diff --git a/src/notifications.js b/src/notifications.js
index 5760dbe2a..f479e2ba9 100644
--- a/src/notifications.js
+++ b/src/notifications.js
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 'use strict';
 
 exports = module.exports = {
-    NotificationsError: NotificationsError,
-
     get: get,
     ack: ack,
     getAllPaged: getAllPaged,
@@ -25,6 +23,7 @@ exports = module.exports = {
 let assert = require('assert'),
     async = require('async'),
     auditSource = require('./auditsource.js'),
+    BoxError = require('./boxerror.js'),
     changelog = require('./changelog.js'),
     custom = require('./custom.js'),
     DatabaseError = require('./databaseerror.js'),
@@ -33,30 +32,7 @@ let assert = require('assert'),
     mailer = require('./mailer.js'),
     notificationdb = require('./notificationdb.js'),
     settings = require('./settings.js'),
-    users = require('./users.js'),
-    util = require('util');
-
-function NotificationsError(reason, errorOrMessage) {
-    assert.strictEqual(typeof reason, 'string');
-    assert(errorOrMessage instanceof Error || typeof errorOrMessage === 'string' || typeof errorOrMessage === 'undefined');
-
-    Error.call(this);
-    Error.captureStackTrace(this, this.constructor);
-
-    this.name = this.constructor.name;
-    this.reason = reason;
-    if (typeof errorOrMessage === 'undefined') {
-        this.message = reason;
-    } else if (typeof errorOrMessage === 'string') {
-        this.message = errorOrMessage;
-    } else {
-        this.message = 'Internal error';
-        this.nestedError = errorOrMessage;
-    }
-}
-util.inherits(NotificationsError, Error);
-NotificationsError.INTERNAL_ERROR = 'Internal Error';
-NotificationsError.NOT_FOUND = 'Not Found';
+    users = require('./users.js');
 
 function add(userId, eventId, title, message, callback) {
     assert.strictEqual(typeof userId, 'string');
@@ -74,8 +50,8 @@ function add(userId, eventId, title, message, callback) {
         message: message,
         acknowledged: false
     }, function (error, result) {
-        if (error && error.reason === DatabaseError.NOT_FOUND) return callback(new NotificationsError(NotificationsError.NOT_FOUND, error.message));
-        if (error) return callback(new NotificationsError(NotificationsError.INTERNAL_ERROR, error));
+        if (error && error.reason === DatabaseError.NOT_FOUND) return callback(new BoxError(BoxError.NOT_FOUND, error.message));
+        if (error) return callback(new BoxError(BoxError.DATABASE_ERROR, error));
 
         callback(null, { id: result });
     });
@@ -86,8 +62,8 @@ function get(id, callback) {
     assert.strictEqual(typeof callback, 'function');
 
     notificationdb.get(id, function (error, result) {
-        if (error && error.reason === DatabaseError.NOT_FOUND) return callback(new NotificationsError(NotificationsError.NOT_FOUND));
-        if (error) return callback(new NotificationsError(NotificationsError.INTERNAL_ERROR, error));
+        if (error && error.reason === DatabaseError.NOT_FOUND) return callback(new BoxError(BoxError.NOT_FOUND));
+        if (error) return callback(new BoxError(BoxError.DATABASE_ERROR, error));
 
         callback(null, result);
     });
@@ -98,8 +74,8 @@ function ack(id, callback) {
     assert.strictEqual(typeof callback, 'function');
 
     notificationdb.update(id, { acknowledged: true }, function (error) {
-        if (error && error.reason === DatabaseError.NOT_FOUND) return callback(new NotificationsError(NotificationsError.NOT_FOUND));
-        if (error) return callback(new NotificationsError(NotificationsError.INTERNAL_ERROR, error));
+        if (error && error.reason === DatabaseError.NOT_FOUND) return callback(new BoxError(BoxError.NOT_FOUND));
+        if (error) return callback(new BoxError(BoxError.DATABASE_ERROR, error));
 
         callback(null);
     });
@@ -114,7 +90,7 @@ function getAllPaged(userId, acknowledged, page, perPage, callback) {
     assert.strictEqual(typeof callback, 'function');
 
     notificationdb.listByUserIdPaged(userId, page, perPage, function (error, result) {
-        if (error) return callback(new NotificationsError(NotificationsError.INTERNAL_ERROR, error));
+        if (error) return callback(new BoxError(BoxError.DATABASE_ERROR, error));
 
         if (acknowledged === null) return callback(null, result);
 
@@ -129,7 +105,7 @@ function actionForAllAdmins(skippingUserIds, iterator, callback) {
     assert.strictEqual(typeof callback, 'function');
 
     users.getAllAdmins(function (error, result) {
-        if (error) return callback(new NotificationsError(NotificationsError.INTERNAL_ERROR, error));
+        if (error) return callback(new BoxError(BoxError.DATABASE_ERROR, error));
 
