How to Buy a Concept Rower for $250

Concept Rowers are the gold standard for CrossFit® affiliates – and in many other gyms too!

A new Concept2 Model D with a PM3 monitor (the most popular, and cheapest model) sells for about $900 USD, delivered, from the usual suspects in the functional fitness industry. Used, this same rower typically goes for $600 – $850 USD. Talk about holding value!

However, the good news is, if you know where to look and have a little bit of time up your sleeve, you can grab a used Concept rower for as little as $250! This is the cheapest I have seen one sell for in a year of monitoring every C2 posted on Craigslist in Austin, Texas. If you are looking for a rower but don’t specifically care for the Concept2, I suggest checking out the Stamina X Air Rower.

* Note: this price may seems crazy low – but while researching this article, I came across a posting for a $300 C2 in the San Francisco Bay area – so cheap rowers are out there, you just need to find them!

So how do you score one of these deals, you may ask? I’ll explain it in four easy steps below:

1. Use online resources to look for a Concept Rower

Here are some great resources to find a Concept Rower, depending upon your location:

2. Look in Major Metro Areas

Look, I love small towns. They can be safe, great places to raise a family with low costs of living, but they are not where cheap C2 rowers hang out. So, you’ve got to search the major metropolitan areas near you. I live in Austin, Texan and despite it being a mid-market city, we have a thriving fitness community – that means we see a lot of C2’s being listed for sale online. Despite that, I also make sure I search San Antonio, Dallas, and Houston when I am on the hunt for that elusive C2 deal.

3. Secret Weapon #1

Now, you might get lucky if you do a manual Craigslist search – stranger things have happened. Although here’s how to super-power your searching – IFTTT. Here’s a quick way to get SMS (text) alerts whenever a rower is posted to craigslist:

1.  Sign up for IFTTT (free)- https://ifttt.com

2. Click on this link for a “recipe” to search craigslist, and they’ll send you a SMS message once a rower is posted- https://ifttt.com/recipes/125260

3. Click on the big blue “Use Recipe” button.

4. Scroll down the next page to the “Trigger” section. Change the “Search Results URL” from “http://austin.craigslist.org/search/sss?query=rower&srchType=A&minAsk=&maxAsk=” to “http://yourcraigslist.craigslist.org/search/sss?query=rower&srchType=A&minAsk=&maxAsk=”, where ‘yourcraigslist’ is your local craigslist or nearest major city.

5. Hit the big blue “Update” button.

4. Secret Weapons #2 and #3

CASH and SPEED. When you get that text announcing the dirt cheap C2, you need to call or email the seller right away and tell them you have cash and a truck to pick it up. I don’t care if you don’t have a truck right away – just call the seller first, then arrange the transportation later. A seller that posts a cheap C2 on craigslist, or a concept 2 rower model D in the UK, needs to be given cash in hand crazy fast for three reasons:

1. If you don’t do it, there are 20 other people who will.

2. If they’ve posted a C2 for crazy cheap, they may realize this when their phone blows up, and will consequently repost the Concept Rower at a much higher price.

3. People who post on craigslist love a quick, clean deal. They want to rower gone, so if you can take care of this fast, with no hassles, you’re doing them a favor.

What if the Concept Rower is a dud?

When you show up, row a few hundred meters and test out the monitor. If the rower works well for this simple test, it’s almost certainly fine. Unlike a pilates reformer, or a device like a Weight Gain Calculator, a Concept Rower is cheap and easy to fix. You might bargain the owner down a bit (if the rower was misrepresented as in working condition on the ad) or just take the rower as is. And don’t forget, there are always plenty of cheaper alternatives around if you struggle to find a bargain Concept2 out there!

Happy hunting!