Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT) announced that it's eliminating its Premium Seller membership and replacing it with a new Exclusive Seller program beginning January 1, 2027. Under the new arrangement, sellers like me are being asked to choose between giving TPT exclusivity over our educational resources while accepting a slightly lower payout, or maintaining our independence and taking a substantial cut in what we earn from each sale. For me, that means a lesson I currently sell for $4 on TPT would need to cost nearly $6.40 just to maintain my current earnings. Meanwhile, I sell that exact same lesson through my own website, Montessori Physical Education, for $3. The exact same lesson!
I understand that TPT gives me access to a marketplace and an audience my own website doesn't. I've always recognized the value of that exposure. But I'm struggling to understand how this new arrangement benefits either the educators creating these resources or the teachers purchasing them. What makes this particularly disappointing is I used to think of TPT as a force for good. In fact, the platform played an important role in helping me launch Montessori Physical Education.
I actually opened my Teachers Pay Teachers store before I even had a website of my own. When I first started creating and sharing my lessons, TPT was an obvious place to begin. The platform was intuitive, uploading resources was relatively simple, and I could get my material in front of teachers without building an entire website from scratch. That last part mattered because I had absolutely no idea how to build a website. I eventually had to teach myself. There was also an excitement surrounding TPT at the time. The business model seemed genuinely appealing. Teachers created resources, shared them with other teachers, and received additional compensation for their work. The platform provided the marketplace, and the educators provided the content. Everybody benefited.
I was also excited about the possibility of reaching educators outside the Montessori bubble. I developed my lessons with Montessori principles in mind, but that didn't mean they couldn't be useful to traditional PE teachers, classroom teachers, or anyone looking for a different approach to physical education. TPT gave me access to an audience I probably wouldn't have reached otherwise, while also making my work more visible to Montessori teachers who were already using the platform. Eventually, I built my own website, and Montessori Physical Education became something much bigger than a collection of individual lesson plans. But I kept my TPT store because I still believed that original arrangement had value.
Now? I'm seriously questioning whether that relationship is worth continuing.
TPT recently announced that, beginning January 1, 2027, it will eliminate its Premium Seller membership and replace it with a new Exclusive Seller membership. Currently, I pay $59.95 annually for a Premium Seller account, which allows me to keep 80% of my sales while retaining the freedom to sell my resources elsewhere. Under the new Exclusive Seller program, I would continue paying the same annual fee, but my payout would drop to 77.5%. More importantly, I would have to agree to sell eligible resources exclusively through TPT. In exchange, TPT is promising “additional marketing tools, improved analytics, and the possibility of having my store included in company-funded promotional campaigns.
If I choose not to become exclusive, I'll automatically be moved to the Basic Seller program, and my payout drops to 55%, with an additional $0.30 transaction fee per resource. To put that into perspective, most of my individual lesson plans sell for $4. Under my current Premium membership, I receive $3.20 from each sale. If I refuse exclusivity and become a Basic Seller, I'll receive just $1.90 for that exact same lesson. That's $1.30 less per sale, or more than a 40% reduction from what I currently earn. To make the same $3.20 I earn today, I'd have to raise the price of a $4 lesson to approximately $6.37. TPT is effectively forcing me to choose between giving up my independence and accepting a reduction in compensation, or raising my prices by nearly 60% just to maintain my current earnings under the new terms.
This is somehow being presented as an exciting new opportunity for sellers. Since when does exclusivity mean getting paid less? This is the part of the announcement that I find particularly insulting.
Exclusivity is an incredibly valuable bargaining chip. When a company asks a creator to make their content available exclusively through its platform, it's asking that creator to surrender other opportunities to distribute and profit from their own work. That should demand considerably more than a slightly better commission rate. Think about companies like Netflix or Hulu. When they acquire exclusive rights to content, they're not simply paying for the content itself. They're paying for the competitive advantage of being the only place where audiences can find it. And when they have something exclusive that they believe will attract customers, they have every incentive to advertise the hell out of it. The platform isn't simply purchasing access to the content. It's making an investment in bringing an audience to that content.
