diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/metadata/single_download.py b/src/calibre/gui2/metadata/single_download.py
index 70b32a78c6..1c0f3c8042 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/metadata/single_download.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/metadata/single_download.py
@@ -28,7 +28,8 @@ from calibre.ebooks.metadata.sources.identify import (identify,
         urls_from_identifiers)
 from calibre.ebooks.metadata.book.base import Metadata
 from calibre.gui2 import error_dialog, NONE
-from calibre.utils.date import utcnow, fromordinal, format_date
+from calibre.utils.date import (utcnow, fromordinal, format_date,
+        UNDEFINED_DATE, as_utc)
 from calibre.library.comments import comments_to_html
 from calibre import force_unicode
 # }}}
@@ -201,7 +202,12 @@ class ResultsModel(QAbstractTableModel): # {{{
         elif col == 1:
             key = attrgetter('title')
         elif col == 2:
-            key = attrgetter('pubdate')
+            def dategetter(x):
+                x = getattr(x, 'pubdate', None)
+                if x is None:
+                    x = UNDEFINED_DATE
+                return as_utc(x)
+            key = dategetter
         elif col == 3:
             key = attrgetter('has_cached_cover_url')
         elif key == 4: