diff --git a/weboob/backends/pastebin/backend.py b/weboob/backends/pastebin/backend.py
index 72ff6a8b..c1d9f403 100644
--- a/weboob/backends/pastebin/backend.py
+++ b/weboob/backends/pastebin/backend.py
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 
 from weboob.capabilities.paste import ICapPaste
 from weboob.tools.backend import BaseBackend
+from weboob.capabilities.base import NotLoaded
 
 from .browser import PastebinBrowser
 from .paste import PastebinPaste
@@ -38,15 +39,16 @@ class PastebinBackend(BaseBackend, ICapPaste):
     BROWSER = PastebinBrowser
 
     def get_paste(self, _id):
-        paste = PastebinPaste(_id)
-        self.browser.fill_paste(paste)
-        return paste
+        return PastebinPaste(_id)
 
     def fill_paste(self, paste, fields):
-        self.browser.fill_paste(paste)
-        if 'contents' in fields:
-            contents = self.browser.get_contents(paste.id)
-            paste.contents = contents
+        # if we only want the contents
+        if fields == ['contents']:
+            if paste.contents is NotLoaded:
+                contents = self.browser.get_contents(paste.id)
+                paste.contents = contents
+        elif fields:
+            self.browser.fill_paste(paste)
         return paste
 
     def post_paste(self, paste):
diff --git a/weboob/backends/pastebin/browser.py b/weboob/backends/pastebin/browser.py
index 7174cc12..9bb30534 100644
--- a/weboob/backends/pastebin/browser.py
+++ b/weboob/backends/pastebin/browser.py
@@ -24,8 +24,6 @@ from .pages import PastePage, PostPage
 
 __all__ = ['PastebinBrowser']
 
-from weboob.tools.browser import BaseBrowser
-
 class PastebinBrowser(BaseBrowser):
     DOMAIN = 'pastebin.com'
     ENCODING = 'UTF-8'
@@ -33,11 +31,19 @@ class PastebinBrowser(BaseBrowser):
             'http://%s/' % DOMAIN: PostPage}
 
     def fill_paste(self, paste):
+        """
+        Get as much as information possible from the paste page
+        """
         self.location(paste.page_url)
         return self.page.fill_paste(paste)
 
     def get_contents(self, _id):
-        return self.readurl('http://%s/raw.php?i=%s' % (self.DOMAIN, _id))
+        """
+        Get the contents from the raw URL
+        This is the fastest and safest method if you only want the content.
+        Returns unicode.
+        """
+        return self.readurl('http://%s/raw.php?i=%s' % (self.DOMAIN, _id)).decode(self.ENCODING)
 
     def post_paste(self, paste):
         self.home()
diff --git a/weboob/backends/pastebin/pages.py b/weboob/backends/pastebin/pages.py
index dad12f38..9a262825 100644
--- a/weboob/backends/pastebin/pages.py
+++ b/weboob/backends/pastebin/pages.py
@@ -29,6 +29,9 @@ class PastePage(BasePage):
                 'id("content_left")//div[@class="paste_box_info"]', 1, 'xpath')
         paste.title = self.parser.select(header,
                 '//div[@class="paste_box_line1"]//h1', 1, 'xpath').text
+        paste.contents = self.parser.select(self.document.getroot(),
+                '//textarea[@id="paste_code"]', 1, 'xpath').text
+        return paste
 
     def get_id(self):
         """
@@ -41,6 +44,6 @@ class PastePage(BasePage):
 class PostPage(BasePage):
     def post(self, paste):
         self.browser.select_form(name='myform')
-        self.browser['paste_code'] = paste.contents
-        self.browser['paste_name'] = paste.title
+        self.browser['paste_code'] = paste.contents.encode(self.browser.ENCODING)
+        self.browser['paste_name'] = paste.title.encode(self.browser.ENCODING)
         self.browser.submit()
diff --git a/weboob/backends/pastebin/test.py b/weboob/backends/pastebin/test.py
index 964731ee..d7b1ff88 100644
--- a/weboob/backends/pastebin/test.py
+++ b/weboob/backends/pastebin/test.py
@@ -17,23 +17,42 @@
 # You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
 # along with weboob. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
-
 from weboob.tools.test import BackendTest
 from .paste import PastebinPaste
+from weboob.capabilities.base import NotLoaded
 
 class PastebinTest(BackendTest):
     BACKEND = 'pastebin'
 
     def test_get_paste(self):
+        # html method
         p = self.backend.get_paste('7HmXwzyt')
-        self.backend.fillobj(p, ('title', 'contents'))
+        self.backend.fillobj(p, ['title'])
         assert p.title == 'plop'
         assert p.page_url == 'http://pastebin.com/7HmXwzyt'
         assert p.contents == 'prout'
 
+        # raw method
+        p = self.backend.get_paste('7HmXwzyt')
+        self.backend.fillobj(p, ['contents'])
+        assert p.title is NotLoaded
+        assert p.page_url == 'http://pastebin.com/7HmXwzyt'
+        assert p.contents == 'prout'
+
     def test_post(self):
         p = PastebinPaste(None, title='ouiboube', contents='Weboob Test')
         self.backend.post_paste(p)
         assert p.id
         assert p.title == 'ouiboube'
         assert p.id in p.page_url
+
+    def test_specialchars(self):
+        # post a paste and get the contents through the HTML response
+        p1 = PastebinPaste(None, title='ouiboube', contents=u'Weboob <test>¿¡')
+        self.backend.post_paste(p1)
+        assert p1.id
+
+        # this should use the raw method to get the contents
+        p2 = self.backend.get_paste(p1.id)
+        self.backend.fillobj(p2, ['contents'])
+        assert p2.contents == p1.contents