How long does it take new Etsy listings to get views and sales traction?

Hi! What you’re seeing is pretty normal: new Etsy listings often get a short “fresh listing” bump while Etsy tests where to place them, and then views settle down once the system has enough data. For most shops, I’d give a new listing about 3–4 weeks (or until it has a meaningful number of impressions/clicks) before making big SEO/photo changes—otherwise you’re judging it during the test phase and you may keep “resetting” what you’re trying to measure.

If you want a practical rule of thumb, use your Stats to decide when to tweak:

• Low impressions (not being shown much): This is usually a keyword/relevancy issue. If after 7–14 days you’re still barely getting impressions (organic or ads), it’s reasonable to adjust titles/tags/category/attributes sooner.
• Decent impressions but low clicks: The listing is showing up, but shoppers aren’t choosing it. That’s when you focus on thumbnail/first photo, price, and title readability (not necessarily stuffing more keywords).
• Clicks but no sales: That’s usually conversion: photos, description clarity, personalization/options, processing time, shipping cost, reviews, and price vs. competitors.

How often to change things (without over-tweaking)

• Make one major change set every 2–4 weeks (or after you’ve collected enough data), not every few days.
• Change one “bucket” at a time so you know what helped:
  (A) SEO (title/tags/attributes) or (B) photos/pricing or (C) variations/shipping details.

About Etsy Ads not spending your full daily budget

That usually happens when Etsy can’t find enough searches where your ad is competitive/relevant (it’s not always a bad sign). Common causes:

• Keywords are too niche/low volume (especially if you’re only advertising a few new listings).
• The listings are very similar to your existing ones, so they compete with each other or Etsy favors the stronger performer.
• The listing isn’t winning placements because Etsy expects low click-through or conversion.

A simple approach: keep Ads on, but don’t rely on Ads to “prove” the listing quickly. Instead, aim to get the listing to a point where it can earn organic traction (strong photos + clear offer + targeted long-tail keywords).

What I’d do in your situation

Since you’re about two weeks in and saw the drop, I’d wait another 1–2 weeks before big rewrites unless your Stats show very low impressions. If impressions are low, go ahead now and tighten:

• Category + attributes (these matter a lot for matching)
• Tags (more specific shopper phrases)
• Title (clear + keyword-rich, but readable)

If you tell me what your Stats look like for one of the new listings (impressions/clicks/orders over the last 7 and 30 days, plus whether the traffic is Etsy search vs ads), I can suggest whether you should tweak SEO now or focus on photos/conversion first.