diff --git a/internal/datastore/mysql/gc.go b/internal/datastore/mysql/gc.go
index 75d7b68213..bf2c04e993 100644
--- a/internal/datastore/mysql/gc.go
+++ b/internal/datastore/mysql/gc.go
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ func (mds *Datastore) DeleteBeforeTx(
 func (mds *Datastore) DeleteExpiredRels(ctx context.Context) (int64, error) {
 	now, err := mds.Now(ctx)
 	if err != nil {
-		return -1, err
+		return 0, err
 	}
 
 	return mds.batchDelete(
diff --git a/internal/datastore/postgres/gc.go b/internal/datastore/postgres/gc.go
index c1e1846923..769859646e 100644
--- a/internal/datastore/postgres/gc.go
+++ b/internal/datastore/postgres/gc.go
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ func (pgd *pgDatastore) TxIDBefore(ctx context.Context, before time.Time) (datas
 func (pgd *pgDatastore) DeleteExpiredRels(ctx context.Context) (int64, error) {
 	now, err := pgd.Now(ctx)
 	if err != nil {
-		return -1, err
+		return 0, err
 	}
 
 	return pgd.batchDelete(