diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 125ee07f..87333349 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ jobs:
       script: skip
       before_deploy:
         - export RELEASE_TAG=$(cat version.txt)-RC
-        - git tag ${RELEASE_TAG}
+        - ./script/tag
       deploy:
         - provider: releases
           api_key: $GITHUB_TOKEN
diff --git a/script/tag b/script/tag
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..5a5bdd9d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/script/tag
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+#! /bin/bash
+
+# if tag exists append random string to it
+CODE=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -I -w "%{http_code}" https://api.github.com/repos/netbootxyz/netboot.xyz/releases/tags/"${RELEASE_TAG}")
+echo ${CODE}
+if [ "${CODE}" == "404" ]; then
+  git tag ${RELEASE_TAG}
+elif [ "${CODE}" == "200" ]; then
+  RAND=$(cat /dev/urandom | tr -dc 'A-Z0-9' | fold -w 3 | head -n 1)
+  git tag ${RELEASE_TAG}${RAND}
+fi