How Pre-Owned E-Bike Prices Change Over Time

While seasonality is the main determinant in the yearly pricing cycle, it’s not the only factor when it comes to e-Bike prices. For example, as cities become more bike-friendly or as gas prices rise, consumers can become more interested in electric bikes and push demand upward. These kinds of patterns can be reflected in Upway’s sales velocity each month and used to set expectations of upcoming selling prices. And, of course, on a per-bike basis, the most important factors are things like brand, mileage, condition, among others. 

Just like sales of new bikes, demand for pre-owned e-Bikes runs highest in spring and summer and cools off heading into fall and winter. This means that quote values tend to decrease during the fall and winter. New e-Bikes and used electric bikes are ridden outdoors in the same way and are just as susceptible to the seasons, so the mirroring market trends make sense. 


The pre-owned market doesn’t necessarily have to exactly mirror the new-bike market, however— there can be small differences in behavior. Back when the Trump administration imposed its first round of tariffs, we discussed the potential additional advantage to buying and selling used electric bikes since, as pre-owned finished products already inside the US, they aren’t affected by tariffs that raise the production costs of new bikes, most of which are made mostly or entirely abroad. Buying pre-owned could become even more attractive to customers due to the predicted inflation of prices of new models in the future. Largely, though, prices in the pre-owned market behave similarly to those of the primary, new-bike market.

Upway calculates every trade-in offer backward from a bike's expected resale price, then subtracts our costs— we never just take a flat percentage of a bike's original price. As a result, trade-in pricing is tied to how well bikes are selling at any given moment.

After reviewing September and October sales velocity, in November, Upway lowered its expected selling prices by about 4% on average. This led to trade-in quote values falling around 6% on average so Upway could continue to cover refurbishment costs, keeping in mind their slightly lower sale prices. All bike categories fell in value, but folding and commuter, which had slower sales, saw bigger decreases.