diff --git a/__tests__/main.test.ts b/__tests__/main.test.ts
index e7f40790..a7e341fe 100644
--- a/__tests__/main.test.ts
+++ b/__tests__/main.test.ts
@@ -109,6 +109,31 @@ test('processing an issue with no label will make it stale and not close it if d
   expect(processor.closedIssues.length).toEqual(0);
 });
 
+test('processing an issue with no label will not make it stale if days-before-stale is set to -1', async () => {
+  const TestIssueList: Issue[] = [
+    generateIssue(1, 'An issue with no label', '2020-01-01T17:00:00Z')
+  ];
+
+  const opts = {
+    ...DefaultProcessorOptions,
+    staleIssueMessage: '',
+    daysBeforeStale: -1
+  };
+
+  const processor = new IssueProcessor(
+    opts,
+    async p => (p == 1 ? TestIssueList : []),
+    async (num, dt) => [],
+    async (issue, label) => new Date().toDateString()
+  );
+
+  // process our fake issue list
+  await processor.processIssues(1);
+
+  expect(processor.staleIssues.length).toEqual(0);
+  expect(processor.closedIssues.length).toEqual(0);
+});
+
 test('processing an issue with no label will make it stale but not close it', async () => {
   // issue should be from 2 days ago so it will be
   // stale but not close-able, based on default settings
@@ -183,6 +208,60 @@ test('processing a stale PR will close it', async () => {
   expect(processor.closedIssues.length).toEqual(1);
 });
 
+test('processing a stale issue will close it even if configured not to mark as stale', async () => {
+  const TestIssueList: Issue[] = [
+    generateIssue(1, 'An issue with no label', '2020-01-01T17:00:00Z', false, [
+      'Stale'
+    ])
+  ];
+
+  const opts = {
+    ...DefaultProcessorOptions,
+    daysBeforeStale: -1,
+    staleIssueMessage: ''
+  };
+
+  const processor = new IssueProcessor(
+    opts,
+    async p => (p == 1 ? TestIssueList : []),
+    async (num, dt) => [],
+    async (issue, label) => new Date().toDateString()
+  );
+
+  // process our fake issue list
+  await processor.processIssues(1);
+
+  expect(processor.staleIssues.length).toEqual(0);
+  expect(processor.closedIssues.length).toEqual(1);
+});
+
+test('processing a stale PR will close it even if configured not to mark as stale', async () => {
+  const TestIssueList: Issue[] = [
+    generateIssue(1, 'An issue with no label', '2020-01-01T17:00:00Z', true, [
+      'Stale'
+    ])
+  ];
+
+  const opts = {
+    ...DefaultProcessorOptions,
+    daysBeforeStale: -1,
+    stalePrMessage: ''
+  };
+
+  const processor = new IssueProcessor(
+    opts,
+    async p => (p == 1 ? TestIssueList : []),
+    async (num, dt) => [],
+    async (issue, label) => new Date().toDateString()
+  );
+
+  // process our fake issue list
+  await processor.processIssues(1);
+
+  expect(processor.staleIssues.length).toEqual(0);
+  expect(processor.closedIssues.length).toEqual(1);
+});
+
 test('closed issues will not be marked stale', async () => {
   const TestIssueList: Issue[] = [
     generateIssue(
diff --git a/action.yml b/action.yml
index aae72de5..8854e99b 100644
--- a/action.yml
+++ b/action.yml
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ inputs:
   close-pr-message:
     description: 'The message to post on the pr when closing it. If none provided, will not comment when closing a pull requests.'
   days-before-stale:
-    description: 'The number of days old an issue can be before marking it stale.'
+    description: 'The number of days old an issue can be before marking it stale. Set to -1 to never mark issues or pull requests as stale automatically.'
     default: 60
   days-before-close:
     description: 'The number of days to wait to close an issue or pull request after it being marked stale. Set to -1 to never close stale issues.'
diff --git a/src/IssueProcessor.ts b/src/IssueProcessor.ts
index 532ec492..3310e88d 100644
--- a/src/IssueProcessor.ts
+++ b/src/IssueProcessor.ts
@@ -130,8 +130,9 @@ export class IssueProcessor {
         isPr ? this.options.exemptPrLabels : this.options.exemptIssueLabels
       );
       const issueType: string = isPr ? 'pr' : 'issue';
+      const shouldMarkWhenStale = this.options.daysBeforeStale > -1;
 
-      if (!staleMessage) {
+      if (!staleMessage && shouldMarkWhenStale) {
         core.info(`Skipping ${issueType} due to empty stale message`);
         continue;
       }
@@ -165,7 +166,7 @@ export class IssueProcessor {
       );
 
       // determine if this issue needs to be marked stale first
-      if (!isStale && shouldBeStale) {
+      if (!isStale && shouldBeStale && shouldMarkWhenStale) {
         core.info(
           `Marking ${issueType} stale because it was last updated on ${issue.updated_at} and it does not have a stale label`
         );