Peloton Is Expanding Its Resale Platform, and It's Much Better Than Facebook Marketplace

Here's some exciting news that is thrilling to me not only as a diehard Peloton user, but someone with a well-documented obsession with buying and selling things on resale platforms: Peloton is expanding its marketplace for pre-owned fitness equipment. Called Repowered, it launched in a few cities in June, is now expanding to the national level, and currently allows users to list and browse Bikes, Treads, and other equipment for sale.

How Peloton: Repowered works

When you navigate to the Repowered site, you're greeted with a welcome message, plus the option to select whether you want to shop or sell.

Listing your equipment

When the site first launched a few weeks ago, you could only list equipment, not buy it, as Repowered needed some inventory before anything could be sold. What's more, you needed to be in Boston, New York City, or the Washington, D.C. metro area to list big equipment, though you could list smaller, shippable accessories from anywhere. Now, Repowered has broadened and you can list your Bikes, Treads, and Rows wherever you are.

When you hit sell, you'll be prompted to enter your device's serial number if you're selling one of the larger pieces of equipment. For smaller pieces, like weights, you can use the search function to input your item. You'll be able to set your own price, but the site will suggest a price for you based on information you provide, like age, condition, etc.

Actually selling your stuff

Once you have listed an item, it's going to be your responsibility to arrange a pickup with the buyer or schedule delivery. Accessories and smaller items can be shipped separately, similar to how it works when you sell something on, say, Poshmark or Depop. From there, you'll get paid.

Additionally, when you sell on Repowered, you get up to $600 off a future Peloton purchase. Essentially, if you've been considering, say, upgrading from a Bike to a Bike+, you can sell your Bike and receive a discount on a newer model. Here's what you get off from each product if you make a Repowered sale:

• Bike+: $400 off

• Tread: $200 off

• Tread+: $600 off

• Row: $200 off

You'll get 70% of your earnings, giving the rest to the platform, which is a decent split. When I sell on Poshmark, I keep 80% of my sale price. When I sell on Depop, I keep 90%. There, though, I'm selling clothes and small electronics—items that don't have a big sticker price. For something like a high-tech, at-home workout bike, 70% seems to be, in my professional opinion, a pretty good split, not to mention the accompanying discount toward a new Peloton purchase.

Buying on Repowered

When you hit shop on the landing page, you can choose between four buttons: Bike, Tread, Row, and Accessories. You can also keep scrolling to see New arrivals and a button that says Shop all. Bear in mind that equipment delivery is still only available in the original cities of New York, Boston, and Washington, D.C., though that's likely to change soon. You can coordinate your own pickups if you live elsewhere for now.

You can sort by equipment type, distance, and condition (either excellent or good), then filter by newness of the listings or by price. When you select a listing, you can see more photos and details, plus either buy the item or send the seller a direct message with a question.

Because the sales are technically happening through Peloton, you also get a few perks you won't find if you shop on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, or another resale platform. First, you'll be able to view a detailed summary of the equipment's service history and warranty, since each device is uploaded with its serial number. Second, if you buy a Bike, you'll get a free replacement seat post with your purchase to account for Peloton's voluntary recall of Bike seat posts.

There's also some limited buyer protection here. If you purchase something that had undisclosed damage, is missing a component that wasn't disclosed, or is not an authentic piece of Peloton equipment, you can submit photos and a statement for refund consideration.

Why this is a great option

There are two main reasons this has the potential to be better than buying or selling on another platform, like Facebook Marketplace.

First, you never have to worry about scams because Peloton itself is coordinating the sale and every part of the transaction takes place on the app. Second, as long as you're in one of those main markets, Peloton handles delivery, just as they do with their new and refurbished products. You can schedule pickups directly with buyers and sellers, but the platform will only provide a general radius of the product's location. If you're selling, this means no one will ever get your address and you have the freedom to meet in a public place within that radius.

Repowered is in its early stages, but it could fill a gap in the market by providing a trustworthy source of at-home fitness equipment for those who might otherwise find the cost prohibitive. Peloton has announced that the activation fee for used equipment is down from $95 to $45, too. The All Access Membership, required to take classes and use the devices to their maximum capabilities, is still $44 per month.