diff --git a/pandas/tools/tests/test_tile.py b/pandas/tools/tests/test_tile.py
index 4a0218bef6001..ea96052d45fb5 100644
--- a/pandas/tools/tests/test_tile.py
+++ b/pandas/tools/tests/test_tile.py
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ def test_qcut_specify_quantiles(self):
         self.assertTrue(factor.equals(expected))
 
     def test_qcut_all_bins_same(self):
-        assertRaisesRegexp(ValueError, "edges.*unique", qcut, [0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0], 3)
+        assertRaisesRegexp(ValueError, ""The quantiles you selected do not result in unique bins. Try selecting fewer quantiles."", qcut, [0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0], 3)
 
     def test_cut_out_of_bounds(self):
         arr = np.random.randn(100)
diff --git a/pandas/tools/tile.py b/pandas/tools/tile.py
index 6830919d9c09f..a476359efa07f 100644
--- a/pandas/tools/tile.py
+++ b/pandas/tools/tile.py
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ def _bins_to_cuts(x, bins, right=True, labels=None, retbins=False,
     ids = bins.searchsorted(x, side=side)
 
     if len(algos.unique(bins)) < len(bins):
-        raise ValueError('Bin edges must be unique: %s' % repr(bins))
+        raise ValueError('The quantiles you selected do not result in unique bins. Try selecting fewer quantiles.')
 
     if include_lowest:
         ids[x == bins[0]] = 1