Why Do Pelotons Sit?: Ari Kimmelfeld on Circularity Catalyst
Millions of Pelotons sit unused once gyms reopen. Here is how to sell a bike you no longer ride. Ari Kimmelfeld with Ken Alston on The Circularity Catalyst.
Watch the episode: What We Talked About: Millions of Pelotons Collecting Dust (Ari Kimmelfeld's Marketplace), The Circularity Catalyst with Ken Alston, aired October 12, 2026. Listen on YouTube.
On The Circularity Catalyst, sustainability veteran Ken Alston asked Commonplace founder Ari Kimmelfeld how a marketplace for big, bulky secondhand items came to be, and where sustainability fits in a business that does not lead with the word.
Key takeaways
- Commonplace is a secondhand marketplace like Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, or OfferUp, with pickup, inspection, delivery, and payment built in.
- It started with Pelotons that turned into clothing racks once gyms reopened. The first site, Trade My Spin, had two buttons: buy a Peloton and sell a Peloton.
- Delivery, inspection, and a warranty matter most on expensive items, where they make buying used feel like buying new.
- The question buyers ask most is whether it is too good to be true. A $1 hold reserves the item, and on orders under $8,000 you pay the rest on delivery.
- Drivers take a training course and pass a quiz for each category before they handle it.
- Sustainability drives Ari's personal choices more than the company's marketing, but keeping big items in use is the result.
What Commonplace is
Commonplace is a secondhand marketplace for big items, in the same family as Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, and OfferUp. The difference is that pickup, inspection, delivery, and payment are part of the sale. Ari's short version is a Facebook Marketplace alternative that offers payments and delivery.
Essentially it's a second-hand marketplace, which is a nice alternative to a Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist or OfferUp. And the thing that differentiates us most is probably our delivery and payments integration. So everything on Commonplace gets picked up, inspected, delivered, and you get to pay for it upon delivery.
Ari Kimmelfeld on The Circularity Catalyst, at 00:27
Later Ken asked how Ari describes the company to people he has just met.
I'll usually say something like it's a Facebook Marketplace alternative that offers payments and delivery. I think that's the simplest way for people to understand it... Pretty much everybody knows what Facebook Marketplace is, and it's pretty easy to understand that Facebook Marketplace doesn't have payments or delivery.
Ari Kimmelfeld on The Circularity Catalyst, at 19:47
More in how Commonplace compares to Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, and OfferUp.
Millions of Pelotons collecting dust
When gyms closed, people bought expensive Pelotons. When gyms reopened, many of those bikes became clothing racks, and owners had no good way to sell a heavy machine. Ari was trying to buy one himself and watched it arrive broken. That unused supply is why the company started, and why a Peloton can still be sold.
You had a bunch of people order Peloton equipment because the gyms were closed, and that Peloton equipment was very premium. People paid a lot of money for them, sometimes $3,000 for a spin bike. And once the gyms opened back up and the yoga studios opened up, those expensive home bikes turned into glorified clothing racks, and people had no idea what to do with them.
Ari Kimmelfeld on The Circularity Catalyst, at 01:08
Ari was shopping for a used Peloton himself at the time.
I live in New York City, and buying a heavy piece of gym equipment in New York City, you have to haul it down a few flights of stairs in a walk-up, throw it in the back of a cab, and by the time you get home, the resistance is broken, and the calibration on the flywheel is off, and you have to fix all of that.
Ari Kimmelfeld on The Circularity Catalyst, at 01:44
So that's when we launched Trade My Spin, which was essentially a very basic website with two buttons on it. And the two buttons were buy a Peloton and sell a Peloton.
Ari Kimmelfeld on The Circularity Catalyst, at 02:34
It was not luck. Ari did the math first.
Peloton published their numbers, and you can do the math on how many Pelotons were actually out there, and how many of them were subscribed to. And there were literally millions of Pelotons sitting in people's homes just collecting dust.
Ari Kimmelfeld on The Circularity Catalyst, at 11:50
What we found was that the stigma around using second-hand fitness equipment kind of wasn't as pervasive once you offer a free delivery or a hassle-free delivery service. And so it evolved from fitness equipment to wellness products like hot tubs, saunas, cold plunges, and now we also do appliances, furniture, and other categories.
Ari Kimmelfeld on The Circularity Catalyst, at 03:24
The full story is in how Commonplace started.
Read how to sell a Peloton, or start on sell your Peloton.
Making used feel like buying new
On an expensive item, delivery and an inspection are what make used feel like a real alternative to new. The buyer checks out once, instead of messaging ten sellers, guessing whether it works, and figuring out how to pay and how to move it. Health-savings and flexible-spending cards can pay for eligible fitness and wellness gear.
Most items on Commonplace are expensive, which is what makes delivery and inspection worth it.
It really makes it where it's apples to apples when you're considering buying it new versus buying it used, because it's actually a channel that you can check out with one button. You don't have to go through the hassle of messaging ten different sellers, not knowing if it's actually working, not knowing how you're going to show up there. Are you going to be able to make a payment? You know, it's a lot of money that you're dealing with.
Ari Kimmelfeld on The Circularity Catalyst, at 04:23
We also offer HSA FSA payments for fitness and wellness equipment... You can't buy something on a credit card on Facebook or Craigslist. But now you can actually get the same prices second hand on Commonplace and check out with an HSA card.
Ari Kimmelfeld on The Circularity Catalyst, at 14:47
Eligible orders can also be financed, with terms up to 48 months. See financing options. For why buying big items used is usually so hard, read why it is hard to buy big items secondhand.
Is this too good to be true?
Buyers ask whether the offer is a scam, because a one dollar hold and pay-on-delivery sounds unusual next to a stranger on Craigslist. Ari's answer is that you test the item at home, and if it is not what was promised you do not pay the balance. The payment timing is the proof.
