Is it worth it to have a TeachersPayTeachers Store?
If you’ve been around the teaching world for a minute or two, I’m sure you’ve heard of (and probably) used TeachersPayTeachers.com (affectionately called “TPT”) to download a resource or two (or twelve). As you surf the options, maybe you’ve thought to yourself…
“I could totally make something like this!”
“I wish they had a resource for _______”
“I’ve already made a ton of resources, should I just list them??”
And your wheels have started turning on if maybe YOU should start your own store.
This post is by no means exhaustive, but I hope it gives you a starting point to think about whether starting a TPT Store is right for you.
Should I try out being a seller on TPT?
Reasons to sell on Teachers Pay Teachers:
Niche
A lot of times teachers get started on TPT because they look all over TPT for a certain product and can’t find exactly what they are looking for - whether because of style preference, content, or level. Chances are if YOU are looking for it and can’t find it, there are other teachers out there with the same dilemma. Which means there’s a good chance you will have an audience for your product.
Creative
Speaking of style preference, if you enjoy creating things that are appealing to the eye, that is a HUGE part of TPT. A lot of teachers come to the site because they want to practice a skill with their students, but just want the product to look a little cuter (whether to gain student interest or just for their own preference). So, if you are able to create things other teachers like (and can’t or don’t want to create themselves), that’s a big seller plus!
In-Demand
If you have teachers in your building or district that constantly see what you are making and say, “Hey, can you send me a copy?” that’s a good sign you have a product other teachers like. You can also look into TPT searches to see what teachers are looking for and what is already available.
Passive Income
This is one of the main reasons people get started on TPT. Passive income means you are not trading constant work for pay (opposite of teaching, where you have to show up and actively teach to get a paycheck). With TPT, you make a product once(ish), and it has the potential to sell for years to come. There is a caveat here: you will need to update your product due to errors, style changes, and technology improvements. You’ll also have marketing, customer support and questions, etc… so it’s not totally passive.
If all of those answers felt promising, here are some reasons you might NOT want to sell on Teachers Pay Teachers…
Reasons not to get started on TPT:
Money
You have to pay to set up your store. (This has changed in years past so you will want to get on TPT to check current prices, but there is now a yearly cost for all new stores.) You will also have to pay a commission to Teachers Pay Teachers for every sale you make. Other costs to think about are the use of commercial licenses for fonts and clipart. We will get into this more in a minute, but to use images on your work and a lot of the cuter fonts, you must have the commercial licenses - which cost money. These prices can vary widely from $1-5 per font to $100 for font/image bundles. Side note: TPT is my favorite place to go for commercial use fonts and images because they make them for TPT sellers, so it’s clear what can be used in commercial (selling) products.
Time
Products obviously take time to create. Some days you may feel like you can whip up a product in an hour, but to really make money on TPT, you will want products with multiple pages, cover pages, thumbnails, previews, copyright pages, instructions, answer keys, etc - not to mention setting up descriptions and marketing. So, a majority of sellers say it takes them anywhere from 2 - 80(!) hours per product (often 1-2 hours per page). You can obviously speed up some of this process if you make bundled product lines but just know, it is not a quick way to make money.
No Guarantees
Not only does it take time to make your products but it can also take some time for your products to gain traction. When you are a new seller (especially if you are not putting a lot of work into marketing) it can take some time before your products show up in searches for buyers. I will show you my real-life timeline later in this post. It could be months or years before you start to make more than $10-20/month.
Complex
If you are going to become a seller, you need to be an educated one. That means reading blogs and forums to truly understand copyright laws, taxes, and how to create products that have images locked while allowing the buyer flexibility to only manipulate aspects you want them to. Like with anything else new, it can be confusing (and overwhelming!) to learn what you are allowed to reference and what you can’t. (For instance, Disney images and even references to characters/stories is a big no for copyright infringement.) If staying on top of those details feels like too much, creating products may be more of a headache than it’s worth.
If you’ve read through that and think… “I would really like to give it a try!” I say go for it! My store started because multiple teachers in my district were constantly asking for my field trip and parent/teacher conferences forms, so I decided to create a TPT store to sell them. Here’s how it went…
My Actual Profitability Timeline for Teachers Pay Teachers
2012: I was a baby teacher with my very first class.
2013: Started TPT with 10 products and made a whopping $5-10/month. (Most of my products range from $1-5.)
2016: After receiving the billionth review asking if I could make my products editable, I decided maybe I should listen to the people so I redid my products and immediately started seeing growth.
2020: I used my maternity leave and covid to double the number of products in my store.
2021: Started seeing some growth but I wanted more so…
2022: Took a course on Optimizing SEO, started using Pinterest and blogging, and redid covers/descriptions to my products and the store has taken off ever since.
As you can see, I have had a store for 10 years but only experienced growth when I was willing to put in the time/effort. My biggest selling products are still the forms my colleagues were requesting in 2013! They fit that winning combination of niche + creative + in-demand coupled with time + money + complexity to really see some success. My strategy is simple: Continue to add products and listen to feedback from my customers as I go.
Should I sell on Teachers Pay Teachers?
So, bottom line… do I recommend it? Honestly… yeah! If you feel comfortable after the pros and cons AND you are already making the stuff for your class anyway, why not go the extra steps and maybe make a few bucks along the way?! There have been months (years) that I put in maybe 5 minutes per month into my TPT store and still made some profit. Choose some slower seasons (like summer or breaks) to slowly build your store and see if you like it. If not, leave those products up and enjoy a few coffees a month :) If you catch the selling bug, keep going! The sky is the limit!
What questions do you have about if it’s worth starting a TPT? Email me! I’d love to help!
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