Peleton will start charging a $95 “used equipment activation fee” for secondhand buyers on top of their existing annual/monthly subscription fee.

Excerpt from the article:

“Peloton doesn’t immediately make money when someone sells their unwanted bike to someone else for a discount, but it is making significant money from people buying subscriptions to use with their secondhand gear. In its Q4 2024 shareholder letter, Peloton said that secondhand bike sales deliver “a steady stream of paid connected fitness subscriber additions, up 16 percent” year over year in Peloton’s fiscal Q4.

People who buy used bikes outside of Peloton also “exhibit lower net churn rates” than people who pay Peloton to rent its hardware, per the letter.

But Peloton’s hardware sales have tumbled—as has its worth—since booming during the COVID-19 pandemic. The new activation fee is characteristic of a company desperate for more revenue after going from a valuation of $50 billion in January 2021 to $2.1 billion in December 2023.”