Teachers Pay Teachers Review: Is Selling on Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT) Worth It?

Teachers have to juggle a lot of different responsibilities beyond simply instructing students in the classroom. Behind the scenes, they’re drafting lesson plans, sourcing student resources, and planning classroom activities.

This is where Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT) comes in. As a member of the TPT platform, you can upload educational resources and materials to sell to other teachers or buy them from other teachers on the platform.

Once you sign up, you’ll create your own teacher store, list products, and set your own prices. When a teacher buys teaching materials from you, TPT will process the payment and send it to you. It’s as simple as that.

Eligibility requirements

The eligibility requirements for Teachers Pay Teachers are minimal. In fact, you don’t even need to be a teacher to use the platform.

While this low entry barrier is liberating for some subject matter experts, it’s led to some controversy. Studies have found that the majority of resources on the platform are of low quality, which has led some schools and school districts to ban teachers from using it. 1 This, in turn, might influence how much you can earn by selling on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Signup process

Getting started on Teachers Pay Teachers is easy. Just follow these steps:

1. Create a Teachers Pay Teachers seller account.
2. Receive a store URL.
3. Personalize your store page and upload information about your credentials.
4. Create product listings with images, descriptions, and prices.

To help you get started, we created a detailed guide on how to make money on Teachers Pay Teachers, which you can check out if you decide that selling on TPT is worth it for you. Once you’ve opened your TPT shop, other teachers can begin purchasing and downloading your products.

Where to download the Teachers Pay Teachers app

App Store Google Play

Locations

Teachers Pay Teachers is open to users from anywhere in the world, and sellers are welcome to offer content in any language.

Sadly, Teachers Pay Teachers is not free to use. The platform charges teachers a combination of signup fees, membership fees, processing fees, and commission fees. How much you’ll be charged depends on your chosen membership tier, as detailed in the table below.

Teachers Pay Teachers Fees

Is the TPT premium membership worth it?

TPT’s commission fees and transaction fees cut pretty deep into sellers’ profits. However, the cut for premium members is less than half of what it is for basic users. Some users claim that they’ve seen an increase in their profits after upgrading to the premium membership, even with the yearly fee.

The general consensus seems to be that the premium membership is 100% worth it if you’re serious about selling. One user even said that the membership paid for itself in just 1 month because of how much more they were earning from their sales.

A helpful Reddit user gave a detailed breakdown of their earnings on Teachers Pay Teachers from putting in 400 hours of effort. “If I would have stuck with the basic account I would have made: $283.36 on all my sales since July. With premium I have made $461.10,” they said. “If we take away the $60/yr fee I net $401.10 profit. That is $117.74 more than the basic account.”

The table below shows that user’s breakdown of earnings on TPT with the basic membership vs. premium membership.

TPT Profits from the Premium vs. Basic Membership

Ultimately, Teachers Pay Teachers is a legitimate platform. However, that’s not to say that all the products you’ll find sold on the platform are legitimate.

Although plenty of TPT users are experienced and highly qualified teachers who are running a reputable side hustle while offering up useful resources to the teaching community, this isn’t the case for everyone. Some Teachers Pay Teachers sellers churn out low-quality or even plagiarized content like mini publishing houses, and Teachers Pay Teachers hasn’t succeeded in stopping this from happening.

One of the biggest criticisms that TPT faces is copyright infringement. In some cases, a teacher may unwittingly use images or content they found online but don’t have permission to use. In more nefarious cases, a teacher may share educational content online for free only to later find that someone else has repackaged and sold it on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Teachers Pay Teachers doesn’t check sellers’ content for copyright infringement, but they will remove content proven to infringe on copyright. In short, while Teachers Pay Teachers is legit so far as paying and not scamming its sellers, whether or not Teachers Pay Teachers is a legitimate resource for buyers is questionable.

TPT seller reviews are very divisive. Some love the platform, seeing it as a simple way for hard-working teachers to make money with minimal effort. Others discourage its use, pointing out that TPT charges excessively high fees and is rife with serious issues that limit its value for educators—such as plagiarism and a lack of quality standards.

Here’s a breakdown of the key points (both good and bad) from TPT reviews that you should consider when deciding whether selling on TPT is worth it for you.

Copyright infringement

One of the biggest criticisms of TPT is that plenty of the products listed on the website are plagiarized or stolen. Although TPT promises to take down listings subject to copyright infringement, this is something that can be difficult to track, and you should be aware of the risk that someone may try to make a quick buck using your ideas or products.

