TPT’s October 8 town hall brought major TPT changes for sellers, selling outside the platform, and AI-generated content. If you missed it, here are the ten announcements that matter most for your store.
1. Premium Seller membership ends January 1, 2027
TPT is replacing Premium Seller membership with its new Exclusive Seller membership. Current Premium Sellers have until December 31, 2026, to opt in through their account settings. If you do nothing, your account will automatically become a Basic Seller account on January 1.
Your current Premium benefits and payout rate remain in place through December 31.
2. Exclusive Sellers will receive a 77.5% payout
The new membership carries a 77.5% payout rate, compared with the current Premium rate of 80%. The annual fee remains $59.95.
TPT said transaction fees will continue as currently handled for Premium accounts: no transaction fees on orders over $3, and a $0.15 fee per resource on orders under $3.
Exclusive Sellers will also receive access to Search Analytics, Keyword Finder, premium marketing features, and opportunities to participate in TPT-funded marketing campaigns.
3. Exclusivity applies to TPT-eligible resources—not just identical listings
TPT said Exclusive Sellers must sell eligible digital educational resources exclusively through TPT, whether those resources are sold individually or included in a subscription or membership.
The wording matters: the requirement was described in terms of resources eligible to be sold on TPT, rather than only products already listed in your TPT store. Sellers with separate websites or resource memberships should pay close attention to the additional guidance TPT promised.
4. You can keep your website, but eligible purchases must go through TPT
Exclusive membership does not mean giving up your website or storefront. You can continue using them to showcase and promote your resources.
However, purchases of eligible resources must be completed on TPT. The example given was to keep your website’s product pages but have the “Buy Now” buttons link to your TPT listings.
5. Some products are exempt from exclusivity
TPT identified exemptions including clip art, fonts, Boom Cards, physical products, courses or professional development, and Kindle books.
Exclusive Sellers can also offer free digital educational resources outside TPT. However, you cannot charge for a resource on TPT while offering that same resource free elsewhere.
TPT acknowledged that sellers have many different business situations and promised more specific guidance later in October.
6. You can change memberships—but leaving Exclusive has a catch
Before January 1, you can select or deselect the Exclusive membership option without changing your current Premium membership.
After January 1, Basic Sellers can upgrade to Exclusive membership. Exclusive Sellers can also leave and become Basic Sellers, but once you leave, you must wait one full year before opting back in.
That makes leaving the program a decision worth considering carefully.
7. The transition will not trigger an extra annual fee
TPT said opting into Exclusive membership will not create an additional charge when you sign up or on January 1. Your existing Premium membership payment will apply, and your renewal date will stay the same.
Sellers moving to Basic membership will receive a prorated refund of $5 per remaining subscription month, and the initial Basic Seller fee will be waived.
If your Premium membership renews before December 31, it will still renew as usual during the transition.
8. TPT framed exclusivity as protecting the marketplace—and confirmed sellers keep their IP
TPT’s leadership gave three reasons for the change: addressing what it sees as an imbalance between exclusive and off-platform sellers, protecting the marketplace’s long-term health, and supporting future growth.
Its argument was that private stores can redirect repeat purchases away from TPT while still benefiting from the platform’s customer acquisition and infrastructure. That was TPT’s stated rationale, not a finding that every seller’s business operates that way.
TPT also confirmed that sellers retain 100% ownership of their intellectual property. It plans to monitor compliance with exclusivity terms, with possible responses ranging from a grace period to penalties and conversion to Basic membership.
9. TPT’s AI announcement covers resources, images, and product descriptions
TPT announced a move toward an AI-free marketplace and told sellers not to use generative AI to create text or images in products or listings going forward.
The announcement explicitly covered:
Resource files.
Cover images and thumbnails.
Preview files.
Product descriptions.
The scope extends beyond the teaching material itself. An AI-generated cover or listing description falls within the areas TPT identified, even when the underlying resource is teacher-created.
10. Sellers were asked to begin replacing existing AI content
TPT asked sellers to start replacing AI-generated content already published in their resources and listings with their own content, emphasizing covers and thumbnails.
It reported removing hundreds of thousands of low-effort resources and announced plans for a tool to report low-quality AI materials.
