Agree with the suggestion on obtaining Star Seller; they will remove the reserve early if you manage it.
Every initial Message must be responded to in 24 hours or marked as spam. You can use the weekly autoreply to cover most times: https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/115015654988-How-to-Send-Messages-to-Buyers?segment=selling#... The Messages that come in during your working hours (minimum 32 hours a week) still need a response within 24 hours, but the others will get an autoreply and be covered.
Fortunately, you are in the US so you will get your 30% back once you ship with tracking and the tracking picks up. It used to be 70%, and of course some countries do not have tracking Etsy can read.
