diff --git a/splunk_handler/__init__.py b/splunk_handler/__init__.py
index bdb9b14..8a79046 100644
--- a/splunk_handler/__init__.py
+++ b/splunk_handler/__init__.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 
 instances = []  # For keeping track of running class instances
 DEFAULT_QUEUE_SIZE = 5000
+DEFAULT_PAYLOAD_SIZE = 524288
 
 
 # Called when application exit imminent (main thread ended / got kill signal)
@@ -51,7 +52,9 @@ def __init__(self, host, port, token, index,
                  force_keep_ahead=False, hostname=None, protocol='https',
                  proxies=None, queue_size=DEFAULT_QUEUE_SIZE, record_format=False,
                  retry_backoff=2.0, retry_count=5, source=None,
-                 sourcetype='text', timeout=60, url=None, verify=True):
+                 sourcetype='text', timeout=60, url=None, verify=True,
+                 keep_payload_on_fail=False, payload_size=DEFAULT_PAYLOAD_SIZE,
+                 ):
         """
         Args:
             host (str): The Splunk host param
@@ -68,6 +71,8 @@ def __init__(self, host, port, token, index,
             queue_size (int): The max number of logs to queue, set to 0 for no max
             record_format (bool): Whether the log record will be json
             retry_backoff (float): The requests lib backoff factor
+            keep_payload_on_fail (bool): Clear payload only after successfully sending
+            payload_size (int): The max size of payload (bytes)
             retry_count (int): The number of times to retry a failed request
             source (str): The Splunk source param
             sourcetype (str): The Splunk sourcetype param
@@ -101,6 +106,8 @@ def __init__(self, host, port, token, index,
         self.session = requests.Session()
         self.retry_count = retry_count
         self.retry_backoff = retry_backoff
+        self.keep_payload_on_fail = keep_payload_on_fail
+        self.payload_size = payload_size
         self.protocol = protocol
         self.proxies = proxies
         self.record_format = record_format
@@ -269,6 +276,9 @@ def _splunk_worker(self, payload=None):
                 self.write_debug_log("Payload sent successfully")
 
             except Exception as e:
+                # return unsuccessfully sent part of payload to log_payload
+                if self.keep_payload_on_fail:
+                    self.log_payload += payload
                 try:
                     self.write_log("Exception in Splunk logging handler: %s" % str(e))
                     self.write_log(traceback.format_exc())
@@ -307,13 +317,15 @@ def empty_queue(self):
             self.log_payload += ''.join(self.queue)
             self.queue.clear()
         else:
-            # without looking at each item, estimate how many can fit in 50 MB
-            apprx_size_base = len(self.queue[0])
-            # dont eval max/event size ration as less than 1
-            # dont count more than what is in queue to ensure the same number as pulled are deleted
-            count = min(max(int(524288 / apprx_size_base), 1), len(self.queue))
-            self.log_payload += ''.join(self.queue[:count])
-            del self.queue[:count]
+            # Flush queue data to payload, only if payload is not too big
+            if len(self.log_payload) < self.payload_size:
+                # without looking at each item, estimate how many can fit in payload_size
+                apprx_size_base = len(self.queue[0])
+                # dont eval max/event size ration as less than 1
+                # dont count more than what is in queue to ensure the same number as pulled are deleted
+                count = min(max(int(self.payload_size / apprx_size_base), 1), len(self.queue))
+                self.log_payload += ''.join(self.queue[:count])
+                del self.queue[:count]
         self.write_debug_log("Queue task completed")
 
         return len(self.queue) > 0