However, the town hall did not provide a complete implementation timeline or detailed guidance for every use case. TPT acknowledged that replacement would take time and said further information would arrive through a dedicated email, seller blog post, and future webinar.
For sellers, the next steps are concrete: review your sales channels, make your membership choice by December 31, and begin checking your resources and listings against the AI direction announced at the town hall.
Read the full meeting notes here:
Hi, everyone! Thank you so much for joining us tonight. We're really glad that you're here for this Town Hall webinar, and we have some extra important updates to talk through, so let's dive in.
For the past several years, this is how we've run our Town Hall Webinars. We sent out a survey in advance and appreciate everyone who submitted questions. We will answer a whole bunch of these questions.
And a recording will be available. You can use the same link that you did to join, to view the recording. It just takes about an hour to process before it's
viewable.
And if you know any other sellers who want to watch, they can use the same link to watch the recording. They can use that from the invite, or it's also on your important link stock.
So let's take a look at the agenda. Okay, here's what we're covering tonight. First, we'll do introductions, then we will mainly focus on our new exclusive Seller membership.
We want to make sure that you have all the information you need to understand this change and the next steps you'll need to make.
Paul will share background on this decision, and then we'll cover details, next steps, and FAQs, many of them submitted by you.
And we'll cover one other important topic tonight, which is updates to our AI policy. We have some important news to share on that front as well.
So let's do some introductions.
Here's the team today, tonight, for this Town Hall. I'm Aimee, I am on the Seller Team, and I have been a part of Team TPT for almost 14 years, and my background is in education and ed tech. And I will pass the mic to Fitz.
Matt Fitzpatrick
16:57
Thanks, Amy. Hi, everyone, I'm Fitz. I'm a former high school teacher myself, and have worked in and around education for 25 years.
And I will pass the mic to Kate.
Kate Jaffe
Kate Jaffe
17:10
Hi, everyone, I'm Kate, I lead marketing for TPT, and it's great to be here tonight. Over to you, Paul.
Paul Mishkin
Paul Mishkin
17:20
All right, thank you, and I'm Paul Mishkin, I'm IXL's CEO, and
We're into our fourth year, working together, being part of, one big
Big happy family with TPT. And.
I will get right into it. So, welcome, everybody. Thanks for joining, and
I'll be talking about the exclusive Seller Membership.
Please stay tuned after that, though, because the section on AI is also very important.
So, as you know, last week we made a big announcement. We shared that we
are discontinuing the Premium Seller membership beginning January 1st, and replacing it with the new Exclusive Seller membership.
And… I want to say…
Thank you to all the teacher authors who sent us messages of appreciation and support this week. It's been a very busy week with, some intense emotions.
And, hearing from all of you who've expressed gratitude, told us you're happy, that you're relieved to see this change, it's really meant a lot to us. And to the team. And reinforced our confidence in the decision.
I also recognize that some are upset by this decision, and I appreciate your messages as well.
We can disagree.
But we can still get where each side is coming from.
And we can acknowledge that What's good for the TPT Seller community as a whole
Isn't going to be so for every individual seller.
If you know me by now, you know I… I give the straight-up story, so I'll get right into it.
There were 3 reasons behind this change.
The first was to resolve a conflict between sellers, where one group is supporting TPT fully.
And the other group.
while paying the same commission rate is supporting the community far less.
This has placed an unfair burden on the former group.
And it's time to resolve it.
Reason number two is for the long-term health of TPT as a marketplace.
TPT is healthy now, but there are signs of strain, and if we don't fix the situation.
It does put us at risk in the future.
And we at Team TPT were the stewards of this amazing platform.
And we're not going to let that happen.
And finally, reason number three.
We have big goals for TPT for growing the marketplace. We know what to do for product, for marketing, and more, and we're good at it, but we've been being hampered by a portion of sellers
Who are working at cross-purposes.
Those are the reasons. Nothing more, nothing less.
So I'm going to show some slides now.
of what TPT was like in the earlier days. This is going back to when everyone sold on TPT, exclusively.
TPT was an amazing success. Let's take a look at, Everything that made it work.
So, first… First is covering shared expenses.
And notice I'm not calling it TPT's commission, I'm calling it shared expenses.
TPT is a complex piece of technology to maintain, to build, to support, and it takes a large team.
Shared expenses also cover About a 4% credit card processing fees right off the top.