So what commitment is TPT making? They're advertising new marketing features and the opportunity to be included in TPT-funded promotional campaigns. But that's a pretty vague promise. There's no guarantee that my resources will receive any meaningful additional exposure, no commitment to actively market my store, and no clear indication that TPT will invest in promoting the individual creators who agree to exclusivity. They're asking me to make a concrete sacrifice in exchange for the possibility of additional benefits. And they want to pay me less.
I currently receive 80% of my sales without an exclusivity agreement. Under the new program, I would receive 77.5% while surrendering my ability to sell eligible resources through my own website. If TPT wants exclusive access, shouldn't they be offering something substantially better than what I already have? Shouldn't they be demonstrating how their platform will generate enough additional sales to justify giving up every other sales channel? Instead, the offer is essentially this: Give us exclusive access to your work, accept a smaller percentage of your sales, and keep paying us the same annual membership fee, and we might push you a little harder in the algorithm.
Fuck that.
I already sell many of the same lessons through my own website, Montessori Physical Education, for $3 instead of the $4 I charge on TPT because selling directly through Squarespace costs substantially less, and I can pass some of those savings along to the teachers purchasing my resources. Squarespace isn't free. I pay to maintain my website, and each transaction has payment processing fees. But those costs are considerably less than what TPT will be charging Basic Sellers. On a $4 lesson sold through TPT's new Basic Seller program, I would receive just $1.90, yet I can sell the lesson for $3 on my website and make more than TPT even after processing fees. People who go to my website can buy the same lesson for less, and I earn more from the sale.
Business-savvy people may say this is comparing apples to oranges. Squarespace doesn't bring customers to my website. I have to do that myself. TPT provides access to an established marketplace, and I've always recognized the value of that exposure. It's why I joined TPT in the first place. However, with this new arrangement, I have to begin asking, “How much is that exposure actually worth?” Under the new Basic Seller program, I would have to raise a $4 lesson to about $6.37 just to earn what I currently make from that sale. Meanwhile, the exact same lesson is available directly through my website for $3. That's more than twice the price for the same educational resource.
The lesson hasn't changed. The content hasn't improved. The teacher buying it isn't getting anything extra. The website's user interface hasn’t improved. So what’s going on? TPT is putting sellers in a position where they either accept significantly less compensation or substantially increase their prices. Neither option benefits the teachers who create the resources or the teachers who purchase them. At what point does the cost of accessing TPT's marketplace outweigh the value that marketplace provides?
I've already decided one thing. There is no way in hell I will be an Exclusive Seller on TPT. Montessori Physical Education is my work, and I've spent years developing it into something that exists independently of any marketplace. My website isn't simply another place where people can purchase the same lesson plans. It's where I publish new activities, revisit and improve older lessons, share videos, post blogs like this one, and offer educators lifetime access to a growing collection of resources. I built the website myself, and it has allowed me to develop relationships with educators on my own terms. Why would I give that up? More importantly, why would I give it up to a company offering me less money than it currently pays me without exclusivity?
I understand that some sellers operate almost entirely through TPT. For them, the Exclusive Seller program might still make financial sense, particularly if they don't have an independent website or another established way to reach customers. I'm not criticizing those sellers, but I am not one of them. Everyone has to make the decision that works best for their circumstances. For me, exclusivity is completely off the table.
What I haven't figured out is what to do next. Part of me wants to close my TPT store entirely. If enough sellers refuse to participate in this new arrangement, perhaps TPT will realize that the educators creating its content have more bargaining power than the company seems willing to acknowledge. Removing my store would be a relatively small act of protest, but at least I wouldn't continue supporting a business decision I fundamentally disagree with.
Then again, that means giving up the reason I joined TPT in the first place. There are teachers who discover my work through TPT who would probably never find Montessori Physical Education otherwise. I still believe there's value in reaching those educators, and I don't particularly want to abandon that audience.
Another option is to remain a Basic Seller and raise my prices substantially. If TPT is going to take a much larger percentage of every sale, do I pass that on to the consumer? This still sucks because I'm effectively passing the cost of TPT's decision along to teachers who are purchasing my resources. That doesn't sit particularly well with me either.
