
+++ b/tests/test_deploy.py
@@ -4,16 +4,14 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import
 
 import unittest
-import os
 
-import pytest
 from click.testing import CliRunner
 from mock import patch
 
 from shub import deploy
-from shub.config import ShubConfig
-from shub.exceptions import InvalidAuthException, NotFoundException, \
-    ShubException, BadParameterException
+from shub.exceptions import (NotFoundException, ShubException,
+                             BadParameterException)
+from shub.utils import create_default_setup_py
 
 from .utils import AssertInvokeRaisesMixin, mock_conf
 
@@ -106,6 +104,19 @@ def test_custom_deploy_bad_registry(self):
             self._make_project()
             self.assertInvokeRaises(BadParameterException, deploy.cli, ('custom3',))
 
+    @patch('shub.deploy.make_deploy_request')
+    def test_deploy_with_custom_setup_py(self, mock_deploy_req):
+        with self.runner.isolated_filesystem():
+            # This scrapy.cfg contains no "settings" section, so creating a
+            # default setup.py would fail (because we can't find the settings
+            # module)
+            open('scrapy.cfg', 'w').close()
+            # However, we already have a setup.py...
+            create_default_setup_py(settings='some_module')
+            # ... so shub should not fail while trying to create one
+            result = self.runner.invoke(deploy.cli)
+            self.assertEqual(result.exit_code, 0)
+
 
 class DeployFilesTest(unittest.TestCase):
     def setUp(self):