TPT covers that.
Add to this… Customer support, security, fraud prevention, tech infrastructure.
high-speed servers, engineering, maintenance, continual innovation, which is extremely important, and I could go on and on.
Beyond that, there's marketing and advertising spend. Which eventually flows right back to your store.
So think about that. Some significant portion of your income on TPT
Is this advertising component of shared expenses?
Flowing right back to you.
Here's the second part.
It takes a lot of work, a lot of money, or both, to acquire a new customer.
That's on TPT's side, and it's on the teacher-author side.
The model doesn't work if customers are one and done.
Repeat customers coming back to TPT.
It's critical.
Let's look at the third part.
the power of the collective.
Customers who are drawn to TPT for one need or to one seller often return and support complementary sellers in the process.
Referrals are also important.
The more TPT provides, The more value TPT offers over alternatives.
Then the more customers there are who do business with TPT.
And the more likely these buyers are to tell others.
And this is a big one, the fifth part, and we've broken it up into two slides.
Everyone markets.
TPT markets for TPT as a whole, TPT markets for individual stores and product categories. TPT sends millions of emails, spends large amounts on advertising, promotes through social media, sends gift cards to administrators, and much more.
And individual sellers market their stores on TPT also in countless ways.
Everyone works together to drive traffic and buyers.
to the TPT community.
So summing it up, that was the magic that made TPT a success.
And… What's needed to keep TPT thriving is all of the above.
When all of this is working.
Shared expenses stay low as a percentage of each sale, because each sale leads to more sales.
And everyone contributes to marketing.
And if you take any of those factors away.
Then the percentage paid to shared expenses must go up to compensate. If you take them all away.
The percentage to shared expenses has to go up a lot to compensate.
So let's get to the situation today.
The majority of Sellers on TPT still use TPT the traditional way that we looked at.
But there's been a trend over many years of Sellers opening private stores, even going so far as offering subscriptions or memberships that undercut TPT pricing.
They're still selling on TPT as well.
Paying the same percentage to shared expenses as everyone else. But what they're contributing back to the community is less. And you can see this illustrated in the chart that we're looking at.
So, I'll ask, is it fair that off-site sellers, especially private store sellers, get all the benefits of TPT
While doing far less to support the platform and the community.
The answer is no, it's not fair. It basically means that those who sell only on TPT are subsidizing those who sell off-platform.
So let's go back to the early days of TPT again.
Once TPT started taking off, established educational publishers began expressing interest in the platform, and a few opened stores as premium sellers. And there was a lot of opposition to this from teacher authors, because they intuitively recognized the imbalance of the give and take.
Teacher authors were driving traffic to their stores and to the platform as a whole, building word of mouth, doing everything possible to grow their businesses on TPT.
And it wasn't fair for an established publisher to come in
And pay the same low percentage.
While not doing all of that work.
Established publishers weren't going to market their TPT stores. They weren't going to drive people to TPT. Of course not. They'd market their private stores, their own websites, and other places their products were sold.
So the founding TPT team established the Corporate Seller Program.
With a commission rate of 50%.
Even higher than the base accelerate.
And that brought fairness.
Corporate Sellers recognized the value that TPT could bring them, even at that higher rate.
And it was a way for corporate sellers to give back to the community in direct dollars, but they weren't contributing in other ways.
Ironically.
20 years later now, We have some of those.
Early Sellers who protested allowing corporate Sellers on the platform.
Now, essentially acting as corporate sellers themselves.
Protesting in the other direction.
And if you're in that group, I applaud your business success. I want everyone on TPT to succeed beyond their wildest dreams.
But it is interesting, isn't it, how financial incentives can shape people's opinions.
I should add that we're discontinuing the Corporate Seller Program.
And corporate sellers are now transitioning to the basic seller program, because there's just no way to make a clear distinction anymore.
So… I want to make it a little personal now. I started my education business, IXL Learning, in 1998.
If I had gotten started a decade later, when TPT existed.
I very well could have had my beginning as a seller on TPT and done well at it.
And… If I had… The idea of starting a private store, in addition.
It certainly would have occurred to me.
But I can say… That I wouldn't have been the first to do it.
It would have felt…
intuitively unfair, somehow, to my fellow sellers on TPT. Like, I was breaking some unspoken code of conduct and taking advantage.
