diff --git a/sentry_sdk/tracing_utils.py b/sentry_sdk/tracing_utils.py
index 8a6961ba15..2ac3a67e4b 100644
--- a/sentry_sdk/tracing_utils.py
+++ b/sentry_sdk/tracing_utils.py
@@ -973,7 +973,7 @@ def serialize(self, include_third_party: bool = False) -> str:
                 item = Baggage.SENTRY_PREFIX + quote(key) + "=" + quote(str(val))
                 items.append(item)
 
-        if include_third_party:
+        if include_third_party and self.third_party_items:
             items.append(self.third_party_items)
 
         return ",".join(items)
diff --git a/tests/test_tracing_utils.py b/tests/test_tracing_utils.py
index 3098e73667..293d83b43f 100644
--- a/tests/test_tracing_utils.py
+++ b/tests/test_tracing_utils.py
@@ -133,11 +133,11 @@ def test_strip_sentry_baggage(header, expected):
         (Baggage(sentry_items={}, mutable=False), '<Baggage "", mutable=False>'),
         (
             Baggage(sentry_items={"foo": "bar"}),
-            '<Baggage "sentry-foo=bar,", mutable=True>',
+            '<Baggage "sentry-foo=bar", mutable=True>',
         ),
         (
             Baggage(sentry_items={"foo": "bar"}, mutable=False),
-            '<Baggage "sentry-foo=bar,", mutable=False>',
+            '<Baggage "sentry-foo=bar", mutable=False>',
         ),
         (
             Baggage(sentry_items={"foo": "bar"}, third_party_items="asdf=1234,"),
diff --git a/tests/tracing/test_baggage.py b/tests/tracing/test_baggage.py
index 1e0075feaa..3d70a7cfea 100644
--- a/tests/tracing/test_baggage.py
+++ b/tests/tracing/test_baggage.py
@@ -67,6 +67,27 @@ def test_mixed_baggage():
     )
 
 
+def test_sentry_only_baggage():
+    header = (
+        "sentry-trace_id=771a43a4192642f0b136d5159a501700,"
+        "sentry-public_key=49d0f7386ad645858ae85020e393bef3,"
+        "sentry-sample_rate=0.01337"
+    )
+    baggage = Baggage.from_incoming_header(header)
+
+    assert baggage.third_party_items == ""
+
+    serialized = baggage.serialize(include_third_party=True)
+
+    # with no third-party items, include_third_party should change nothing
+    assert serialized == baggage.serialize()
+    assert serialized == (
+        "sentry-trace_id=771a43a4192642f0b136d5159a501700,"
+        "sentry-public_key=49d0f7386ad645858ae85020e393bef3,"
+        "sentry-sample_rate=0.01337"
+    )
+
+
 def test_malformed_baggage():
     header = ","