User reviews:

“A lot of stuff on TPT is stolen to begin with. People take benchmark curriculum, package it into worksheets to be ‘cute’ and then charge a fortune for it.” (Reddit, April 2024)

“There’s a big difference between using fonts and clipart for personal use vs for selling. To do it right, you’ve got to pay for licenses and things. Which, if you’re not making very much money because you’re not putting in the work required in point 1, probably isn’t worth it.” (Reddit, January 2023)

“As an author and friend of authors whose work has been plagiarized over and over with no relief from TPT I am not a fan. I understand the need and had even defended the platform early on but it continues to get worse with folks posting copyrighted material with no compensation to the original authors. Your call on how you feel about that. I just ask if you’d let your students do the same?” (Reddit, March 2022)

Reputation for low-quality products

TPT is gaining increasing attention as a passive side hustle opportunity, even beyond the teaching community. Since you don’t need to be a teacher to sell on Teachers Pay Teachers, there are an increasing number of nonteachers selling low-quality resources with the primary goal of making money.

This negatively impacts every seller on the platform. TPT’s reputation for poor quality is damaging buyer trust and increasing hesitation and reluctance among teachers who might otherwise be inclined to buy TPT products.

User reviews:

“99% of the stuff on TPT is, pedagogically speaking, hot garbage. A LOT of it is cutesy fluff created by inexperienced teachers who are trying to supplement terrible wages. […] Your content will be mixed in with this hot garbage, and there is no way for anyone to tell the difference.” (Reddit, January 2023)

“If TPT is the Wild West, it seriously needs a sheriff. For every satchel of gold nuggets brought in, I see a lot of iron sulfide. Needs better previews, or just plain tighter content regulation, somehow.” (Reddit, December 2021)

Passive income potential

The main reason TPT has gained such traction as a great side hustle is that it’s easy money, especially if you already have your own teaching resources.

Many other side hustles for teachers, such as tutoring or substitute teaching, offer paychecks while you’re working. But by selling on Teachers Pay Teachers, you continue earning a passive income even when you’re not actively listing new products. Just one summer dedicated to TPT can get you consistent earnings throughout the school year and in years to come.

User reviews:

“TPT has been a great side hustle for me.. especially as a mom because after putting in work and adding listings to my store for 2 months, i could take time off and go months without listing and still make money.” (Reddit, June 2024)

“The nice thing about tpt is you can literally ignore it and put zero effort in and still sell. I haven’t uploaded anything new in months and still make $200+ a month for zero current hours working on it.” (Reddit, April 2024)

“You’ll continue to get money rolling in. Plus, your students benefit from new lessons AND you enjoy it! Win-win.” (Reddit, January 2024)

“I make $30-$50/month and it just vibes without me looking at it.” (Reddit, November 2023)

“I posted a handful of resources in 2020 and have consistently made $1000 a year, for no work.” (Reddit, November 2023)

School district bans and restrictions

If you’re a teacher, then there’s a chance that you won’t even be allowed to use TPT. Some school districts have banned teachers from buying from or selling on TPT, and others claim ownership over teacher-created resources. It’s best to check your teacher contract and school district regulations before you start selling on Teachers Pay Teachers.

User reviews:

“Make sure to NOT use school computer, account, or wifi to make them. Make sure you’re not making them during school hours. Technically, school board can argue that materials belongs to them if you make them using school stuff or during school hours.” (Reddit, February 2024)

“Check out your district rules – some of them are strict that anything made while on district property using district resources etc, cannot be sold.” (Reddit, November 2023)

“Schools are cracking down on the use of TpT materials and the ease if cheating by students.” (Reddit, January 2023)

More products = higher earnings

As you might expect, your earnings on TPT will be directly related to the number of products you list on the site. Many sellers say that you need to upload a lot of products before you start seeing reasonable profits.

User reviews:

“The bigger success comes with having more and more items on your store. I only started making $100+ a month when I had around 120-130 items on my store.” (Reddit, January 2024)

“You wont really start making much $$ until you have around 50 items in your store. […] When I had 5-6 things in my store I was making $2-$8 per month. […] I currenlty have just over 150 items and my past 4 months take home has been: $98.71, $102.05, $64.31, and for this month so fa I am at $98.58.” (Reddit, January 2024)

Marketing efforts required for higher sales

Many teachers just upload materials to TPT and then wait for the money to roll in. This hands-off approach can get you a couple of dollars a month, but it won’t equate to a lucrative side hustle.

If you want to be among the top earners on TPT, you need to invest time in marketing your products. Many of the highest-earning TPT sellers promote their stores through other channels, such as social media platforms or their own website.