I think that's our number one point of consumer feedback when one of our sales people is on the phone with a customer, and we're telling them, you know, you put $1 down to reserve the product... and yes, you can test it out at home, and if you think we're a scam, well, you don't pay anything until it's delivered and installed.
Ari Kimmelfeld on The Circularity Catalyst, at 18:33
Our reply is, you know, it really is that great, and if it's not, then you don't pay anything.
Ari Kimmelfeld on The Circularity Catalyst, at 19:00
More in is Commonplace too good to be true.
Sustainability is the result, not the pitch
Ari buys secondhand because he grew up stretching a small budget, and he still buys almost everything used. The company does not lead with a sustainability slogan. It leads with a fair comparison to new: free delivery within 100 miles, pay after delivery, and a 30 to 50 point inspection. Keeping gear in use is the result.
Ken asked whether a belief in sustainability led Ari to secondhand. Ari's answer started somewhere else.
They say that scarcity is the mother of all invention. And, you know, when you're a kid and you want a mountain bike or a new bicycle, and the newest bicycles are over $500, and you only want to spend $50 or $75 on a bike, naturally you're going to look to the non-retail stores.
Ari Kimmelfeld on The Circularity Catalyst, at 06:37
It definitely factors into my personal decisions, but less so on the business side. You know, personally, I buy pretty much everything second hand.
Ari Kimmelfeld on The Circularity Catalyst, at 08:12
From a marketing standpoint, that wasn't the number one piece of copy that we used. It was more so it's apples to apples, you can actually make a good decision, we deliver for free within 100 miles, you can pay once it's delivered and you inspect it. We have a thorough 30-to-50-point inspection process so that the customer really feels like they're being taken care of.
Ari Kimmelfeld on The Circularity Catalyst, at 10:16
Near the end of the conversation, Ari put it this way:
It's exciting to be able to build something for second-hand buying and selling, which is an area that I've been a serious player in for a long time, but now we're actually serving the environment.
Ari Kimmelfeld on The Circularity Catalyst, at 27:39
What the drivers learn
Every category gets its own driver course and quiz before a crew can be assigned that product. The lessons also come from repairs. Some hot tubs hide a leak behind foam that has to be pulled out. Others have a shell that comes off so the leak is easy to reach. That changes how a buyer should shop.
Every category we get into, we build a driver's course. And so the driver has to go through the training course before they can get assigned that product or that brand or that category.
Ari Kimmelfeld on The Circularity Catalyst, at 20:40
Ken asked whether what Commonplace learns gets back to manufacturers. Ari pointed to hot tubs.
There are certain hot tubs that have foam all around them, and you have to pull out some of that foam to repair a leak. And then there are some hot tubs that just have the outer casing, which is really easy to remove, and you can get straight to the leak and fix it.
Ari Kimmelfeld on The Circularity Catalyst, at 22:58
Ken, a design-first thinker, suggested manufacturers could build for both heat retention and easy repair. Ari: "Perhaps. But maybe that's also a little bit above our pay grade." More in how Commonplace delivery drivers are trained.
Why people buy and sell
Sellers show up for all sorts of reasons: a trade-in, a move, or a house that came with a hot tub or a gym they do not want. Buyers are usually looking for one brand, model, and year, and they find Commonplace because that exact item is available. The two sides are not searching the same way.
I like to say that for our sellers, there's really a million and one reasons why somebody might be selling something. It could be that they're trading it in for something else. It could be that they just bought a house and it came with this hot tub, or it came with this home gym.
Ari Kimmelfeld on The Circularity Catalyst, at 24:15
Purchasing, there's usually more of a focused reason as to why they're buying it. And usually they'll find Commonplace because they're searching for a specific brand and a specific model and a specific year, and we happen to have availability of that.
Ari Kimmelfeld on The Circularity Catalyst, at 24:41
Ari also asked listeners for ideas: "I'd love to hear more about what people are buying and selling that might be big and bulky, maybe some categories that we haven't entered yet."
Commonplace is the Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist and OfferUp alternative for big items. Listing is free, and Commonplace handles pickup, inspection, delivery, secure payments, and a free two-month parts warranty. See how it works.
Categories in this episode
These are the two or three categories this conversation covers. Shop the used listings, or open the sell page when you are ready to let one go.
- Peloton. Selling one: sell your Peloton.
- Hot tubs. Selling one: sell your hot tub.
- Saunas.
FAQ
What is Commonplace?
A secondhand marketplace for big items, like Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, or OfferUp, with pickup, inspection, delivery, and payment built in. Ari's one-liner: a Facebook Marketplace alternative that offers payments and delivery.
How did Commonplace start?
With Pelotons. After gyms reopened, many home bikes went unused. Ari's first site, Trade My Spin, had two buttons: buy a Peloton and sell a Peloton. It grew into fitness equipment, hot tubs, saunas, cold plunges, appliances, and furniture.
Is Commonplace too good to be true?
Ari says it is the number one question buyers ask. The way you pay answers it: a $1 hold reserves the item, it is inspected before pickup, and on orders under $8,000 you pay the rest on delivery.
Can I use HSA or FSA funds on Commonplace?
Many fitness and wellness items qualify for reimbursement through a health savings account or flexible spending account. Ari said on the show that Commonplace accepts HSA and FSA payments for fitness and wellness equipment. See how it works.
Thank you to Ken Alston for having Ari on The Circularity Catalyst. Quotes are from the episode, lightly edited for reading. Listen to the full conversation on YouTube.
More from Ari's podcast interviews: questions Ari answered on podcasts and every show he has been on.
Have something big to sell?
List it free on the Peloton, home gym, hot tub, or sauna sell page. We inspect it, pick it up, and pay you at pickup.