diff --git a/sentinelhub/download/rate_limit.py b/sentinelhub/download/rate_limit.py
index aec22a0a..acab4dc6 100644
--- a/sentinelhub/download/rate_limit.py
+++ b/sentinelhub/download/rate_limit.py
@@ -51,7 +51,12 @@ def register_next(self) -> float:
         return wait_time
 
     def update(self, headers: dict, *, default: float) -> None:
-        """Update the next possible download time if the service has responded with the rate limit"""
+        """Update the next possible download time if the service has responded with the rate limit.
+
+        :param headers: The headers that (may) contain information about waiting times.
+        :param default: The default waiting time (in milliseconds) when retrying after getting a
+            TOO_MANY_REQUESTS response without appropriate retry headers.
+        """
         retry_after: float = int(headers.get(self.RETRY_HEADER, default))  # can be a string representation of a number
         retry_after = retry_after / 1000
 
diff --git a/sentinelhub/download/sentinelhub_client.py b/sentinelhub/download/sentinelhub_client.py
index 8b1f455a..93fa267b 100644
--- a/sentinelhub/download/sentinelhub_client.py
+++ b/sentinelhub/download/sentinelhub_client.py
@@ -39,8 +39,8 @@ def __init__(self, *, session: SentinelHubSession | None = None, default_retry_t
         :param session: If a session object is provided here then this client instance will always use only the
             provided session. Otherwise, it will either use a cached session or create a new session and cache
             it.
-        :param default_retry_time: The default waiting time when retrying after getting a TOO_MANY_REQUESTS response
-            without appropriate retry headers.
+        :param default_retry_time: The default waiting time (in seconds) when retrying after getting a TOO_MANY_REQUESTS
+            response without appropriate retry headers.
         :param kwargs: Optional parameters from DownloadClient
         """
         super().__init__(**kwargs)
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ def __init__(self, *, session: SentinelHubSession | None = None, default_retry_t
                 f"{session} was given"
             )
         self.session = session
-        self.default_retry_time = default_retry_time
+        self.default_retry_time = default_retry_time * 1000  # rescale to milliseconds
 
         self.rate_limit = SentinelHubRateLimit(num_processes=self.config.number_of_download_processes)
         self.lock: Lock | None = None