Can You Sell the Same Resource on Several Marketplaces?

Teacher-authors ask this a lot, usually right before they open a second shop. The honest answer is that it depends, but not on anything mysterious. Three questions decide it: who owns the copyright, what licences you have granted to platforms, and what you have agreed to in any contract or program you joined. If you already know the answers and want a non-exclusive second channel, you can submit your resources to TeachLessons.

This article explains each question in plain terms. It is general information, not legal advice. Laws differ between the US, the UK and Australia, and your own agreements are what really count. If your situation is unusual or a lot of money is involved, talk to a lawyer who can read your actual documents.

Copyright usually stays with you

When you write a unit plan, design a set of task cards or build a slide deck, you are generally the copyright owner of what you created. Listing it on a marketplace does not normally change that. What you give the marketplace is permission to sell it, which is a licence, not ownership.

There are exceptions worth checking. If you created a resource as part of your job, your employment contract or your school or district policy may say something about who owns it. If you made it with a co-author, you may both have rights, and you should agree on where it is sold. Our checklist for moving or adding resources to another platform covers co-authored and commissioned work step by step.

Exclusive and non-exclusive licences

A licence is permission to do something with your work. The key question is whether it is exclusive.

A non-exclusive licence lets one platform sell your resource while you stay free to let others sell it too. You can grant as many non-exclusive licences as you like, as long as nothing else you have signed says otherwise.

An exclusive arrangement means you agree that only one party may sell the work, or that you will not sell it elsewhere, for as long as the arrangement lasts. Once you agree to that, selling the same work somewhere else would break your agreement.

Many arrangements fall somewhere in between. An agreement might cover only certain kinds of resources, only certain channels or only a certain period. That is why the exact wording matters more than the label. Look for words like exclusive, only, sole or solely in the terms, note what they apply to, and then find out how long the arrangement lasts and how it ends.

The agreements you sign come first

Owning the copyright does not give you the right to ignore a contract. If you have agreed to sell certain resources only in one place, that promise binds you even though the work is yours.

These promises turn up in more places than people expect: a marketplace tier that offers a better rate in return for exclusivity, a publisher deal, a curriculum company contract, an agreement with a district. Before you list a resource anywhere new, go through every agreement you have signed and check whether that resource falls inside an exclusivity term. Our guide to exclusivity clauses lists the questions to ask about scope, timing and how to leave.

If a resource is covered by an exclusivity agreement, honor it. Resources covered by an exclusivity agreement anywhere can't be listed with TeachLessons, and we would not want them to be.

Don't forget the licences you hold

Most resources include work by other people: clip art, fonts, photos or borders. You bought or downloaded a licence to use them, and that licence has its own terms. Some allow use in products sold anywhere. Some limit the number of sales, require credit, or restrict certain marketplaces or formats.

Before you list a resource in a new place, check every third-party licence it relies on. If one of them doesn't allow the new use, replace that element or leave the resource where it is. Keep copies of the licences in the same folder as the resource so you can find them later. Our guide to preparing resource files for submission has more on keeping those records with the file.

How the TeachLessons licence works

When you list with TeachLessons, you keep your copyright. You grant us a non-exclusive licence to list and sell the resource. That means you can keep selling it on your own website or on other marketplaces, as long as no other agreement you have signed says otherwise. You can remove a resource from TeachLessons at any time.

We review each submission for quality, originality and rights, and not every resource is accepted. Before you submit a resource, make sure you have the rights to sell it here, including every third-party element in it. The full details are on the key terms page.

On the money side, you keep 70% of the price after a flat 3% payment cost, with no membership fee. A $20 resource pays you $13.58 per sale. The payout calculator shows every price from $1 to $50.

Questions sellers ask

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General information about the TeachLessons Seller Program, not legal, tax or financial advice. The seller agreement you receive before listing sets out the binding terms.