How do I add and remove products in WooCommerce?

Whether you’re resetting a store, fixing a bad import, removing seasonal items, or cleaning out hundreds of test and duplicate products, deleting products the wrong way can quietly create problems.

Reports can break. Old images stay behind. Existing orders can start showing confusing data.

This guide shows you how to bulk delete WooCommerce products safely, whether you want to delete all products or only specific ones.

You’ll also learn what actually happens behind the scenes when you delete a product in WooCommerce, so there are no surprises later.

Before you delete anything, read this first

Bulk deleting products is not something you want to rush.

In WooCommerce, products are connected to orders, reports, images, and URLs. Deleting them carelessly can create problems that you only notice after it’s too late.

Before you remove anything, go through this short checklist.

Take a full backup:
Always take a full site backup (files + database). This sounds boring until the day you really need it.

If something goes wrong, this is the only guaranteed way to recover your store.
(Optional) Export your products:
If you want an extra safety net, export your products to a CSV file. This makes it much easier to restore or re-import something later if needed.
Check if these products are used in orders or subscriptions:
- Products used in past orders will not be removed from those orders, but their references can change.
- Products used in active subscriptions should be handled very carefully. Deleting them can break renewals or future payments.
If a product is still part of an active workflow, consider unpublishing it instead of deleting it.
Decide: Move to Trash or delete permanently:
- Move to Trash = safer. You can restore products if you change your mind.
- Delete permanently = gone for good. Only a backup can bring it back.
For big cleanups, it’s smart to move items to Trash first, review everything, and only then delete permanently.

Think of Trash as a safety net. If you’re cleaning a large catalog, you want one.
If product URLs had traffic, plan redirects
When you delete a product, its URL returns a 404 error.

If that product had Google traffic or backlinks, you should set up 301 redirects to a relevant category or replacement product. Otherwise, you lose SEO value and create broken links across your site.

The three ways to delete WooCommerce products

Not all ways of deleting products are equal.

Some methods are fine for small cleanups.

Some are powerful enough to wipe thousands of products at once but come with serious risks.

And some are built specifically to let you clean up large catalogs safely, with filters and previews.

In WooCommerce, you have three practical options:

WooCommerce’s built-in bulk actions (simple, but limited)
SQL (fast, but risky and technical)
Smart Manager (built for safe bulk operations)

Let’s go through them one by one.

Can I delete products using WooCommerce’s built-in tools?

If you only need to delete a small number of products, WooCommerce’s default product screen can get the job done.

Here’s how to do it:

Navigate to WooCommerce > Products.
Use Screen Options (top-right) to increase the number of products shown per page.
Select products manually or apply filters (category, stock status, product type, etc.).
Choose Bulk actions > Move to Trash and click Apply.
Go to the Trash tab if you want to delete them permanently.

Why this method has limits

It becomes slow and tedious for large catalogs.
Loading too many products on one page can slow down or time out the admin screen.
Permanent deletion requires a second step from the Trash.

Can I delete WooCommerce products using SQL?

Yes. But this is dangerous.

This method deletes products directly from the database. It is fast, but a small mistake can permanently damage your store.

Only use this if you are a developer and you are working on a staging or test site.

Steps to delete products via SQL:

Log in to phpMyAdmin from your hosting control panel.
Select the correct database that contains your WooCommerce store.
Backup your database before making any changes!
Select table {prefix}_posts and run the SQL statement as shown.

DELETE relations.*, taxes.*, terms.*
FROM wp_term_relationships AS relations
INNER JOIN wp_term_taxonomy AS taxes
ON relations.term_taxonomy_id=taxes.term_taxonomy_id
INNER JOIN wp_terms AS terms
ON taxes.term_id=terms.term_id
WHERE object_id IN (SELECT ID FROM wp_posts WHERE post_type IN ('product','product_variation'));

DELETE FROM wp_postmeta WHERE post_id IN (SELECT ID FROM wp_posts WHERE post_type IN ('product','product_variation'));
DELETE FROM wp_posts WHERE post_type IN ('product','product_variation');

Verify that the products have been deleted from your store.

Why this method is risky

It is easy to get wrong.
There is no undo unless you restore a backup.
A small mistake can delete important data that has nothing to do with products.

For real stores with real data, this is not the method you want to rely on.

What is the safest way to bulk delete products in WooCommerce?

For large stores, the safest and most practical way is Smart Manager.

Smart Manager gives you a spreadsheet-like screen inside WordPress where you can:

Bulk delete, edit, or update products, orders, coupons, pages, users, and more.
Use advanced filters to find exactly the products you want to remove.
Switch between different data types (products, orders, users, etc.) from one screen.

You can start with the free version and upgrade when needed.

How to delete products using Smart Manager?

Download, install and activate the Smart Manager plugin just like any other WordPress plugin.
In your WordPress admin, go to Smart Manager. From the dropdown, select Products (if it’s not selected by default).
Now, to delete all products, check the box at the top of the column header to select all. Or, select specific products manually.
You can also use advanced search to quickly filter and find the products you want to remove.
Now, delete the selected products. Click on the Delete icon.
You’ll get two options:
- Move to Trash – products go to trash and can be restored later.
- Delete permanently – products are removed completely and can’t be recovered.

