Many people who make money online have some kind of educational background be it teaching, tutoring or even homeschooling. If you have created lesson plans, worksheets, or printables that are now gathering dust on your hard drive, you may be surprised that they are worth the money and can actually provide you with an excellent source of passive income.
Teachers Pay Teachers is a site that allows individuals to buy, sell and share teacher assets. Think of it as Etsy for educators. The site claims to have over three million users and over 255 educators making $50,000+ annually selling their teaching materials. Today we’re talking about how it works and what some sellers on the site have to say about their experiences.
Meet the experts today
Brad Hines – I am a digital marketer and owner of BradfordHines.com who always wanted to be a school teacher, but I knew many aspects of it were not for me, such as the schedule. I love working from home because of its sheer flexibility, as well as saving time and money by not having to deal with things like commuting, office politics, etc.
Allison Whipple – I teach at Austin Community College and also teach poetry workshops independently. I started creating a cache of rubrics, PowerPoint presentations, and handouts that I realized other people might like to use. I used to buy materials on TpT, and decided that since I now had a list of my own work, it might be worthwhile to see if anything sold. I thought it might be nice to make some extra money from the materials I worked so hard to create.
Meredith O’Neill – I’ve been teaching middle school and high school for over 20 years, and I started my blog this year to satisfy a creative urge, reflect on my teaching practices, and share what I’ve learned with teachers new to the profession. Before starting the blog, I listed a few of my favorite resources on teacher salaries. Teacher Pay Teachers allowed me to gain some “street cred” among other teachers and make some money in the process.
How do teachers pay teachers?
When signing up as a seller you are given two options; Basic and Premium. The basic account is free and TpT takes 40% of your sales plus $.30 per transaction. Premium account costs $59.95 per year and allows you to earn 85% of sales with no transaction fees.
Most new sellers sign up under the basic plan. Many choose to upgrade later. As Brad says, “I spent the first two years on this site, spending nothing but time, until recently I plunked down $60 for an annual premium membership that pays higher royalties on a sale. It made sense because now I have a 50+ lesson plan. Yes, they started selling more frequently.”
When you start listing you have to give away one thing for free. It serves as a taste test to buyers, as Alison says, “Freebies help people decide whether to invest in your other products, so I consider it marketing. It’s just something you have to spend some time on.”
When can I get paid? Will sales come immediately?
Teachers Salary Teachers are paid monthly through PayPal. It may take some time to go. “It took me a while before I started selling my products, and for a while I gave up on the idea that I would make any money from the site. And then one day my most expensive product sold! When I got the email, I was surprised,” says Alison.
How do I start?
Alison shares the process of getting started with TpT, “Before you can sell, you need to set up a profile. I recommend investing time into it. I sold well after I had a detailed profile.
After formatting your materials the way you want them, you upload them to the TpT site, fill in item descriptions and provide keywords, and set your price point. It’s really straightforward. TpT takes a small royalty from each sale (except for products you offer for free). They pay monthly on your sales and there are different ways to get paid.”
As with most passive income opportunities, you have to work and wait. From Meredith, “The most time-consuming part was making sure the work I was listing was error-free. I spent time creating user-friendly answer keys. I discovered that I couldn’t sell the work the way I used it in class; I need to make it usable for any high school teacher. This means I may have to delete questions, reword questions, write more specific directions, and the like. The good news is that once your piece is perfect and listed, it It stays there and you don’t have to edit it again. So, there’s some hard work on the front end, and that’s it.”
Where can I get help?
Brad tells us that there are community Facebook groups and Pinterest boards where you can find help and inspiration.
Is TpT a long-term strategy?
Brad and Alison tell us they have no plans to move anywhere anytime soon. Brad is working on getting his current list of 50 up to 200. As Alison is a practicing professor, this is her plan of attack, “I do most of my uploading during spring, summer and winter break, when I have more time. I look at the materials I’ve made through the semester and see which ones I want to sell I’ll probably stick with TpT for a while because it’s convenient and easy. Hosting materials on my own site and setting up a payment system is difficult, as is trying to maintain it. TpT’s royalty cut is small enough to make the convenience worth it.”
Meredith, on the other hand, plans to move on soon, thinking that she will have to undercut his offers in order to make the sale. “I don’t plan to sell at TPT for much longer. Because of the high royalty rate, and because I want to grow my blog, the smartest move for me would be to sell my products directly from my blog.”
That being said, if you’re a teacher already creating these activities for your own classroom why not make a little money off of it? From Meredith, “I only sell digital products, so I don’t have to mail anything. Sales and transfers of my work happen automatically. Payment goes directly to my PayPal account after TPT deducts it. It’s super easy once your store is built and your work is loaded.”
Stop by Teachers Paying Teachers to learn more. And if you are a seller on the site, share your experience in the comments.
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