diff --git a/app/controllers/spree/api/variants_controller_decorator.rb b/app/controllers/spree/api/variants_controller_decorator.rb
index a225c4c401..3bc8b1c511 100644
--- a/app/controllers/spree/api/variants_controller_decorator.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/spree/api/variants_controller_decorator.rb
@@ -3,11 +3,7 @@ Spree::Api::VariantsController.class_eval do
     @variant = scope.find(params[:variant_id])
     authorize! :delete, @variant
 
-    @variant.deleted_at = Time.now()
-    if @variant.save
-      respond_with(@variant, :status => 204)
-    else
-      invalid_resource!(@variant)
-    end
+    @variant.delete
+    respond_with @variant, status: 204
   end
 end
diff --git a/app/models/spree/variant_decorator.rb b/app/models/spree/variant_decorator.rb
index 25d09ae097..c7aed600ea 100644
--- a/app/models/spree/variant_decorator.rb
+++ b/app/models/spree/variant_decorator.rb
@@ -51,6 +51,11 @@ Spree::Variant.class_eval do
     end
   end
 
+  def delete
+    self.update_column(:deleted_at, Time.now)
+  end
+
+
   private
 
   def update_weight_from_unit_value
diff --git a/spec/models/spree/variant_spec.rb b/spec/models/spree/variant_spec.rb
index f5a3dd146d..1c87397aec 100644
--- a/spec/models/spree/variant_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/spree/variant_spec.rb
@@ -276,6 +276,15 @@ module Spree
     end
   end
 
+  describe "deletion" do
+    it "marks the variant as deleted" do
+      v = create(:variant)
+      v.deleted_at.should     be_nil
+      v.delete
+      v.deleted_at.should_not be_nil
+    end
+  end
+
   describe "destruction" do
     it "destroys exchange variants" do
       v = create(:variant)