diff --git a/py/objstr.c b/py/objstr.c
index 4d9dca04af..e6c5ee71cf 100644
--- a/py/objstr.c
+++ b/py/objstr.c
@@ -403,7 +403,16 @@ mp_obj_t mp_obj_str_binary_op(mp_binary_op_t op, mp_obj_t lhs_in, mp_obj_t rhs_i
     } else {
         // LHS is str and RHS has an incompatible type
         // (except if operation is EQUAL, but that's handled by mp_obj_equal)
-        bad_implicit_conversion(rhs_in);
+
+        // CONTAINS must fail with a bad-implicit-conversion exception, because
+        // otherwise mp_binary_op() will fallback to `list(lhs).__contains__(rhs)`.
+        if (op == MP_BINARY_OP_CONTAINS) {
+            bad_implicit_conversion(rhs_in);
+        }
+
+        // All other operations are not supported, and may be handled by another
+        // type, eg for reverse operations.
+        return MP_OBJ_NULL;
     }
 
     switch (op) {
diff --git a/tests/basics/class_reverse_op.py b/tests/basics/class_reverse_op.py
index b0dae5f8a3..11aba6aada 100644
--- a/tests/basics/class_reverse_op.py
+++ b/tests/basics/class_reverse_op.py
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
-class A:
+# Test reverse operators.
 
+# Test user type with integers.
+class A:
     def __init__(self, v):
         self.v = v
 
@@ -14,5 +16,33 @@ class A:
     def __repr__(self):
         return "A({})".format(self.v)
 
+
 print(A(3) + 1)
 print(2 + A(5))
+
+
+# Test user type with strings.
+class B:
+    def __init__(self, v):
+        self.v = v
+
+    def __repr__(self):
+        return "B({})".format(self.v)
+
+    def __ror__(self, o):
+        return B(o + "|" + self.v)
+
+    def __radd__(self, o):
+        return B(o + "+" + self.v)
+
+    def __rmul__(self, o):
+        return B(o + "*" + self.v)
+
+    def __rtruediv__(self, o):
+        return B(o + "/" + self.v)
+
+
+print("a" | B("b"))
+print("a" + B("b"))
+print("a" * B("b"))
+print("a" / B("b"))