Teachers Pay Teachers: A Win-Win for New and Experienced Teachers

Teachers Pay Teachers bills itself as a "marketplace for educators," and it's a great space for new teachers to access tried and true lesson plans while giving experienced teachers an opportunity to make some extra cash off of their hard work. The payoff is a rewarding experience for everyone.

Teachers Pay Teachers was created by Paul Edelman, a former New York City school teacher and its idea is to have an open marketplace where teachers can exchange ideas, lesson plans, and all sorts of other materials that will help enrich their trade. Buyers can peruse the wealth of educational resources made available by sellers on the site, who are mostly veteran teachers that have produced a lot of valuable material during their years in the trade. Buyers get the tools that will help to jump start their young careers and sellers get a chance to earn some real cash.

How it works: Buyers

In order to buy products made available on the Teachers Pay Teachers website, users must register with the site. Registered users can download free resources available on the site, buy products from the catalog, rate and comment on products, and upgrade to a seller account whenever they'd like. Registering at Teachers Pay Teachers is free.

Buying products from Teachers Pay Teachers is relatively easy with the availability of several search options. Buyers can search the site by grade level, subject area, lesson plan, publisher created items, seller, state, and a whole host of other browse-able topics.

How it works: Sellers

Sellers of products on the Teachers Pay Teachers website can register in one of two ways. There are both basic and premium seller accounts available to sellers. Basic seller accounts are free and include unlimited product postings and all registered user rights. Premium sellers get all of that, plus lower sales fees and lower transaction fees. Their products are featured on the website and the annual cost for the premium seller account is $59.95. Here are the fee schedules for the two types of seller accounts:

Basic Seller

For teacher created items:

40% commission to Teachers Pay Teachers, plus $.30 for each transaction.

For used items:

15% commission to Teachers Pay Teachers, plus $.99 for each transaction.

Premium Seller

For teacher created items:

15% commission to Teachers Pay Teachers, with no transaction fee.

For used items:

10% commission to Teachers Pay Teachers, with no transaction fee.

You can see from the difference in fees that the Premium Seller Account can be much more lucrative, but new sellers are probably better off starting with the Basic Seller Account until they become established.

Most of the teacher created products, including lesson plans, worksheets, PowerPoint presentations and the like are downloaded on to the site in one of several formats. Sellers are asked to download a preview version of their product, which is what buyers will see when viewing the item. There are a great number of categories within which a seller can place their items, making it easier for the right buyers to find their products.

Teachers Pay Teachers is a great site for both new and veteran teachers. As an eight-year veteran of the teaching field, I can attest to how new teachers can thrive by picking up new ideas and tried and true lessons from experienced teachers. I've been selling products on Teachers Pay Teachers for a little over two years now and the only limit to my success has been the amount of time I've taken to tend to my little online store. Teachers Pay Teachers is a winner for everybody, and for experienced teachers who'd like to earn a little extra cash from their hard fought efforts, it's almost silly not to give it a shot!

Take a look at Teachers Pay Teachershere.

If that doesn't work, here's the URL: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/.