If you’re opening a Teachers Pay Teachers store you may be asking yourself, “Is a Teachers Pay Teachers Premium Seller Account worth it?” I know I did. Or if you’ve had a store for a while, you might be asking yourself, “Should I upgrade to a Premium Seller account?”
Especially if you haven’t made a lot of money, it’s hard to pay the almost sixty dollars to upgrade. (It was for me.)
Before we go on, here’s a quick look at the different accounts that Teachers Pay Teachers offers.
Now you might be looking at that $59.95 a year and thinking that there is no way you want to pay that much. You could be surprised, though, how quickly the extra commission you receive with a Premium Sellers account will pay the upgrade fee. There’s a simple formula to figure out how much you need to sell to pay off the Premium Seller membership fee.
For Products $3 or More
Suppose the average product you’re selling costs $3, the formula would look like the following:
.55(3x)-.30x=.80(3x)-59.95
The left side of the equation is the amount you’re making per game before the upgrade. You get 55% commission on a three dollar item. The right side is the amount you’re making per game with the upgrade, minus the upgrade fee. With the Premium Seller Account, you get 80% commission. The x is the amount of sales you need to make. When those two sides are equal, you will have paid off your upgrade fee.
As you can see, when you reach 58 sales, your extra commission will have paid for the upgrade.
That is just a little over one sale a week.
From now on, you get to keep the extra commission you are earning with the Premium Seller account, and it’s quite a bit extra. (Before this point the extra commission doesn’t count because you need to pay off the membership fee.)
If you’re selling products that cost more, you’ll reach that point sooner. For example, if the average cost is $5, the equation would look like this. (I just changed the number in bold from a three to a five.)
.55(5x)-.30x=.80(5x)-59.95
When you work it out, it looks like this.
In this case, you will need to make about 39 sales and then you will have the fee paid off. That’s a little over three sales a month. Of course, your average sale might be much more than $5. In that case, you’d pay off the upgrade fee much faster.
For Products less than $3
If you’re product is less than $3, the equation will look a little different because you are going to be charged a 15 cents transaction fee even with the Premium Seller account. But this is still better than the 30 cent transaction fee you would be paying with the Basic Seller Account. Here’s the equation for a $2 item.
.55(2x)-.30x=[.80(2x)-.15x]-59.95
If you work it out, it looks like this:
So for this example, if your average sale is $2, it will take you 93 sales to pay off the upgrade fee. That is still just a little less than two sales a week.
If Algebra isn’t your thing, check out this neat algebra calculator. Just cut and paste one of the equations below into the calculator. Change the bold numbers to reflect the average price you’re charging. The calculator will do the rest. (Hint: Use Control V to paste.)
If Your Product is $3 or Over
.55(3x)-.30x=.80(3x)-59.95
If Your Product is Under $3
.55(2x)-.30x=[.80(2x)-.15x]-59.95
So if I were you, I would upgrade right away if you’re confident that your products will sell. If you’re a bit more cautious, wait until you have a month of sales that reflect the amount of sales you need to pay off the Premium Seller fee in a year’s time. I upgraded my TPT store (Wonder-filled Days) after two months and I wish I had done it sooner.
Of course, some months might be slower, but in general as you add more products, your sales should increase.
Now, you might be wondering why not just go find a place that gives you a higher commission without a fee. I’ve been on TPT for a little over half a year now and am convinced that they are one of the best places to sell digital educational products that you will find. I wrote a post about my experience here.
If you’re not a member of TPT, you can sign up here.
If you see any mistakes or anything isn’t clear, let me know. If you have a question about something, someone else probably has the same question so don’t be afraid to ask.
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