PrestaShop discontinued product: delete or disable it without losing traffic
A discontinued product in PrestaShop is better disabled than deleted. A disabled product keeps its page. That is where you set what customers and Google see at the old address: a 301 redirect to a successor or a category, a 404 or a 410. A deleted product loses its page and address, so the redirect needs separate work, and deleting cannot be undone.
Author: The TellMyShop team. A guide for PrestaShop store owners: the cause, the manual fix and the same work in a chat conversation.
Last updated: · 6 min read
What do you lose when you delete a product instead of disabling it?
The product page, with its address, descriptions, images and redirect setting. The built-in redirect in PrestaShop only works for a disabled product. A deleted product no longer has a page, so its address shows a 404 error, and you can only redirect it with a separate module.
| Delete | Disable | |
|---|---|---|
| Old orders and invoices | stay readable | stay readable |
| Product address | stops existing, 404 error | exists, responds the way you set |
| Redirect to a successor | only with a separate module | on the product page |
| Descriptions and images | gone | kept in case it comes back |
| Bringing the product back | you add it from scratch | you enable it with one click |
| Tidy admin | shorter list | you filter by status |
Krystian Podemski covers this in his post on redirecting an inactive product, and module.pl shows what happens to the address after deletion (both in Polish). Deleting really only makes sense for products added by mistake or duplicated during an import.
Where should you send customers from a discontinued product's address?
To the closest equivalent: the successor, and if there is none, the category. The order of decisions is simple.
- Is there a newer model or a very similar product? Set a 301 to that product.
- No successor, but the category still exists? Set a 301 to the product's default category.
- Will the product come back after the season? Set a 302, a temporary redirect, or leave the product enabled with availability information.
- No equivalent and no traffic? Set a 404 or a 410.
A successor is a product that meets the same need at a similar price. A new model of the same lamp is a successor. A more expensive lamp from another brand in the same category usually is not, so it is better to send the customer to the category and let them choose. Google treats a redirect to a page that does not match the old product much like a 404 error.
Google explains the difference between permanent and temporary redirects in its guide to redirects. The meaning of 404 and 410 is explained in the description of HTTP status codes. Jash has collected six strategies for unavailable products (in Polish), including replacing the product at the same address.
If your store already has addresses that return an error because products were deleted in the past, that is a separate job. We describe it in the post on what to do about 404 errors in PrestaShop.
When to disable a product: straight away or after it sells out?
After it sells out, if you have some stock left. Discontinued by the manufacturer is not the same as discontinued in your store. While you have units in stock, the product can stay enabled. Add a note to the description that these are the last pieces and which model replaces it.
When stock drops to zero, you have two options. You can set the store to deny orders when out of stock and keep the product visible for a few more weeks with a link to the successor. Or you can disable the product straight away with a 301 redirect. The first option makes sense when the product gets a lot of visits from Google and you want the customer to see an explanation. The second is simpler and better for large ranges.
Remember the places outside your store, too. A discontinued product can still be in the feed for price comparison sites or Google Shopping if the feed module does not skip disabled products. Check this in its settings. Links in old newsletters and blog posts will take the customer through the redirect, so you do not have to fix them one by one.
How to discontinue a product in the admin
On the product page, in a few fields.
- In Catalog > Products, open the product.
- In the product's SEO settings, choose what should happen when it is disabled and pick the target product or category.
- Disable the product with the status toggle and save.
- Open the old address in a private browser window and check that you land straight on the target.
For one product this takes a few minutes. For a whole range, say 25 lanterns from last year's collection, each one needs a successor found and a separate edit.
How to retire a whole range and set the redirects in one go
You give a list and a rule: the successor if there is one, otherwise the category. Your chat (Claude or ChatGPT) looks for successors by name, brand and category and shows a proposal for each product. The list can have up to 100 items at a time.
You: We are discontinuing 25 lanterns from the Nora collection, references below. Disable them and send people to the newer model if there is one, otherwise to the category.
Your chat: 18 products have a successor in the Nora II collection, 7 do not. Examples:
2 products on the list still have stock: 4 and 7 units. Disable them anyway?
You: Keep those two enabled until they sell out. I approve the rest.
Your chat: Saved: 23 products disabled with a redirect. I checked the old addresses, and each one goes straight to its target.
Card status: waiting for your “yes”old version: Nora lantern 30 cm: active
new version: Nora lantern 30 cm: disabled, 301 to Nora II lantern 30 cm
old version: Nora lantern 40 cm white: active
new version: Nora lantern 40 cm white: disabled, 301 to the Lanterns category
You can reverse a disable with a redirect from the change history. The chat does not delete products, because the module has no tool for that. Saving requires TellMyShop Pro. Details on the pricing page. With the free TellMyShop Free you can check what the addresses of discontinued products return today and which addresses of deleted products end in a 404 error. Both situations are covered in the use cases discontinuing a product without losing Google traffic and a plan for old addresses.
Questions and answers
Does deleting a product remove it from my orders?
No. An order keeps its own copy of the product's name, reference and price, so old orders and invoices stay readable. What you lose is the product page: its address, descriptions, images and the place where you set the redirect. That is why disabling is the safer choice when a product goes for good.
Is a disabled product still in Google?
For a while, yes, until Google visits the address again. Then it sees the response you set: a 301 redirect to the successor or a category, a 404 or a 410. With a 301, Google eventually shows the new address in results and the old one disappears. How long that takes depends on how often the crawler visits your store.
When should I set 410 instead of a redirect?
When the product is gone for good, there is no successor or sensible category, and the address had no traffic. A 410 tells Google plainly that the page will not come back. For a product with traffic or links from other sites, choose a 301, because it saves the customers who click the old address.
Will the chat delete products from my store?
No. The chat disables products and sets what a customer sees at the old address, up to 100 products at a time. If you really need to delete a product, you do that in the admin. You can undo a disable with a redirect from the change history. You cannot undo deleting a product in the admin, so keep that for exceptional cases.
PrestaShop is a registered trademark of PrestaShop SA. Claude is a trademark of Anthropic PBC. ChatGPT and OpenAI are trademarks of OpenAI. TellMyShop is not affiliated with these companies.