diff --git a/spring-data-mongodb/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/config/AbstractMongoConfiguration.java b/spring-data-mongodb/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/config/AbstractMongoConfiguration.java
index 25583dcbd..6333d0ef6 100644
--- a/spring-data-mongodb/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/config/AbstractMongoConfiguration.java
+++ b/spring-data-mongodb/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/config/AbstractMongoConfiguration.java
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
 import com.mongodb.Mongo;
 
 /**
- * Base class for Spring Data Mongo configuration using JavaConfig.
+ * Base class for Spring Data MongoDB configuration using JavaConfig.
  * 
  * @author Mark Pollack
  * @author Oliver Gierke
@@ -96,12 +96,16 @@ public abstract class AbstractMongoConfiguration {
 	}
 
 	/**
-	 * Return the base package to scan for mapped {@link Document}s.
+	 * Return the base package to scan for mapped {@link Document}s. Will return the package name of the configuration
+	 * class' (the concrete class, not this one here) by default. So if you have a {@code com.acme.AppConfig} extending
+	 * {@link AbstractMongoConfiguration} the base package will be considered {@code com.acme} unless the method is
+	 * overriden to implement alternate behaviour.
 	 * 
-	 * @return
+	 * @return the base package to scan for mapped {@link Document} classes or {@literal null} to not enable scanning for
+	 *         entities.
 	 */
 	protected String getMappingBasePackage() {
-		return null;
+		return getClass().getPackage().getName();
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/spring-data-mongodb/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/config/AbstractMongoConfigurationUnitTests.java b/spring-data-mongodb/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/config/AbstractMongoConfigurationUnitTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9423978b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-data-mongodb/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/config/AbstractMongoConfigurationUnitTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2012 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.springframework.data.mongodb.config;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.*;
+import static org.junit.Assert.*;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
+import org.springframework.data.mongodb.core.mapping.Document;
+
+import com.mongodb.Mongo;
+
+/**
+ * Unit tests for {@link AbstractMongoConfiguration}.
+ * 
+ * @author Oliver Gierke
+ */
+public class AbstractMongoConfigurationUnitTests {
+
+	/**
+	 * @see DATAMONGO-496
+	 */
+	@Test
+	public void usesConfigClassPackageAsBaseMappingPackage() throws ClassNotFoundException {
+
+		AbstractMongoConfiguration configuration = new SampleMongoConfiguration();
+		assertThat(configuration.getMappingBasePackage(), is(SampleMongoConfiguration.class.getPackage().getName()));
+		assertThat(configuration.getInitialEntitySet(), hasSize(1));
+		assertThat(configuration.getInitialEntitySet(), hasItem(Entity.class));
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @see DATAMONGO-496
+	 */
+	@Test
+	public void doesNotScanPackageIfMappingPackageIsNull() throws ClassNotFoundException {
+
+		assertScanningDisabled(null);
+
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @see DATAMONGO-496
+	 */
+	@Test
+	public void doesNotScanPackageIfMappingPackageIsEmpty() throws ClassNotFoundException {
+
+		assertScanningDisabled("");
+		assertScanningDisabled(" ");
+	}
+
+	private static void assertScanningDisabled(final String value) throws ClassNotFoundException {
+
+		AbstractMongoConfiguration configuration = new SampleMongoConfiguration() {
+			@Override
+			protected String getMappingBasePackage() {
+				return value;
+			}
+		};
+
+		assertThat(configuration.getMappingBasePackage(), is(value));
+		assertThat(configuration.getInitialEntitySet(), hasSize(0));
+	}
+
+	static class SampleMongoConfiguration extends AbstractMongoConfiguration {
+
+		@Override
+		protected String getDatabaseName() {
+			return "database";
+		}
+
+		@Bean
+		@Override
+		public Mongo mongo() throws Exception {
+			return new Mongo();
+		}
+	}
+
+	@Document
+	static class Entity {
+
+	}
+}