I can also say I probably wouldn't have been one of the first hundred to do it.
But I may have felt compelled to do it eventually.
I might have done it during a period when TPT's previous management team was making a lot of questionable decisions, like launching school access or personalized search.
That would have made me feel like I needed to diversify to protect my business.
Or I might have done it when I saw enough other sellers doing it that it got me concerned.
And I know many of you who opened private stores or other sales channels did it for those reasons.
And you have a right to be frustrated.
The fact is, TPT should have made this change a long time ago.
This has been a concern for many years.
Past management teams were troubled by the business implications.
And yet they tried everything possible to avoid making this kind of sweeping change.
And that's been true for us as well. We've spent the past 3 years working vigorously on every other aspect of TPT.
If you remember the surveys we've done.
Asking you about your pain points, we've methodically checked off nearly every single one of those, and went far beyond.
But it was hard to get to this one.
And it was hard because Team TPT and I feel intense loyalty and appreciation for Sellers who helped build TPT.
There's been a feeling that Sellers who contributed so much to the early growth of TPT should be grandfathered in.
Remaining premium sellers, rather than being categorized as the corporate sellers.
That they were coming to resemble more and more.
But from a business perspective, that grandfathering in went on years too long.
So that's the background that led to the exclusive seller program.
To all of you who've been on the TPT journey for a long time, for a short time, entirely on TPT, or selling elsewhere.
I've laid out the facts.
And there's no judgment. There's only respect and appreciation.
And we're moving forward now.
We're moving forward with the best possible TPT. We're growing and thriving as one team with one unified mission.
We're here for you, fully.
You're here for us.
Fully.
We're all here for each other, 100%.
Fully.
Kate, I'll turn it over to you.
Kate Jaffe
Kate Jaffe
32:25
Thank you so much, Paul.
Next, I'm going to share some important logistical details and next steps as we transition to the exclusive seller membership. All of this information is also available on the Seller blog, and that's included in your helpful links doc. As Aimee said earlier, the webinar is also being recorded, so you'll be able to rewatch it if you'd like to.
First up, let's talk about the details of what it means to be an exclusive seller. This information was also shared in the email that we sent out, and it's on the seller blog.
An exclusive seller membership includes a payout rate of 77.5%, no transaction fees on orders over $3, and a small transaction fee of 15 cents per resource on orders under $3. This is the same as how transaction fees are currently handled for premium seller accounts.
Full access to tools like search analytics, the Keyword Finder, and more features in the future that will help you optimize your products and listings even more effectively.
Access to premium marketing features, and today these include TPT's URL generator for UTM codes, the first-time buyer seller discount, and collaborative sales. And a perk of the exclusive seller membership is that you'll have the chance to be included in TPT-funded marketing campaigns to gain additional exposure.
An essential component of the Exclusive Seller Program is that you commit to selling TPT-eligible resources exclusively on TPT.
This means that you have the flexibility to promote your store and resources, and you can have your own website or storefronts, but you need to make sure to have the final purchase go through your TPT store. So, for example, if you have a shop on your website, the Buy Now buttons should link to the product on your TPT store for purchase.
So, what are your next steps as a current premium seller? On January 1st, the premium seller program will be retired, so you'll have a decision to make. Between now and December 31st, you have the option to either sign up as an exclusive seller or have your account converted to a basic seller.
If you choose to become an exclusive seller, you'll need to sign up in your account settings. Signups are open now, and the link to your account settings is right in your Helpful Links doc.
You'll also need to check the checkbox, yes, I want to become an exclusive seller, and you'll be prompted to agree to the terms of the exclusive seller program, which include that any digital products you sell on TPT, you'll only sell on TPT. If you change your mind between now and then, you can uncheck that box at any time before January 1st.
If you decide to become a basic seller, no action is needed, and your account will automatically update to a basic seller on January 1st. If there's still time remaining in your premium seller subscription year, we'll give you a prorated refund on your premium seller fee, and that'll be based on the number of months remaining in your premium subscription.
No matter how you plan to move forward, your premium subscription and rate will remain intact through December 31st. Then on January 1st, your account will update to either an exclusive seller or basic seller, depending on the choice you made.
Next, let's cover some of the common questions that we've been getting about this transition.
