TpT Pricing that Works

One of the things that often leaves new TpT sellers scratching their heads is how to price their products. Having a solid pricing strategy is essential, because it is one of the three main ingredients needed to increase your profits.

So how do you price your TpT products so that customers will be willing to pay what you’re asking, but also so that they will see the value in what you are offering? Below are my dos and don’ts for pricing your products on TpT.

What not to do in your TpT pricing

One of the problems with selling on TpT is that there is a lot of advice out there… sometimes even contradicting each other. As a result, it can be hard to know what advice to follow when it comes to pricing your TpT products. These are some examples of bad advice I’ve seen, based on my findings from years of running several businesses (just one of which is my TpT store) and my own testing.

Bad Advice #1: Set your price per page

I’m sure you’ve heard the “10 cents per page” or “25 cents per page” rule. Could you imagine going to a book store and finding all the books priced based on how many pages are in them?

The problem is that, obviously, this rule that doesn’t take into account the actual value of what is ON the page. I have products in my store that I would have to charge a fourth of what I currently do if I was following the 25 cents per page rule.

Bad Advice #2: Don’t use charm pricing

So here’s the deal: Charm pricing works. You might like to think that “teachers aren’t fooled” by this pricing strategy, but research from MIT confirms that charm pricing works – in fact, prices with the number 9 in them in general tend to sell more. So if it’s good enough for MIT, it’s good enough for me.

(Charm pricing is the use of .99 at the end of the price to reduce the digit on the left – so $2.99 instead of $3.00. But never use $2.99 on TpT! Keep reading if you don’t know why.)

Bad Advice #3: Everyone will notice if you raise your prices

Excuse me while I eye-roll. As if people sit around all day watching to see if you’ve raised your prices. To think that casual shoppers pay this much attention to your products is a bit self-absorbed and crazypants – sorrynotsorry. Having said this, you should be making only small price increments at a time (maybe 25 cents or so) so it shouldn’t be that noticeable anyway.

Go ahead and do what you want. Even if they do notice – it’s your store and you are in charge. Be bold, boss lady.

Bad Advice #4: If your conversion rate is high, you should ALWAYS increase your price

While a high conversion rate CAN be an indication that your product is underpriced, this is not always the case. Sometimes a product doesn’t have much competition, or is very specialized. Sometimes it’s just really awesome.

There is always going to be a threshold of perceived value – if you go above that in your pricing, your sales will drop off.

What To Do Instead

Good Advice #1: Base your pricing on YOUR products, not other peoples’

Every seller’s products are different. From basic quality to style choices to specific features to messaging, there is no other store exactly like yours. So your pricing should be uniquely yours too.

Looking at the range of prices in a particular category of products can be helpful to make sure you’re in the ballpark, but it’s important not to look at other people’s pricing too closely – and only do so AFTER you’ve done your own pricing analysis.

Good Advice #2: Consider the VALUE of the product you are selling

The reality is that a product is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. That’s it.

Consider what you would look for in a product and use that to help you set your price. Things that increase/decrease your product’s value include:

• length of lesson (days, weeks, months)
• prep time
• design / visual appeal
• your investment into the product (custom clip art, time, etc)
• how difficult it would be for someone else to make
• marking sheets / answer pages / sample work
• value to the student
• value to the teacher / parent / administration
• any feature that a teacher might LOOK for when purchasing

Good Advice #3: Consider TpT’s policies

TeachersPayTeachers charges a transaction fee to sellers if a buyer buys only one product and it is less than $3. So reducing a $3 product to $2.99 will cost you WAY more than 1 cent. Don’t do it.

TpT also has a “less than $5” button, so if you list a $5 item at $4.99, then you’ll make that cut.

Good Advice #4: Pricing is NOT “set it and forget it”

The best way to nail your pricing is to make a strong choice based on value to start with, and then use your data to confirm and adjust. The key here is to use your data – no guessing allowed.

If a product has a low conversion rate, it COULD be the price, but it could also be the product listing (so fix this first).

If your product has a high conversion, make sure it’s getting enough traffic (at least 100 hits) to make sure the conversion rate is an accurate reflection before you start messing with price.

When it is time to make price changes, do so in small increments (.25 at a time, usually) and then obsessively watch your data until you find the sweet spot.

Good Advice #5: You are in the driver’s seat

Don’t let anyone make you feel uncomfortable about your pricing. They’re your products and you can charge whatever you want! The worst that will happen is that your conversion rate will be higher or lower. The sky will not fall. The world will not implode.

Seriously. Do whatever you want.

In fact, I often decide what price I will be offering a product at before I’ve even made it. It’s part of my planning strategy.

So if you want to sell a $10 product… just get to work and start making a product that is worth $10 – and don’t stop until it is worth $10.

Good Advice #6: Pricing is marketing

When you set your price for a product, you’re not just saying how much you think your product is worth – you’re also communicating a message about that product to your customers.

Most people actually don’t shop by price first – they look for what they need first and then use price to help them choose which one to buy. The price, in conjunction with the information in the product description, helps customers choose which product offers the best value for the price.

Low prices say this product is cheap. A product that has many features and pages but has a very low price is likely to cause customers to wonder – “What’s wrong with this?”

High prices say this product is high quality. But if the description doesn’t communicate the value that the customer is now expecting, they are likely to wonder – “Is this really worth this price?”

Good Advice #7: Sell that product!

Remember how I said that a product is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it? Well your job is to make them willing to pay for it.

There are two parts to this:

1. Make a product that is awesome.
2. Make sure customers KNOW that it is awesome.

This all comes back to your product description. If you are doing a kick-butt job of communicating the value of your products, your customers will be more than happy to pay for them.

Looking for even more specific pricing guidance?

The Pricing Strategy Blueprint, which guides you through these tips (and more!) can be found in the Teacher Seller Architect Planner.

If you are a teacher who loves making teacher resources but gets quickly overwhelmed by the other aspects of running a TpT business, you’ll love the easy, straightforward worksheets that take you through the steps of any business task.

From planning product lines to writing descriptions to creating marketing that works, you’ll get the facts you need in a quick, easy to use format that will save you tons of time.