How to Sell On Teachers Pay Teachers (5 Easy and Smart Steps)
If you’re a teacher, parent, or educator, you may have come across the platform, Teachers Pay Teachers.
But have you ever thought about selling on TPT? If not, you’re missing out!
This teacher literally made more than $1 million selling educational resources on Teachers Pay Teachers.
So if you’re considering the possibilities of making a side hustle income, then why not try opening a TPT store?
Instead of feeling overwhelmed about starting your own TPT store, you will learn how to create and sell on Teachers Pay Teachers.
In this post, we’ll be going over 5 smart and easy steps you can do to start selling.
Let’s get into it!
What is Teachers Pay Teachers?
Teachers Pay Teachers is an online platform that was founded in 2006 to help educators buy or sell educational resources. It’s a great platform to sell digital products such as lesson plans, activities, powerpoints, classroom decorations, assessments, and much more. These resources can be tailored according to grade level, subjects, and teaching styles.
Does it cost money to sell on Teachers Pay Teachers?
Nope! If you’re on the basic plan, you don’t need to pay to sell on Teachers Pay Teachers. TPT has two different plans: a basic and premium plan.
Here are the differences between the two, so that you can determine which one best fits you!
I personally chose the free basic plan, and I’ll tell you why I chose this later on in this post – so keep on reading!
How Much Can You Make Selling on TPT?
I first posted on TPT in late June 2023, and by mid-August I made $162.98. That blew my mind since I only had 5 products in my shop and had never seen such a quick increase in sales in the span of 1.5 months.
I will say that I’m on the basic plan, so originally I made a revenue of over $350, but under the basic plan, TPT takes 45% of all sales, which is why my net profit is $162.98.
Honestly, the timing of it really helped me gain sales since July and August are prime times when parents and educators start to search and buy products on TPT.
Of course, every month may vary depending on what you sell and whether or not the products you’re selling are evergreen or seasonal.
But hopefully this can be an encouragement to you that you definitely can make money on TPT.
5 Steps Started on Teachers Pay Teachers
Step 1: Choose a profile name
In order to set up a TPT account, you’ll need to choose a shop name. Honestly, I would suggest going for something simple that focuses on the type of niche you’re in.
I chose anonymity when I made my TPT profile name just for privacy reasons, so my profile is not my name. You can definitely do so! I would recommend using namelix.com if you think a name generator would be more helpful!
Afterwards, you will choose the type of TPT plan (basic or premium).
If you see yourself committing to TPT and posting regularly, I would recommend the premium account, but if you’re like me, where your main focus is a different platform, then you could definitely choose the basic plan and still make income.
Step 2: Complete TPT shop information
After choosing your TPT plan, it’s time to fill in your shop information.
These shop info will include your name, awards/honors, experience, grade level, and expertise.
You can also organize the products you’re selling into different categories in your shop. So if you sell Powerpoint slides or lesson plan printables, you can categorize them.
Step 3: Post your first free product
When you first post on TPT, the platform requires you to post a free resource. This could be a smart marketing tactic because if you give something away for free that your potential buyer wants, they want to come back for more.
So when designing your first free product, you also want to think about what type of niche you want to be in.
Do you want to create lesson activities for kindergarten? Maybe classroom bulletin board decor for teachers?
I’d encourage you to brainstorm a list of 10-15 product ideas and choose a simple, easier product that you can create. That will be your first free product on TPT!
Step 4: Create your first Teachers Pay Teacher product
After you’ve created your first free product, it’s time to create your first TPT product!
I highly recommend using graphic design tools for product creation such as Google Slides, Microsoft Powerpoint, or Canva to get started.
Creating that first TPT product can be exciting and also overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be!
I would encourage you to start small and allow yourself to make room for mistakes along the way. My first product was just not good, haha, but that didn’t stop me from continuing to create.
So whether that’s a simple checklist for teachers or a motivational poster for educators to hang on their walls, just start creating!
Step 5: Market and promote your TPT Store
When you’re first starting your shop, it’s important to start promoting and marketing your TPT store.
This could look like throwing a 3 day sale with a 20% discount on your store! Buyers LOVE discounts, which means this could also attract visibility to your store.
You could also use a different platform like Etsy or Pinterest as different ways to bring more income in.
Why not start an Etsy shop and post your TPT products there? You never know who might want to buy!
Pinterest is also a great marketing tool for TPT because it’s a visual search engine. So definitely choose a marketing platform that will bring traffic to your TPT store.
Helpful Things to Keep in Mind
These are things that I personally would have found helpful before I started my TPT store.
The first thing is that you can only upload one file on TPT (at least under the basic plan). That means if you have multiple files, you can create a ZIP folder that has your JPG and PDF files.
This is new for me because I primarily sell on Etsy and can upload multiple files. So this is something to keep in mind!
The second thing is your listing photos really matter!
A huge factor that could influence a buyer to purchase your product compared to someone else’s is how you present your product.
That’s why if your listing photos don’t look entirely presentable, then you need to get on it!
If you have no idea how to create listing photos on Canva, then I got you!
This is my freebie to you: a step-by-step free checklist on how to start an Etsy shop.
You don’t have to create an Etsy shop. However, inside this checklist, I include several free mockup listings for your products which could save you a lot of time and energy.
Start a profitable Etsy shop selling printables today!
If you want to use it for your TPT store, you are more than welcome to!
Is Teachers Pay Teachers Worth It?
It depends. For me, I would say definitely.
My main source of side hustle income are my Etsy shops, but I figured why not try TPT because some of my products fell into some of the niches of TPT. It’s been cool to have some extra income on the side for sure!
So I would say, it depends on what your goals are going into TPT.
Do you want TPT to be your main side hustle income at the moment?
Then, I would recommend going for the premium plan, so you can get 80% profit. This might also encourage you to make your money’s worth and go all in on your side hustle.
On the other hand, if TPT is just an additional side income and you have a main platform you’re selling on like your own website, Shopify, or Etsy. Then, I would suggest starting off with the basic plan.
Down the line, you can upgrade from a basic plan to a premium plan when you feel more ready to do so!
Final thoughts about selling on TPT
With that said, I hope you feel a bit more confident with the ins-and-outs of how to sell on Teachers Pay Teachers.
If there’s anything that you can take away from starting a TPT store, remember this: keep creating!
Making money and sales don’t come without effort and hardwork. So if you find your shop is barely getting sales, don’t quit!
I’m cheering you on the sidelines – you got this!
Feel free to comment down below if you have any questions starting a TPT shop or if you need any insight, I’d be happy to help!
Related articles
How to Use Discounts on Etsy to Get the Most Sales
How to Open an Etsy Shop for Beginners (An Easy Simple Guide)
How To Create Listings That Increase Your Etsy Conversion Rate
How To Generate Etsy Keyword Ideas Quickly Using ChatGPT
This post was all about how to sell on Teacher Pay Teachers.
