Are you a teacher looking for reliable content to impart knowledge to your students and enhance their skills? Better yet, are you a teacher who can create content around educational material that can help other teachers around the world? Are you a teacher who would like to earn some additional income by sharing innovative methods of teaching to others? If you belong to any of the categories above, you should look no further than Teachers Pay Teachers.
Here, you can contribute as well as benefit from a pool of resources focused on student curriculum across all school grades.
Teachers can choose from a plethora of content categorized across grades (K-10), subjects, and resource types. Contributors can choose to keep their content free or sell their content material for a nominal fee.
The detailed review below should give you an idea of all that you need to know about this platform, how to go about making the most of it and how it compares to other platforms out there in the market.
What is Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT)?
It’s the world’s most popular online marketplace for educational resources. The content is crowdsourced by individuals across the globe who have the liberty to create content on topics of their preference and in multiple formats such as worksheets, videos, activities, packets, etc.
The content is grouped into several subjects for students from kindergarten to 12th grade. All teachers on this community can access these resources to improve their teaching methodologies.
On TPT, you can either post content or use posted content. The resources vary across a range of prices and features available. It also offers members to follow their favorite authors, engage across seller forums, and provide ratings and feedback on content and users. The ultimate goal is to make the platform more interactive and useful.
Teachers Pay Teachers Review
The following segment will give you a brief take on the platform, on who uses it, how it works, and detailed insights into positive and negative aspects.
Who uses Teachers Pay Teachers?
There are primarily two groups of users: those looking to buy content and those looking to sell content. Depending on their requirement, members either create buyer accounts or seller accounts.
Buyer accounts are free of cost and give you access to all the content available. The profile enables you to browse, rate, follow, purchase, and download content. Sellers post their content in their stores and affix a price to it for buyers to view and purchase. They also have access to statistics and marketing tools to reach out to their target audience.
TPT also offers the option for entities to share content that was not authored by them. This can be done via a free account, with the value of sales split evenly between the seller and the platform.
How does Teachers Pay Teachers work?
The marketplace is run primarily by two types of users mentioned above. Sellers pay for their account subscription (if they have a premium seller account), a commission on their products, and a transaction fee. Buyers pay sellers for the products they purchase.
Seller accounts are of two types: Basic Seller Account and Premium Seller Account. Basic Seller Account is a free account that helps users get started on the platform. It provides you the option to add content in multiple formats (except videos). TPT charges a percentage of total sales.
Premium Seller Account should be considered by those looking to use the platform as a full-time business opportunity. Charged at $59.95 per annum, premium seller account provides you all the features of a basic seller account but also adds the additional benefits of TPTs’ marketing tools, a lesser charge on content sales, and the ability to add video content.
Sellers can create content about any topic of their choice, provided it covers the curriculum sought by the buyers. Buyers and sellers can both use a number of search filters to find each other on the platform.
All payments to the sellers are credited on their PayPal account provided at the time of sign up.
What are the different features of Teachers Pay Teachers?
Teachers Pay Teachers provides you with numerous features to help you obtain the right material and engage better with the community. Some of these features are:
- An array of searchable filters for you to narrow down the content you wish to pursue
- Options to follow accounts that you find resourceful so you are updated every time they add new content
- Option to rate materials and seller accounts and offer feedback on what was helpful for the buyer and suggest improvements for the seller
- Option to subscribe to the newsletter to stay updated on what’s new on the platform and related news articles
- Sellers’ and teachers’ community to engage with a larger group and seek guidance on common issues and hurdles users encounter
- Marketing tools to help sellers reach out to their target audience and give them the increased visibility they need for improved sales
- Option to update buyers on additional content added to material that they have already purchased
- Option to request refunds for unsatisfactory purchases
The Positives of Teachers Pay Teachers
To be one of the most widely known and used platform, TPT will have to have a lot of positives about the overall concept and the platform itself. Here are some of the key positives of the marketplace:
Good user interface
The first thing you will notice about TPT is its succinct and straightforward user interface. They have done an excellent job of not cluttering your feed with content, and the entire webpage sits very easy on the eye, particularly for a new user who has minimal direction.