User reviews:

“You have to put in a lot of work to make significant money. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, the top sellers are all also bloggers and maintain busy accounts on all the socials. If you don’t do those things, you’re unlikely to get much traction no matter how good your work is.” (Reddit, January 2023)

“If you want to make more than an extra $15 per month, you have to promote your products elsewhere. This means blogging, making you tube videos, and/or writing articles for other websites with backlinks to your product pages. This can easily become a lot of extra work, and you may not even see any financial reward for it.” (Reddit, January 2023)

Feel valued for your hard work

Advocates of TPT appreciate the resource-sharing element of the platform, which benefits both buyers and sellers. Teacher sellers get rewarded for their hard work, which is usually overlooked by school districts. Buyers save time and get access to potentially high-quality resources while supporting their peers.

User reviews:

“I’ve created so many resources over the 15 years I’ve been in the classroom… it’s an awesome feeling when your work has value to someone, and its great to get paid for all of the work I’ve done outside of the classroom. Plus, I’ve learned a lot about marketing, graphic design, sales etc in the process.” (Reddit, April 2024)

“Idc what anyone says… you should definitely start selling. It’s your hard earned work and in my case I’ll spend 2 hours planning a dope activity that in class may only last 15 minutes. You might as well share your art and be paid for it.” (Reddit, November 2023)

You may have heard about the teachers who’ve become millionaires on Teachers Pay Teachers. But most people never make it that far. Although teachers have collectively earned over 1 billion dollars on the platform, the company’s CEO pointed out that the average TPT seller makes in the low single-digit thousands per year.2

Whether or not you can make a lot of money on Teachers Pay Teachers depends on factors like how high you set your prices, how many products you’re selling on the platform, how much demand there is for your products, and which membership plan you chose.

User-reported earnings:

“On TpT, I’m in the top 94% of stores and make about $300/mo. That should give you a clue at where the lower 93% are. Essentially you have the top 1-2% making hundred-thousands to millions, the 90 to mid-nineties making a couple hundred to a thousand/mo, some lucky to make a few bucks, and most making almost nothing.” (Reddit, June 2024)

“I have about 170 resources (middle school science/STEM/STEAM), and make about $1K per month.” (Reddit, April 2024)

“I have ten resources listed in a very niche area. They are priced from $4-$15 each. I usually make $60-$120 a month off them (after fees, which are huge).” (Reddit, November 2023)

“I started making 20 cents, then 45 cents the next month, then on the third month (August which is a huge sale month btw) I made 95$ in a month and was shocked. I’m averaging about 140$ a month and it helps to pay gas, Netflix, etc.” (Reddit, November 2023)

“It basically pays for my Spotify subscription each month. I’m not getting rich off of it, but it is a nice little (tiny) bonus.” (Reddit, January 2023)

“I’ve made a <checks bank account> grand total of $2.27 from the lesson plans I’ve posted.” (Reddit, March 2022)

How you’ll get paid

TPT will pay you monthly via Hyperwallet, a third-party payment processor. Once you set up a Hyperwallet account, you can choose between several payout options, including direct deposit, PayPal, Venmo, and wire transfer.

Teachers Pay Teachers submits payments to Hyperwallet around the 21st of each month. After that, it generally takes 2–3 business days for payments to be processed and arrive in your account.

Teacher reviews are mixed on whether TPT is worth it. To some, it’s an easy way to make money from content that you already have to create anyway, so any amount of extra money is a bonus. Others, by contrast, feel that the time and effort required to create products and the risks of issues like copyright infringement outweigh the small profits you’ll make.

If you do consider selling on Teachers Pay Teachers, check your school district’s rules first. Some may prohibit the sale of any content created for the district’s use.

Pros and cons

Teachers Pay Teachers has several benefits and drawbacks you should consider before signing up.

Alternatives to selling on Teachers Pay Teachers

If you’re motivated and not afraid to dive deep into digital marketing, you could always simply sell your teaching resources on your own website. You don’t need Teachers Pay Teachers. The main drawback is that selling on your own is a lot of hard work, whereas TPT’s popularity eases some of that burden.

Alternatively, you could try one of the following similar side hustles:

• Sell courses online: Record videos structured according to a course you’ve designed and sell them on a platform like Udemy or Skillshare. Like selling on TPT, this is also a passive income side hustle.
• Become a curriculum developer: Work with an educational publisher or ed tech company to develop curricula for schools. Curriculum developers earn high wages in exchange for their educational expertise.
• Sell printables on Etsy: TPT isn’t the only place to sell digital downloads or printables. Etsy is also a great option, and your products don’t need to be related to teaching.
• Become a content creator: If you love creating, why not consider starting your own teaching blog, YouTube channel, or podcast or sharing tips and advice on social media platforms. There are numerous ways to monetize these types of content.

Some of these hustles also work well together. For example, you can repurpose old course materials into a Udemy class, turn the associated worksheets into templates to sell on Etsy, and give sneak peeks through a blog post about how you created the course materials. Many of these side hustles are relatively passive, meaning you can earn plenty of money with minimal work if you play your cards right.