diff --git a/module/bdev/compress/vbdev_compress.c b/module/bdev/compress/vbdev_compress.c
index 207f396ba..2cf73445e 100644
--- a/module/bdev/compress/vbdev_compress.c
+++ b/module/bdev/compress/vbdev_compress.c
@@ -1525,11 +1525,19 @@ comp_bdev_ch_destroy_cb(void *io_device, void *ctx_buf)
 int
 create_compress_bdev(const char *bdev_name, const char *pm_path, uint32_t lb_size)
 {
+	struct vbdev_compress *comp_bdev = NULL;
+
 	if ((lb_size != 0) && (lb_size != LB_SIZE_4K) && (lb_size != LB_SIZE_512B)) {
 		SPDK_ERRLOG("Logical block size must be 512 or 4096\n");
 		return -EINVAL;
 	}
 
+	TAILQ_FOREACH(comp_bdev, &g_vbdev_comp, link) {
+		if (strcmp(bdev_name, comp_bdev->base_bdev->name) == 0) {
+			SPDK_ERRLOG("Bass bdev %s already being used for a compress bdev\n", bdev_name);
+			return -EBUSY;
+		}
+	}
 	return vbdev_init_reduce(bdev_name, pm_path, lb_size);
 }
 
diff --git a/module/bdev/compress/vbdev_compress_rpc.c b/module/bdev/compress/vbdev_compress_rpc.c
index 99626270b..df2d1b525 100644
--- a/module/bdev/compress/vbdev_compress_rpc.c
+++ b/module/bdev/compress/vbdev_compress_rpc.c
@@ -186,7 +186,11 @@ rpc_bdev_compress_create(struct spdk_jsonrpc_request *request,
 
 	rc = create_compress_bdev(req.base_bdev_name, req.pm_path, req.lb_size);
 	if (rc != 0) {
-		spdk_jsonrpc_send_error_response(request, rc, spdk_strerror(-rc));
+		if (rc == -EBUSY) {
+			spdk_jsonrpc_send_error_response(request, rc, "Base bdev already in use for compression.");
+		} else {
+			spdk_jsonrpc_send_error_response(request, rc, spdk_strerror(-rc));
+		}
 		goto cleanup;
 	}