We got several questions about whether or not you can change your mind about your membership type. In other words, can you switch from basic to exclusive and vice versa? So we wanted to clarify.
The short answer is yes, but some details depend on whether you're changing your mind before or after January 1st.
Before January 1st, you can opt in and out of the exclusive membership at any time in your account settings. You just need to select or deselect the opt-in checkbox from your account settings. As a reminder, your account will remain a premium seller until January 1st, so your selection won't take effect until then.
After January 1st, you can still upgrade to an exclusive seller account at any time. You sign up the same way by going to your account settings and checking the opt-in box. Your earnings from that point forward will reflect the exclusive seller rate.
You can also leave the exclusive seller membership after January 1st if you'd originally signed up. You just need to return to your account settings and uncheck the opt-in box. Your account will update to a basic seller if you do. But please keep in mind, after January 1st, you won't be able to opt back into the exclusive membership until one full year has passed.
So you'll want to be extra mindful about your decision to leave the Exclusive Seller Membership after January 1st.
We also received questions asking when you would be charged the $59.95 exclusive seller annual fee. Some folks asked if you'd have to pay another fee when you opt in or when your membership updates in January. To clarify, you won't be charged an additional fee when you opt in or on January 1st.
Your most recent premium seller membership fee will apply to your exclusive seller membership. When it comes time to renew, you can expect your membership fee to be pulled from your PayPal on the same date that you've historically paid your premium membership fee.
In short, there are no changes to when or how you pay your membership fee if you're opting in as an exclusive seller. As a reminder, if you decide to have your account converted to a basic seller membership, you'll get a prorated refund on the premium fee you paid.
This refund will be $5 per month remaining in your subscription. The initial fee to become a basic seller will also be waived, so that's not something you need to pay.
A related question that came up is, what if my membership account is up for renewal between now and December 31st?
If this is the case for you, your Premium Seller membership will still auto-renew during this transition period, your annual fee will charge to your PayPal as usual, and you'll keep an 80% payout rate through December 31st. However, you still need to take action if you want to sign up as an exclusive seller. You'll want to make sure to register from your account settings before December 31st.
If you plan to move forward as a basic seller beginning on January 1st, 2027, no action is required. Again, we'll issue you a prorated refund on your premium seller fee based on the number of months remaining in your premium seller subscription.
The next question is, what can and can't I sell off TPT as an exclusive seller?
We heard this one a lot in the form that people filled out before the town hall. Many of you had questions about your specific situations, and while we can't address each unique situation during the town hall, we can share some general guidance, and we'll have more specific updates later this month.
As an exclusive seller, you'll have the flexibility to promote your store and resources, and to maintain your own website or storefront.
But you agree that any resources that you sell that are eligible to be sold on TPT must be sold exclusively through TPT. This means that while you can use other websites or platforms to highlight and market your resources, eligible purchases
Digital education resources, whether offered individually or as part of a subscription or membership, must be routed for completion and transaction on your TPT store.
Some products are exempt from this, including clip art and fonts, boom cards, and items that aren't sold on TPT, like physical products, courses, or professional development, and Kindle books.
Additionally, exclusive sellers can offer free digital education resources on and off TPT. Just note that you can't charge for a resource on TPT that you offer for free off-platform.
On the blog and in our Help Center, you'll find this chart, which can be a helpful resource to clarify what is and isn't permitted as an exclusive seller. Both the blog and Help Center are linked in your Helpful Links doc.
As I mentioned earlier, we'll provide more clarity and specifics later this month, so we'll be in touch.
This question came up quite a bit, so we want to clarify. Yes, you can continue to have your own storefront on your website. You just need to ensure that eligible purchases are routed for completion or transaction on your TPT store. For example, you could keep the option to buy on TPT and remove the option to purchase directly.
What happens if an exclusive seller is selling their resources elsewhere? In other words, what happens if someone isn't adhering to the exclusivity terms?
Our team will be proactively monitoring the exclusive seller program. If we find an exclusive seller store isn't following the terms, we'll be in communication with that seller.
There are a number of actions we may take. These can range from providing a grace period so a seller can have the opportunity to bring their store into compliance, up to assessing a penalty and transitioning the store to a basic membership. Our expectation is that our community will honor these commitments, so that should be a rare occurrence.
