diff --git a/cmd/pushtx/main.go b/cmd/pushtx/main.go
index 674176a996..eb936c7850 100644
--- a/cmd/pushtx/main.go
+++ b/cmd/pushtx/main.go
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ func run(args []string, stdin io.Reader) error {
 		txHex = strings.TrimSpace(string(data))
 	}
 	if txHex == "" {
-		return fmt.Errorf("no transaction data provided\nUsage: pushtx [--rpc URL] <tx-hex>")
+		return fmt.Errorf("no transaction data provided (see --help for usage)")
 	}
 
 	rawTx, err := hex.DecodeString(strings.TrimPrefix(txHex, "0x"))
diff --git a/cmd/pushtx/main_test.go b/cmd/pushtx/main_test.go
index 101c3e8a22..972edf100b 100644
--- a/cmd/pushtx/main_test.go
+++ b/cmd/pushtx/main_test.go
@@ -98,10 +98,20 @@ func fakeRPC(t *testing.T, wantErr bool) *httptest.Server {
 		}
 		// Decode the raw tx to return its hash as the result.
 		var hexData string
-		json.Unmarshal(req.Params[0], &hexData)
-		rawBytes, _ := hexutil.Decode(hexData)
+		if err := json.Unmarshal(req.Params[0], &hexData); err != nil {
+			http.Error(w, err.Error(), http.StatusBadRequest)
+			return
+		}
+		rawBytes, err := hexutil.Decode(hexData)
+		if err != nil {
+			http.Error(w, err.Error(), http.StatusBadRequest)
+			return
+		}
 		var tx types.Transaction
-		tx.UnmarshalBinary(rawBytes)
+		if err := tx.UnmarshalBinary(rawBytes); err != nil {
+			http.Error(w, err.Error(), http.StatusBadRequest)
+			return
+		}
 		json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(map[string]interface{}{
 			"jsonrpc": "2.0",
 			"id":      req.ID,