Easy navigation and search options
When a platform has so much content, it is often easy to get lost in a wild hunt for the material you are looking for. They have dealt with this very efficiently by providing several filters to cut through the data on offer.
Users can filter through content either by the subject, the curriculum, or the type of material they wish to use. It also provides you the option to filter through price ranges depending on what budget range you’re looking out for.
Vast category of content options for sellers
On Teachers Pay Teachers, one can notice the plethora of content on everything associated with the school-level curriculum. Be it core subjects of math or science to languages and arts, It enables you to contribute to the platform across this wide range of topics.
The target audience ranges from kindergarten to the 12th grade. What’s even better is that users can also prepare their content based on different resource types, ranging from worksheets to activities and videos.
Large content database
The advantage mentioned above enables users to access different forms of content. Users can sort content based on teaching style, resource type, price range, and even something as minute as an accent in videos. It’s a useful, exhaustive repository for users from where they can choose the material most suited for their needs.
Great range of free products and reasonable pricing
In addition to paid content resources, users have access to plenty of free resources across various topics on TPT. Free resources are also an excellent way for buyers and sellers alike to get a preview of a particular teacher’s style and/or new content. Since a lot of sellers create and sell similar types of content, there’s a healthy competition amongst them to price their offerings fairly. Hence, buyers can access the majority of the resources at a reasonable price.
Prompt payouts and refunds
The sellers expect timely payments for the time and energy that they have spent on products that hit the market. It has a prompt payment cycle where the earnings of the previous month are deposited across monthly cycles at a fixed date in the PayPal account of the user’s choice.
However, there are times when a user is dissatisfied with a purchase or if there are other technical issues that render a purchase unfulfilling. TPT has dealt with this through efficient refund processes wherein users can demand refunds based on genuine claims.
Good community engagements
Another key aspect of this education marketplace success is the thriving community of buyers and sellers. Sellers have the option to engage in a seller community forum wherein they can seek solutions to their problems and engage in discussions related to processes and best practices. Users can also subscribe to the Their newsletter that keeps the community informed of important information, promotions, and general content.
Robust credibility validation mechanism
The unique feedback system is critical to help buyers assess the credibility of the seller account. Users can provide ratings on content purchased as well as the overall experience with a buyer, offer feedback, and follow a seller account they find helpful.
By seeing the rating and number of followers or by assessing the feedback, buyers can make an educated decision on whether or not to pursue a particular seller. This also encourages sellers to provide the best experience to their buyers to improve ratings and other credibility metrics.
Feel good factor associated along with additional income
Teachers Pay Teachers enable educators to help a large community of users while getting paid for their efforts. Not only does it add money to your wallet, but it also adds to your karma and gives you a great feeling knowing you can make a difference.
The Negatives of Teachers Pay Teachers
However, like every other product, Teachers Pay Teachers does have its own set of shortcomings which are summarized below:
Video mode and file size relief only for premium seller accounts
Video content is a critical feature that can help users deliver more impactful material. However, video content is only available for premium users, which limits basic seller accounts to traditional, non-interactive resources. Another issue with the basic seller account is the 200 Mb file size limit. This restricts the volume of material a user can upload, often forcing users to create multiple files on the same topic.
Limited set of marketing tools and options available for sellers
Marketing tools available to users on Teachers Pay Teachers are also fairly restricted. Users cannot use any advanced promotion techniques besides offering bundles or changing the design of their stores. Although Teachers Pay Teachers provide some fascinating insights on data, there isn’t a lot the users can do with that data.
Average recommendation engine to help with suggested content
Although users can create accounts and follow account pages that interest them, the feed is still not curated enough to cover specific interest areas of the users. An account can post on a wide range of topics, whereas users may only be interested in particular subjects for specific grades. This makes the experience less pleasing.
Teachers Pay Teachers Promo Code 2020
On the Teachers Pay Teachers website, there will be constant sales and promotional offers from time to time. These promo codes are either targeted at providing you discounts from 20% to 60% on a specific set of content or can also be used to acquire free material for a particular subject and type of resource.