And except in rare or extreme cases, we'll communicate with you before taking action.
We want to be clear on two things here. First, we're going to ensure our community upholds the terms of exclusive membership. And also, we're not looking to be punitive just to be punitive. This update is about supporting the long-term strength of the whole marketplace, and that includes supporting the teacher authors who sell on TPT.
Some folks also asked us, what if my work is stolen and sold elsewhere? What will happen? Our goal is always to support our sellers. If a resource is found listed on another platform, TPT will use discretion based on the situation. In other words, our team will work with you.
You should also reach out to the site's host to ensure your intellectual property is removed. Often, sites will have a DMCA takedown process, just like TPT, which lets you make a formal takedown request. Again, our aim is to support the marketplace and the teacher authors who sell with us, so that's what we'd be looking to do here.
We also heard the question, will I retain ownership of my intellectual property as an exclusive seller? And the answer here is a very clear yes. You continue to own your IP 100%.
TPT provides the marketplace where you can sell your resources, and we set the terms of use of our site, but you create, own, and control your intellectual property through and through.
Another common question we received is, how are we supporting educators who can't buy from TPT due to rules in their district?
It's a priority for us to make sure that every educator who wants to use resources from TPT can use those resources. Right now, we offer several solutions for administrators, including School Express and building trust with schools nationwide in partnership with IXL, while distributing TPT gift cards and information to administrators and educator teams.
The Exclusive Seller Program gets us even further. It helps us join together with our community to advocate for TPT in schools, and it allows us to prioritize more solutions that support sellers with admin sales, like seller invoicing. This is a big priority for us.
Working alone can only get us so far when it comes to being embraced by admins and schools. To make the greatest impact here, we want to work together with sellers and buyers, earning trust in TPT as a must-have solution for schools everywhere.
We've heard from many sellers with unique circumstances and situations, and have been compiling topics and resource types where more clarification would be helpful. So we'll continue to share more details and support these situations.
All right, that wraps up our FAQs, but if you're looking for more information, here are a few places you can turn to. All of these are in your helpful links, Doc.
First is our seller blog post about the exclusive membership. We also have Help Center articles on this topic. If you have specific questions about your store, you can reach out to our support team through our Contact Us page. And finally, if you have feedback to share, we've linked our feedback form, and we read every one of the messages that we receive there.
Now I'm gonna pass the mic over to Fitz.
Matt Fitzpatrick
43:38
Thank you, Kate.
So, we recognize that in asking you to trust TPT as the exclusive home for your digital resources, we're also raising the bar for ourselves, and for what you should expect from TPT.
And we're raising the bar for what teachers and schools of all kinds should expect from the quality of the resources found on TPT.
Like every education site, every publisher, and every creative marketplace over the last couple of years, the ground has quickly shifted beneath our feet because of AI.
In the most recent TPT State of the Classroom survey, we learned that 83% of teachers had used AI for school-related tasks.
Teachers have free access to a wide range of generative AI tools that they can use to create educational materials on the fly.
They're getting professional development and being directed by their principals and district administrators to get familiar with these tools and to use them.
We believe that it is increasingly important that when teachers visit TPT, they immediately recognize that the resources here are not AI-generated.
Teachers come to TPT to benefit from and to support expert educators like you. They do not come to TPT for low-effort, AI-generated resources that they could generate on their own.
So let's start with what we've already been doing to address AI on the marketplace. If you were at TPT Forward, you heard us share that we would be actively monitoring for stores that publish large amounts of low-effort AI products. We have a great team working on this, and we have, indeed, removed
hundreds of thousands of low-effort resources that clearly don't belong on TPT.
This was an important first step in addressing AI on the marketplace.
But it's not enough. And we've also been carefully considering what more we can do about AI on TPT, as well as what our overall stance is on AI on the marketplace in general.
This has involved reflecting on what makes TPT and your resources so valuable to educators, and taking into account all the feedback and suggestions we've heard from many of you in the Seller community.
We've also been studying buyer behavior and learning more about what teachers are and are not willing to pay for on TPT.
So tonight, we're announcing a new, clear direction for TPT and AI-generated content.
And we need your help.
We're committing to keeping TPT teacher-created.
Classroom ready and AI free.
