diff --git a/sdk/index.ts b/sdk/index.ts
index 3b4c1b7..f52b425 100644
--- a/sdk/index.ts
+++ b/sdk/index.ts
@@ -24,13 +24,13 @@ export { EnvironmentDataPollingManager } from './polling_manager';
 export { FlagsmithCache, FlagsmithConfig } from './types';
 
 const DEFAULT_API_URL = 'https://edge.api.flagsmith.com/api/v1/';
+const DEFAULT_REQUEST_TIMEOUT_SECONDS = 10;
 
 
 export class Flagsmith {
     environmentKey?: string;
     apiUrl: string = DEFAULT_API_URL;
     customHeaders?: { [key: string]: any };
-    requestTimeoutSeconds?: number = 10;
     agent: RequestInit['agent'];
     requestTimeoutMs?: number;
     enableLocalEvaluation?: boolean = false;
@@ -87,8 +87,7 @@ export class Flagsmith {
         this.environmentKey = data.environmentKey;
         this.apiUrl = data.apiUrl || this.apiUrl;
         this.customHeaders = data.customHeaders;
-        this.requestTimeoutSeconds = data.requestTimeoutSeconds;
-        this.requestTimeoutMs = data.requestTimeoutSeconds ? data.requestTimeoutSeconds * 1000 : undefined;
+        this.requestTimeoutMs = 1000 * (data.requestTimeoutSeconds ?? DEFAULT_REQUEST_TIMEOUT_SECONDS);
         this.enableLocalEvaluation = data.enableLocalEvaluation;
         this.environmentRefreshIntervalSeconds =
             data.environmentRefreshIntervalSeconds || this.environmentRefreshIntervalSeconds;
diff --git a/tests/sdk/flagsmith.test.ts b/tests/sdk/flagsmith.test.ts
index 7edbe56..525a659 100644
--- a/tests/sdk/flagsmith.test.ts
+++ b/tests/sdk/flagsmith.test.ts
@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@ test('default flag handler used when timeout occurs', async () => {
     const flg = new Flagsmith({
         environmentKey: 'key',
         defaultFlagHandler: defaultFlagHandler,
-        requestTimeoutSeconds: 0.1,
+        requestTimeoutSeconds: 0.001,
     });
 
     const flags = await flg.getEnvironmentFlags();
@@ -193,6 +193,15 @@ test('default flag handler used when timeout occurs', async () => {
     expect(flag.value).toBe(defaultFlag.value);
 })
 
+test('request timeout uses default if not provided', async () => {
+
+    const flg = new Flagsmith({
+        environmentKey: 'key',
+    });
+
+    expect(flg.requestTimeoutMs).toBe(10000);
+})
+
 test('test_throws_when_no_identity_flags_returned_due_to_error', async () => {
     // @ts-ignore
     fetch.mockReturnValue(Promise.resolve(new Response('bad data')));