There's a third option. I could continue selling through TPT while making a much more deliberate effort to introduce buyers to my own website. I could revise the introductions to my lessons, explain what Montessori Physical Education offers independently, and encourage educators to explore the larger collection of resources available directly through me. Of course, TPT has policies restricting how sellers can promote competing sales channels through its marketplace. So I force them to kick me off the platform or let me promote my website directly as a form of protest. If TPT is going to fundamentally change the financial arrangement I agreed to when I joined, why should I feel particularly obligated to protect its marketplace from competition with my own website? However, there's also something deeply frustrating about being told that I must accept a 40% reduction in my earnings while continuing to operate under rules designed to keep customers purchasing through the very platform imposing that reduction.
At what point does maintaining that relationship stop making sense?
What Happened to Teachers Helping Teachers? What bothers me most about this announcement is how far it strays from Teachers Pay Teachers' original appeal. Teachers create valuable educational resources. Other teachers purchase those resources. The creators receive compensation for their work, and the marketplace earns a percentage for facilitating the exchange. I never had a problem with TPT making money from my lessons. I understood the arrangement, and I believed the exposure was worth the commission.
But TPT is now owned by IXL Learning, a large private education technology company, and I can't help wondering how much of the original spirit of the marketplace remains. I don't know what conversations took place behind closed doors or what financial projections convinced the company's leadership that this was a good idea. What I do know is that the new arrangement seems designed to maximize profit for the platform while hurting sellers and buyers. Sellers who agree to exclusivity receive a slightly reduced payout and some additional tools. Sellers who want to maintain their independence take a substantial financial hit.
Of course, it’s an attempt to pressure creators into making their resources exclusive to TPT, and they know how valuable exclusive content would be to its business. Rather than offering creators more compensation to secure that exclusivity, it's making the alternative significantly worse. That's not much of an incentive. It's a penalty for remaining independent. TPT would not exist without teachers creating and sharing their work. The lesson plans, activities, worksheets, and other resources are what bring customers to the marketplace in the first place.
I know I'm not the only TPT seller who is frustrated by this announcement. I imagine there are plenty of educators who have spent years developing their resources, building their stores, and establishing an audience, only to find themselves facing the same decision. So, to my fellow sellers, what are we going to do about it? Are you going to accept the new Exclusive Seller agreement? Are you considering leaving TPT altogether? Or are you planning to remain a Basic Seller and raise your prices to compensate for the reduced payout? And if you're considering raising your prices, how much?
As I mentioned earlier, I would have to raise a $4 lesson to nearly $6.40 just to earn what I'm making today. That's an enormous increase for the exact same resource. I can't imagine I'm the only seller looking at those numbers and wondering how much more teachers will realistically pay. Which brings me to the buyers. If you're a teacher who regularly purchases resources through TPT, how would you respond if the resources you normally purchase suddenly became 50% or 60% more expensive?
Affordability has always been one of the things that made TPT appealing. Teachers could find useful, relatively inexpensive resources without spending hours creating everything themselves. And let's not forget that many teachers are purchasing these resources with their own money. At what point does a $4 lesson become a $6 or $7 lesson, and how does that affect your willingness to buy it? Would you start buying fewer resources? Would you look for alternatives? Would you be more inclined to purchase directly from the educators who created them?
I ask because I think TPT may be seriously underestimating the fallout of this decision. If enough sellers raise their prices, buyers may respond by purchasing fewer resources. Sellers would then be making fewer sales, and TPT could end up collecting less revenue despite taking a larger percentage of each transaction. The company might end up hurting the very marketplace it's trying to make more profitable. And frankly, part of me hopes that happens. Not because I want teachers to pay more or other sellers to lose income. However, if a widespread response from sellers and buyers is what it takes for TPT to recognize that this is bad business, perhaps that's what needs to happen.
As for Montessori Physical Education, I still haven't decided whether I'll close my store, raise my prices, or keep using TPT primarily to introduce educators to my own website. One thing I know is that I won't sign an exclusivity agreement. So I'm genuinely interested in hearing from both sides of this marketplace. Sellers, how are you planning to respond? Buyers, how much would these price increases affect your purchasing decisions?
TPT made a marketplace for teachers by teachers, but without teachers willing to sell their work and teachers willing to buy it, what exactly do they have left?