Variant Deletion in HotWax Commerce: Retention Practices

Does HotWax Commerce completely delete a variant from its database when a merchant removes it from a product on Shopify, or does it retain the variant in some form over time?

When a merchant deletes a variant of a product on Shopify, HotWax Commerce de-links that variant from the parent product but does not delete it immediately. The variant is marked as deleted but kept in the database for return management purposes. It is considered a soft deletion.