When you first sign up on TeachersPayTeachers, you have the option to get either the Basic Seller membership or the Premium Seller membership. But what are the differences between the two accounts, and how do you know which is the right one for you? In this blog post, I’ll outline the major differences between the basic vs. premium TpT memberships and discuss why I think the TpT premium membership is definitely worth it.
TpT Basic Membership vs. TpT Premium Membership
The biggest difference between the two accounts is the cost. The basic membership is free, and the TpT premium membership is $59.95 a year. What perks are included in the premium membership, and do they justify the cost? Let’s take a look at the chart below and discuss the differences.
Payouts
With a basic membership, you will earn 55% on all sales, compared to 80% with a TpT premium membership. Let’s say you sell a $5.00 product. Without taking into account transaction fees, you will earn $2.75 on that resource with a basic membership compared to $4.00 with a premium membership. Note that these rates only apply to the TpT Marketplace, or the main TpT website. Sales from TpT School Access are slightly different, and you can read about them here.
Transaction Fees
In addition to lower payout rates, the basic membership also comes with higher transaction fees. That means for your $5.00 product, you will actually end up bringing home $2.45 after the TpT sales commission and the transaction fee. With a premium membership, though, you would still earn $4.00 since the transaction fees only apply to orders totaling less than $3.00. The cool thing about the order totals is that they take into account everything in a buyer’s cart. So a buyer can buy a $2 product from me, and a $1 product from someone else in the same order, and neither seller will be charged a transaction fee as long as they signed up for the premium membership.
File Size
Another benefit of signing up for the TpT premium membership is the size of the files you’re allowed to upload for your products. The basic membership limit is 200 MB, but the premium membership limit is 1 GB. This can become an issue if you are creating resources that are several pages long or include a lot of images.
Video
People with basic seller memberships cannot upload video to the site. With a premium TpT membership, though, you can upload video previews for your products as well as any video products you want to sell.
Premium Features & Marketing Tools
There are some features on the TeachersPayTeachers website that only sellers with premium accounts can use. One such tool is the UTM code URL builder that allows you to track traffic coming from your marketing efforts. This allows you to see whether your efforts on Pinterest, social media, your email list, etc. are actually paying off when it comes to bringing traffic and sales to your store.
Is the TpT premium membership right for you?
When you’re just getting started on TpT, $59.95 might seem like a scary expense. I think it’s important to think about your goals for your TpT store though. If you’re just trying things out and aren’t even sure if you want to sell on the site, then definitely go with the basic membership while you figure things out. As soon as you start making sales, though, I would consider an upgrade to the premium membership. It’s super easy to upgrade your TpT seller account, and you can do it at any time. I have mine set up on automatic payment so I don’t have to remember to renew it each year.
If you’re ready to add paid products and want to see where things can go with your TpT store, then the premium membership is definitely right for you. Honestly, if you’re taking your store seriously enough to even be reading this post, then I think you should definitely go for it since the benefits will quickly outweigh the cost. Signing up for a TpT premium membership is one of the best investments I made for my business, not only for the increase in earnings, but also because it helps with the business mindset. Paying a membership fee each year is a nice reminder to take my business seriously and to keep working toward regular growth.
Looking for more TpT seller tips and advice about running your own business? Download The Ultimate Checklist for New TpT Sellers for tips on starting your TpT store, creating quality products, and marketing your resources. Also consider joining us in the School of Sellers 101 Facebook group, the perfect place for new sellers to find community.
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