TPT is the home.
of the world's best educational resources, created by the world's best educators. That's… that's you. We have the world's most comprehensive catalog of high-quality, innovative, and classroom-tested materials.
There's simply no room for AI.
Only TPT offers trusted, educator-created materials teachers can't find anywhere else. This is the reason millions of buyers have trusted TPT for over 20 years, and it's the reason buyers will continue to return to TPT for decades to come.
So we want you to keep inspiring educators with your original, innovative resources, and together we're going to ensure TPT remains a marketplace of extraordinary resources that are always educator-created.
Right, so what does this mean in practice? First, we'll be making updates to our policy and the site to support and celebrate an AI-free TPT.
You can expect to hear more from us in the next few weeks about how we're approaching this change. In the meantime, generative AI should not be used to create images or text in resources or product listings on TPT.
This includes resource files, cover images and thumbnails, preview files, or product descriptions.
Here's what this means more immediately for you as a teacher author. First, please do not use AI-generated content in your products or listings going forward. Again, that's inclusive of covers, thumbnails, previews, and descriptions, not just the resource files.
Second, if you've already published AI-generated content in your existing resources and listings, please replace it with your own content.
We're not out to get you.
We're not going to carelessly take action against proven stores. We are targeting the lowest quality resources that detract from TPT.
We know it won't be possible to remove AI in an instant, but we really do need all hands on deck for this, especially on those covers and thumbnails. Our data shows that buyers know AI when they see it, and they aren't interested in purchasing it.
If you've used AI to represent your work, you may be hurting yourself more than you know.
In the coming weeks, we'll be adding an option to report low-quality AI resources to TPT. So if you're browsing our site, and you come across something that's clearly AI-generated and reflects negatively on the marketplace.
You will have a tool to report it, and we will have new tools on our end to review your reports and to act quickly.
Don't go hunting just yet. Wait for more updates from us soon.
Now, there will be more to come on this topic. We'll be sharing information in the coming weeks, giving more specifics about our policy and guidelines, changes to expect on our site, and how we'll be monitoring for AI content going forward, and more.
This information will be shared in a dedicated email, a seller blog post, and a future webinar. So…
Please stay tuned.
We want to thank you for helping keep TPT.
teacher generated. We're on the same page as the many sellers who've reached out to us expressing their desire to keep TPT free from AI, and we're confident that this is the right direction for TPT.
Educator creativity, ingenuity, and insight. That is what buyers are looking for when they come to TPT.
They are not looking for AI content. We have an incredible marketplace full of reliable, engaging, and thoughtfully designed resources with real-world reviews from real classrooms. We have something together that AI cannot replicate, and we look forward to making sure it stays that way.
With that, I will send it back to Aimee for some final reminders.
Amy Berner
Amy Berner
50:27
Thank you so much, Fitz, and thanks also to Kate and to Paul. I'm gonna wrap us up with just a few reminders about your next steps.
First, with regard to the exclusive seller membership, you will need to choose your membership by December 31st. To become an exclusive seller, you will take action and sign up from your account setting page on TPT.
To become a basic seller starting on January 1st, no action is needed. Your account will update based on your choice on January 1st.
A direct link to sign up as an exclusive seller is in your Helpful Links doc.
Also in your helpful links doc is the Seller blog post about exclusive membership and our relevant help center articles.
Our Contact Us page is also linked there. If you have specific questions, our customer support team is ready to help.
And finally, you'll find our feedback form linked there too.
I also want to reiterate the next steps Fitz shared with regard to our changing AI policy.
First, please don't use AI-generated content going forward. Next.
Start replacing AI generated content in your existing resources and listings. And last, keep an eye out for new ways to report AI material to our team so you can help keep TPT teacher created, classroom ready, and AI free.
Finally, we'll be in touch in the coming weeks with more help information about both the AI policy and the Exclusive Sellers Membership Program, so stay tuned for that.
If you joined late, a reminder that there will be a recording of this webinar. You can use the same link you used to join to rewatch. It does need to process first, so it takes about an hour, and if you know anyone who didn't register but wants to tune in, they can still register and watch, too.
The link is in the email invite, but if you, you can also give them the direct link from your Helpful Links doc.
All right, everyone, that wraps up tonight's webinar. We really appreciate you joining, and we really appreciate our Seller community. Thank you so much for joining, and have a good night.
