After optimizing old designs, delete old version?

[Shar-Ken]

I am never sure whether, after doing an optimization of an older design, to then delete the old version.  What is your advice or experience ?  Thank you.

[Jadendreamer13]

If it has only a few views and no sales, I delete the old version.

[Shar-Ken]

Thanks Jadendreamer13 for taking time to share with me your way of handling the situation.  I have been designing since 2009 and have hundreds of older designs.  Many have lots of views but no recent sales and they have now been around a long time--thus the optimizing and updating the designs.  But that left me with the question about what to do with the originals.  I think getting rid of the "clutter" would be a good thing.  Sounds like maybe you would agree?  Thanks  again!

[jophb]

If they have views and ever sold, I would not delete. She was saying if they do NOT have views or sales she would delete them. But it sounds like yours do.  Or if you ever shared on Pinterest where a link is still active.  I had a 5+ year item that had never sold... can't even tell you where on Pinterest I pinned it... but 5 years after posting, that item sold with a referral that made me almost $700 in one sale (and that was with the 15% old school way).

[Shar-Ken]

Jophb, sadly most of these designs had many views but very few had any sales. ( I mistakenly used to think it was best to lock everything and not allow any customization.  WRONG! ). Things got better once I learned not to lock everything.  I. understand not deleting anything that has had a sale but not so much if they have had lots of views and no sales.    I wonder how zazzle feels about designers having duplicates (or nearly duplicates) of designs ?  Anyway, I always appreciate someone who is willing to share their thoughts --thank you!

[Jadendreamer13]

So, when a product has a lot of views but no sales, that often indicates a problem with one of my customizable text fields (like maybe I forgot to make it a template). In that case, I correct the issue, optimize the product, and send it back out for another try.

The products I delete typically have only 1-2 views and no sales. I create a new product to replace the deleted product at the same time.

[Shar-Ken]

Jadendreamer13,  On many of these older designs, I am doing minor changes to them (beyond just allowing them to be templates) so then when I am done I get the page with the choice to "sell it" and I do that.  I assume because I made some changes, it is now a "new" design and I have to "sell it "again. This is where I end up with more copies of a design in the marketplace.  This is when I am not sure what to do--whether to delete the original that had lots of views and no sales and just go with the new version only or keep both the old and the new in the marketplace.  I am probably not explaining this well.  My apologies!  And thanks again.

[Jadendreamer13]

I used to keep the old design in case I needed to prove that I was the original creator (if someone came along and copied my design), but that hasn’t been an issue for me, so unless the design was complicated and it took me hours to create it, I delete the old version. It makes my shop easier to manage without storing duplicate products. Of course, I always keep copies of my original artwork created in Illustrator or Photoshop.