diff --git a/archival/tar.c b/archival/tar.c
index 879f6bf6f..94fb61a29 100644
--- a/archival/tar.c
+++ b/archival/tar.c
@@ -507,6 +507,9 @@ static int FAST_FUNC writeFileToTarball(struct recursive_state *state,
 	if (header_name[0] == '\0')
 		return TRUE;
 
+	if (exclude_file(tbInfo->excludeList, header_name))
+		return SKIP; /* "do not recurse on this directory", no error message printed */
+
 	/* It is against the rules to archive a socket */
 	if (S_ISSOCK(statbuf->st_mode)) {
 		bb_error_msg("%s: socket ignored", fileName);
@@ -540,9 +543,6 @@ static int FAST_FUNC writeFileToTarball(struct recursive_state *state,
 		return TRUE;
 	}
 
-	if (exclude_file(tbInfo->excludeList, header_name))
-		return SKIP;
-
 # if !ENABLE_FEATURE_TAR_GNU_EXTENSIONS
 	if (strlen(header_name) >= NAME_SIZE) {
 		bb_simple_error_msg("names longer than "NAME_SIZE_STR" chars not supported");
@@ -555,13 +555,13 @@ static int FAST_FUNC writeFileToTarball(struct recursive_state *state,
 		/* open the file we want to archive, and make sure all is well */
 		inputFileFd = open_or_warn(fileName, O_RDONLY);
 		if (inputFileFd < 0) {
-			return FALSE;
+			return FALSE; /* make recursive_action() return FALSE */
 		}
 	}
 
 	/* Add an entry to the tarball */
 	if (writeTarHeader(tbInfo, header_name, fileName, statbuf) == FALSE) {
-		return FALSE;
+		return FALSE; /* make recursive_action() return FALSE */
 	}
 
 	/* If it was a regular file, write out the body */