         // filter out users we want to skip (like the user who did the action or the user the action was performed on)
         result = result.filter(function (r) { return skippingUserIds.indexOf(r.id) === -1; });
@@ -334,15 +310,15 @@ function alert(id, title, message, callback) {
         };
 
         notificationdb.getByUserIdAndTitle(admin.id, title, function (error, result) {
-            if (error && error.reason !== DatabaseError.NOT_FOUND) return callback(new NotificationsError(NotificationsError.INTERNAL_ERROR, error));
+            if (error && error.reason !== DatabaseError.NOT_FOUND) return callback(new BoxError(BoxError.DATABASE_ERROR, error));
 
             if (!result && acknowledged) return callback(); // do not add acked alerts
 
             let updateFunc = !result ? notificationdb.add.bind(null, data) : notificationdb.update.bind(null, result.id, data);
 
             updateFunc(function (error) {
-                if (error && error.reason === DatabaseError.NOT_FOUND) return callback(new NotificationsError(NotificationsError.NOT_FOUND, error.message));
-                if (error) return callback(new NotificationsError(NotificationsError.INTERNAL_ERROR, error));
+                if (error && error.reason === DatabaseError.NOT_FOUND) return callback(new BoxError(BoxError.NOT_FOUND, error.message));
+                if (error) return callback(new BoxError(BoxError.DATABASE_ERROR, error));
 
                 callback(null);
             });
diff --git a/src/routes/notifications.js b/src/routes/notifications.js
index 4a5fc57ba..a4a1ed8ab 100644
--- a/src/routes/notifications.js
+++ b/src/routes/notifications.js
@@ -8,17 +8,26 @@ exports = module.exports = {
 };
 
 let assert = require('assert'),
+    BoxError = require('../boxerror.js'),
     HttpError = require('connect-lastmile').HttpError,
     HttpSuccess = require('connect-lastmile').HttpSuccess,
-    notifications = require('../notifications.js'),
-    NotificationsError = notifications.NotificationsError;
+    notifications = require('../notifications.js');
+
+function toHttpError(error) {
+    switch (error.reason) {
+    case BoxError.NOT_FOUND:
+        return new HttpError(404, error);
+    case BoxError.DATABASE_ERROR:
+    default:
+        return new HttpError(500, error);
+    }
+}
 
 function verifyOwnership(req, res, next) {
     if (!req.params.notificationId) return next();  // skip for listing
 
     notifications.get(req.params.notificationId, function (error, result) {
-        if (error && error.reason === NotificationsError.NOT_FOUND) return next(new HttpError(404, 'No such notification'));
-        if (error) return next(new HttpError(500, error));
+        if (error) return next(toHttpError(error));
 
         if (result.userId !== req.user.id) return next(new HttpError(403, 'User is not owner'));
 
@@ -46,7 +55,7 @@ function list(req, res, next) {
     else if (req.query.acknowledged) acknowledged = req.query.acknowledged === 'true' ? true : false;
 
     notifications.getAllPaged(req.user.id, acknowledged, page, perPage, function (error, result) {
-        if (error) return next(new HttpError(500, error));
+        if (error) return next(toHttpError(error));
 
         next(new HttpSuccess(200, { notifications: result }));
     });
@@ -56,8 +65,7 @@ function ack(req, res, next) {
     assert.strictEqual(typeof req.params.notificationId, 'string');
 
     notifications.ack(req.params.notificationId, function (error) {
-        if (error && error.reason === NotificationsError.NOT_FOUND) return next(new HttpError(404, 'No such notification'));
-        if (error) return next(new HttpError(500, error));
+        if (error) return next(toHttpError(error));
 
         next(new HttpSuccess(204, {}));
     });
diff --git a/src/test/notifications-test.js b/src/test/notifications-test.js
index 8f478413c..1db796255 100644
--- a/src/test/notifications-test.js
+++ b/src/test/notifications-test.js
@@ -7,12 +7,12 @@
 'use strict';
 
 var async = require('async'),
+    BoxError = require('../boxerror.js'),
     database = require('../database.js'),
     users = require('../users.js'),
     userdb = require('../userdb.js'),
     eventlogdb = require('../eventlogdb.js'),
     notifications = require('../notifications.js'),
-    NotificationsError = notifications.NotificationsError,
     expect = require('expect.js');
 
 // owner
@@ -92,8 +92,8 @@ describe('Notifications', function () {
 
     it('get of unknown id fails', function (done) {
         notifications.get('notfoundid', function (error, result) {
-            expect(error).to.be.a(NotificationsError);
-            expect(error.reason).to.be(NotificationsError.NOT_FOUND);
+            expect(error).to.be.a(BoxError);
+            expect(error.reason).to.be(BoxError.NOT_FOUND);
             expect(result).to.not.be.ok();
 
             done();
@@ -128,8 +128,8 @@ describe('Notifications', function () {
 
     it('ack fails for nonexisting id', function (done) {
         notifications.ack('id does not exist', function (error) {
-            expect(error).to.be.a(NotificationsError);
-            expect(error.reason).to.be(NotificationsError.NOT_FOUND);
+            expect(error).to.be.a(BoxError);
+            expect(error.reason).to.be(BoxError.NOT_FOUND);
 
             done();
         });