Promo codes apply when you plan to upgrade a basic seller account to a premium seller account, and also for discounts on premium seller account memberships. Most promo codes are targeted around festival seasons as well as during special occasions like the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Alternatives to Teachers Pay Teachers
The peer-to-peer education marketplace is not the only one available in the market and faces competition from both established players as well as new entrants. Some notable players in this segment are:
Amazon Inspire
Although still in beta, Amazon Inspire is set to come out with a wide range of options to compete with TPT. However, there have been issues of copyright violations and offensive content that have derailed its growth.
Tes
A definite strong contender to TPTs’ market share is Tes. Tes offers a similar business model to Teachers Pay Teachers, along with additional features such as an IB diploma course, IB job search, etc.
Within the teaching resource marketplace, however, it offers the same range of content from kindergarten to grade 12, but does not share the same volume of content as TPT. Tes allows users to sign in via social media, enforcing an easier onboarding process and better social media engagement.
Share My Lesson
Share My Lesson is a marketplace that also covers the same classes, from kindergarten to 12th grade. Their impressive recommendation engine and their updated timeline feature keep you aware of all the latest updates. Share My Lesson is a viable alternative to TPT.
Although Share My Lesson doesn’t share the same volume of the content nor facilitates the ease of navigation as in TPT, it does provide some targeted material on specific topics, such as educational material on Coronavirus, for example.
Edmodo
Edmodo is a feasible alternative to TPT that also offers worthy content for students, parents, and teachers. It renders an interactive experience for everyone. It is, however, limited in its scope and range of subjects covered, as compared to TPT.
FAQ about Teachers Pay Teachers
Teachers Pay Teachers is a very effective platform in the peer-to-peer education market. Those who don’t know about it may have doubts in their mind. The following are some frequently asked questions about Teachers Pay Teachers:
Who owns Teachers Pay Teachers?
A scholastic corporation owns Teachers Pay Teachers. Paul Edelman founded it in 2006.
Is TpT safe to join and use?
Yes, absolutely! Teachers Pay Teachers is a well-recognized and established unit comprising a large community of educators. Five million teachers have used the marketplace until today. All payments are secure and are credited to the user’s PayPal account. You can read reviews and ratings before using Teachers Pay Teachers.
Can you make money on TpT?
Users can make money by selling content on the platform. Buyers can buy content they like, and a seller earns the amount after paying transaction costs and commissions to Teachers Pay Teachers.
How to generate a gift card from TpT?
There is an option to generate gift cards on the homepage of the Teachers Pay Teachers website. On the top right corner, users will need to click on the “gift cards” option. Once selected, users can send a gift card of a denomination of their choice (up to $500) to the recipient’s email address along with a personalized message. There is also an option to check the balance for a given gift card within the same window.
How to get freebies from TpT?
Many sellers make their content free either for promotional purposes. You can discover free resources by using filters, which will show you free content in different formats, produced by different authors for different grades. Sometimes sellers also add bonus content along with bundles they offer to incentivize buyers and extend their reach.
When is the next Sitewide sale?
Teachers Pay Teachers hosts four big sitewide sales per year outside the deals offered by individual sellers in their stores. During a sitewide sale, buyers are eligible for two sets of discounts:
- Sellers can offer up to 20% off on individual products or all resources in their store as per their discretion
- Teachers Pay Teachers offers an additional 5% discount on the purchase of the products at the time of checkout
Buyers will need to enter the promo code during checkout to be eligible for up to 25% discount on their purchase.
The “upcoming sales” section is an excellent way to learn about the next sale – for both individual stores as well as for the sitewide sale.
How to contact them?
For any disputes, queries, suggestions, and feedback, users can reach out to the team via the “Contact Us” option listed in the footer (bottom) section of the website. Users need to mention their name, select a topic, and provide an account of the message, along with any supporting documents as attachments (up to a maximum size of 20 Mb).
Conclusion
Overall, Teachers Pay Teachers is a great online platform with easy-to-follow navigation and a vast array of options for users seeking online material. It is also an excellent way for authors to make some additional income on the side while making a difference to the larger community of students and teachers alike. Great content and great processes make this platform a definite success.