TeachBuySell
Australian Primary & ECE EdTech Marketplace for Teacher Resource Creators
01 / OVERVIEW
Project Brief
TeachBuySell is a full-featured e-commerce and community marketplace built specifically for Australian Primary and Early Childhood Education (ECE) teachers. It empowers teacher-creators to list, sell, and discover curriculum-aligned teaching resources, bundles, and freebies.
Operational Fragmentation
Australian educators struggle to find high-quality, curriculum-aligned teaching resources in one centralised platform. Existing marketplaces are US-centric, lack board-specific filtering, and offer no streamlined way for local teacher-creators to monetise and distribute their resources.
Unified Full-Stack Console
We built a full-stack Next.js marketplace with role-based seller and buyer dashboards, subject/year-level taxonomy filtering, and an integrated checkout flow. A curated freebie system drives acquisition while seller storefronts and bundle packs maximise creator revenue.
Resource Marketplace
Curated browsing engine for teacher-created curriculum materials with taxonomy filtering.
- Subject, year-level, and board-specific filtering for Australian CBSE/UK/ACE curricula.
- Featured 'What's New' and 'Top Seller' carousels drive discovery on the landing page.
- Individual resource pages with preview thumbnails, ratings, and licence details.
Freebie Collection Engine
Acquisition-focused free resource hub converting casual visitors into registered users.
- Gated freebie download flow requiring user registration to capture leads.
- Weekly 'Free Resource' spotlights curated by category and year level.
- Tracks freebie download counts and conversion rates into paid purchases.
Bundle & Subject Catalog
Structured subject and bundle browsing panels for bulk resource discovery.
- Subject taxonomy (Maths, English, Science, Arts, STEM, Languages, etc.) with icon grids.
- Year-level segmentation (Prep, Foundation, Year 1–6) for precise curriculum alignment.
- Bundle packs aggregate multiple related resources at discounted rates.
Seller Storefront & Checkout
Creator-facing storefront and Stripe-powered checkout for monetising resources.
- Teacher-creator storefronts showcase their full resource catalogue and seller bio.
- Stripe Checkout integration handles one-time resource purchases and bundle orders.
- How It Works onboarding flow with step-by-step guides for new seller and buyer signup.
Frontend
- Next.js (App Router)
- TypeScript
- Tailwind CSS
- Radix UI
Backend
- Next.js API Routes
- Server Actions
- Node.js
Database
- PostgreSQL
- Prisma ORM
- AWS S3 Assets
Infrastructure
- Stripe Checkout
- Algolia Search
- Resend Email
- Vercel Deployments
04 / ARCHITECTURE
Design Decisions
Multi-Role Access Control
Separate buyer and seller roles with distinct dashboard scopes, upload permissions, and revenue analytics — all managed through a shared Prisma session model.
Algolia Search Integration
Resource listings are indexed in Algolia for sub-100ms full-text search with faceted filtering by subject, year level, price, and rating.
S3 Asset Delivery Pipeline
Uploaded PDF/ZIP resource files are stored in AWS S3 with pre-signed URL generation on successful payment, preventing unauthorised direct downloads.
05 / RETROSPECTIVE
Key Learnings
- Taxonomy design for education marketplaces requires close collaboration with teachers to map board-specific curriculum terminology accurately.
- Gated freebie flows significantly improve email list conversion — pairing download confirmation with onboarding emails drove a 40% activation uplift.
- Pre-signed S3 URLs with short expiry windows are the most secure way to deliver purchased digital goods without exposing permanent file paths.