Choose the option that suits your needs.

That’s it. The selected products are removed.

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Real-world ways to delete exactly the products you want

In real stores, you almost never want to delete everything.

Most of the time, you want to remove a specific group of products based on some condition: a category, a date, a vendor, a stock status, or a mistake import.

Below are the most common scenarios store owners run into, with clear examples and exact actions.

Tip: In all the examples below, you can either set the filters manually or just describe what you want using Smart Manager’s AI-powered search (for example: “show me all out-of-stock products in category X”) and let it build the filters for you. Read more about it here.

How do I delete all products in a specific category?

Let’s say, you ran a “Summer Sale” collection and now want to remove the entire category from your store.

Open Smart Manager > Product.
Open Advanced Search.
Set filter: Category > is > Summer Sale.
Apply the filter.
Select all filtered products.
Click Delete > choose Move to Trash or Delete permanently.

Only products from that category will be removed.

How do I delete only specific variations (and keep the main product)?

Let’s say you want to stop selling Size XXL across all products, but keep other sizes.

Open the Advanced filters and set the rules:
- Product type > is > Variation
- Attributes: size > is > XXL
Apply the filter.
Review the results.
Select all and click Delete.

Only the XXL variations will be removed. The main products and other sizes stay.

How do I delete all out-of-stock products?

Let’s say you want to remove products that are out of stock and permanently discontinued.

Set filter: Stock status > is > Out of stock.
Apply the filter.
Review the list.
Select all and click Delete.

Only out-of-stock products will be removed.

How do I remove test or demo products?

Let’s say your store still has products like “Test product” or “Sample product” from setup.

Set filter: Name > contains > “test” or “sample” (or use a demo category/tag).
Apply the filter.
Review the list.
Select all and click Delete.

Your real products remain untouched.

How do I delete products added on a specific date?

Let’s say you imported products on March 10 and the import was wrong.

Set filter: Post date > == > March 10, 2026.
Apply the filter.
Review the list carefully.
Select all and click Delete.

Only products from that import will be removed.

How do I find and delete duplicate products?

Let’s say a sync issue created duplicate products with the same SKU.

Set filter: SKU > is > XYZ123 (or group by SKU).
Identify the duplicates.
Select only the extra copies.
Click Delete.

Only the duplicates will be removed. The original stays.

How do I delete products from a specific brand or vendor?

Let’s say you stopped working with Brand ABC and want to remove their entire catalog.

Set filter: Product Brand > is > ABC
Apply the filter.
Review the list.
Select all and click Delete.

Only products from that brand or vendor will be removed.

How do I delete products based on price, rating, or custom fields?

Let’s say you want to remove all products priced below $10.

Open Smart Manager > Products dashboard.
Set filter: Regular Price > == > 1/ (or your chosen value).
Apply the filter.
Review the list.
Select all and click Delete.

Only products matching that condition will be removed.

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What actually happens when you delete a product in WooCommerce?

When you delete a product in WooCommerce, only the product itself is removed from your catalog. Some related things stay, and some things change.

Here’s what you should know:

Orders are not affected:Past orders stay exactly as they are. The product will still appear in the order, but you won’t be able to open its product page anymore.
Product images are not deleted:The images remain in the WordPress Media Library and continue to use storage space. If you want to remove them, you’ll need to delete them separately.
The product URL stops working: The old product link will show a 404 error. If that page had traffic, you should set up a redirect to another relevant page.
Trash vs delete permanently matters: If you move a product to Trash, you can restore it later. If you delete it permanently, it can only be recovered from a backup.

Overall, deleting a product removes it from your store, but it does not clean up everything related to it automatically.

Clean up your store the right way

Deleting products in WooCommerce doesn’t have to be risky or complicated. The right method depends on what kind of cleanup you’re doing

Your situation	Best option	Why
Small store, few products	WooCommerce admin	Simple and built-in
Staging/test site, developer	SQL	Very fast, but risky
Live store, large catalog	Smart Manager	Safe and built for bulk actions

Before doing any large cleanup, always take a backup, review what you’re about to delete, and prefer moving products to Trash first.

Keeping your store stable and your data safe matters more than doing things quickly.

FAQs

Will deleting products affect my customers or their orders?
No. Customers and past orders remain unchanged. Only the product itself is removed.

Is it better to delete products or just hide them?
If you might need the product again or need it for reports, it’s better to unpublish it instead of deleting.

Will my database get smaller if I delete products?
Yes, but only product records and metadata are removed. Images and some related data may still remain.

Can I delete only variations without deleting the main product?
Yes. Variations are separate records and can be deleted independently using bulk tools.

Does WooCommerce limit how many products I can delete at once?
Yes. The admin screen can slow down or time out on large selections. That’s why bulk tools are used for big catalogs.

Should I test this on staging first?
For large cleanups, yes. It’s always safer to test first.

How to Bulk Delete WooCommerce Products (Delete 1000+ Products Fast)