> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vortexiq.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Stale Listings (>180d no update), Etsy > Stale Listings (>180d no update) for Etsy stores. Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it. **Card class:** [Non-Hero](/nerve-centre/overview#card-classes-explained) • **Category:** [Marketplace](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type) ## At a glance > **Stale Listings (>180d no update)** counts the active listings that have gone more than 180 days without any edit. Etsy search rewards freshness, so listings that sit untouched for months tend to drift down in placement even if nothing about them has changed. An Etsy seller cares because reviving a stale listing is one of the cheapest wins available: even a minor edit to a title, a tag, or a photo refreshes the freshness signal and gives the listing a chance to climb again. Good looks like a low count relative to the catalogue. Bad looks like a large share of listings that have been left to go cold and are quietly losing visibility. | | | | --------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **What it counts** | Active listings with no edit of any kind for more than 180 days. | | **Sample type** | Backend API data from Etsy, refreshed on the standard data refresh. | | **Why it matters** | Etsy search deprioritises stale listings; a low-effort edit refreshes freshness and can recover placement. | | **Reading the value** | A whole number of stale listings. Lower is better. Read it as a share of your active catalogue. | | **Currency** | Number (count of listings). | | **Time window** | `RT` | | **Alert trigger** | `>10% of catalogue` | | **Sentiment key** | `ets_stale_listings` | | **Roles** | owner, operations, marketing | ## Calculation Vortex IQ measures the time since each active listing was last edited and flags any that exceed 180 days without a change. Note that the standard 4-month renewal cycle at \$0.20 is not an edit, so a listing can auto-renew and still count as stale because nothing about its content was refreshed. The card reports the count of stale listings, and the alert fires when that count passes 10% of your active catalogue so the trigger scales with shop size. ## Worked example *Illustrative numbers.* On 14 Jun 26 a print shop with 150 active listings sees the card read 22, which is around 15% of the catalogue and over the 10% trigger. Checking the flagged set, the owner finds a group of older designs that have auto-renewed for months but were last edited well over half a year ago, and their views have slid. They make a small, genuine edit to each, tightening a title, swapping in a fresher lead photo, and adjusting a tag, which refreshes the freshness signal without misleading buyers. Over the following weeks several listings recover views. They open Vortex Mind to trace which revived listings regained placement and use Ask Viq to ask, in plain English, which stale listings still earned money in the last quarter so those get edited first. ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together | Card | Why merchants reach for it | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [`ets_seo_title_health`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/etsy/listings-with-seo-weak-titles) | A title rewrite both fixes SEO and clears the stale flag at once. | | [`ets_tag_completeness`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/etsy/tag-completeness-13-tags-max) | Filling empty tag slots is a quick, real edit that refreshes a stale listing. | | [`ets_listing_quality_score`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/etsy/listing-quality-score) | Stale listings often drag the overall quality score down. | | [`ets_active_listings`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/etsy/active-listings) | Gives the catalogue base the stale share is measured against. | | [`ets_views_favourites_conversion`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/etsy/views-favourites-conversion) | Confirms whether refreshed listings are pulling more views and sales. | ## Reconciling against Etsy Shop Manager **Where to look in Etsy Shop Manager:** Open Shop Manager > Listings, where you can sort and inspect listings and see when each was last touched as you edit. Use Shop Manager > Stats to confirm which of the stale listings have lost views, so you prioritise the ones still worth saving. **Why the Vortex IQ value may legitimately differ:** | Reason | Direction | What to do | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Renewal is not an edit.** A listing that auto-renewed at \$0.20 still counts as stale if its content was not changed. | Variable | Make a real content edit, not just a renewal, to clear the flag. | | **Edit recency lag.** A fresh edit clears the flag on the next refresh, not instantly. | Marginal | Re-check the count after the next data refresh. | | **Draft and inactive listings.** Only active listings are counted, so inactive items will not appear. | Marginal | Reactivate and edit if you intend to bring an item back. | **Cross-connector reconciliation:** If listing content is managed upstream, use Vortex Mind to see whether stale Etsy listings reflect a content pipeline that has stopped syncing updates. ## Known limitations / merchant FAQs **Q: Does a 4-month auto-renewal reset the staleness clock?** No. A renewal keeps the listing live but does not change its content, so it does not count as an update. You need a genuine edit to a title, tag, photo, or other field to refresh the freshness signal. **Q: Will a trivial edit really help?** A small but genuine edit refreshes the freshness signal and gives the listing a chance to climb. It is not a guaranteed jump, and it should be a real improvement rather than a cosmetic non-change, but it removes the staleness drag. **Q: Why does my Etsy Shop Manager show a different number?** Etsy does not publish a stale-listing count, so there is no exact match. Differences against your own tally usually come from edits made since the last refresh and from whether you are counting renewals as updates. The card deliberately does not, because renewals do not change content. **Q: Can I customise the alert threshold?** Yes. Sensitivity thresholds are configurable per profile in the Sensitivity tab. You can also adjust how aggressively you treat the 180-day window for your own catalogue rhythm if seasonal lines naturally sit untouched between seasons. *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *Stale Listings (>180d no update)* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Etsy and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. [Start for free](https://app.vortexiq.ai/login) or [book a demo](https://www.vortexiq.ai/contact-us) to see this metric running on your own data.