14 replies to this topic

[ambitionoverkill]

I'm young(21) and I'm in college so I'm looking to buy something that I can make a little money on the side. I also need to satisfy my entrepreneurial itch at in a fairly affordable way. Anyway, I've found these and I'd like to buy a couple of them but I'd like some feedback on their quality, peoples experiences, etc.

Thanks in advance

http://greenville.cr.../969004405.html

[caliwakeboarder]

i personally dont have any of those machines, but they seem fairly easy to run and work on. I would look around alittle more I have seen the same machine on ebay for 250 or less and not sale. i would look around alittle bit more first and maybe see if you can line up some spots to place the machine at. because an unplaced machine isnt doing you any good but taking up space.

[ambitionoverkill]

I actually have a couple of places lined up. I'm friends with a guy that owns an oil change station and he said I could put a machine in his lobby and I've spoken with another guy that owns an oil change service and he said he'd be interested in it also.

[snack dude]

I actually have a couple of places lined up. I'm friends with a guy that owns an oil change station and he said I could put a machine in his lobby and I've spoken with another guy that owns an oil change service and he said he'd be interested in it also.

I have 19 of those and they are great for small little offices with 20 people or less. I started out with these myself. They do not take up much room and one person with a refrigrator dolly and a pickup or van can move them. I agree with Caliwakeboarder you can get them cheaper than $1300.00. In fact how many do you want and what state are you in. I have a couple sitting in my warehouse that I would be willing to let go of for half that. I am in the southwest ohio area

Just a thought

[ambitionoverkill]

I have 19 of those and they are great for small little offices with 20 people or less. I started out with these myself. They do not take up much room and one person with a refrigrator dolly and a pickup or van can move them. I agree with Caliwakeboarder you can get them cheaper than $1300.00. In fact how many do you want and what state are you in. I have a couple sitting in my warehouse that I would be willing to let go of for half that. I am in the southwest ohio area

Just a thought

Man, I wish I lived near you. I live in South Carolina though, that's a little ways away from Ohio.

I also found these on ebay and the whole route is like 30-45mins from me. What do yall think:

http://cgi.ebay.com/...chi...:1|294:50

[ambitionoverkill]

I asked him a question and this was his response:

"4 machines generated $60 per week per machine, the other 4 locations averaged $14 per machine per week. I would reccomend relocating those last 4 into a busier location as the first 4 are located. This is only my 2nd week in business and I ran out of money because my wife is sick needing surgery and so I have to sell. Upon purchase I will mail you the bill of sale showing that the business cost me $21,000. This is a great deal for whoever wins it."

[snack dude]

I asked him a question and this was his response:

"4 machines generated $60 per week per machine, the other 4 locations averaged $14 per machine per week. I would reccomend relocating those last 4 into a busier location as the first 4 are located. This is only my 2nd week in business and I ran out of money because my wife is sick needing surgery and so I have to sell. Upon purchase I will mail you the bill of sale showing that the business cost me $21,000. This is a great deal for whoever wins it."

First;;;;; tread lightly here. I am not buying this only been in buisness for two weeks thing. I could be wrong but it smells funny to me. After two weeks its too early to tell what the machines will do. So if these locations are 30 to 45 minutes from you call the guy up and ask to see two or three of them. just to see what the response is. If he says okay then go see them look at the machines and talk to the person on site to see how they feel about the machines. How long have the machines been there and the fact that you maybe taking them over after a couple of weeks. You want to make sure you wont be kicked out after the sale.
Second;;;;; If the machines are priced correctly then 50% of what comes out of the machine goes to buy more product. Generally we try to shoot for 50% profit margin on everything we sell.
So if you pull $60.00 out of a machine the product you sold cost you $30.00. So with 4 machines grossing $60.00 a week your net profit not counting gas and your time for those 4 machines is $120.00 a week.
At a Starting bid of $7,300.00 your paying $912.00 per machine and location which means if you can net $30.00 a week per location you can pay the whole thing off in approimately 30 weeks, I assume the four 14 dollar a week machines are going to your oil change locations. But remember you have not paid for gas or paid yourself yet.

Third and final; I am not familiar with the machine in the add so I cannot comment on them. But I noticed that there is no mention of the optional dollar bill changer in the add or his comments. A vending machine that will not take dollar bills or give you change for one so people can buy things is death. I would ask about that also.

Hope I did not bore you, good luck and good hunting

[ambitionoverkill]

First;;;;; tread lightly here. I am not buying this only been in buisness for two weeks thing. I could be wrong but it smells funny to me. After two weeks its too early to tell what the machines will do. So if these locations are 30 to 45 minutes from you call the guy up and ask to see two or three of them. just to see what the response is. If he says okay then go see them look at the machines and talk to the person on site to see how they feel about the machines. How long have the machines been there and the fact that you maybe taking them over after a couple of weeks. You want to make sure you wont be kicked out after the sale.
Second;;;;; If the machines are priced correctly then 50% of what comes out of the machine goes to buy more product. Generally we try to shoot for 50% profit margin on everything we sell.
So if you pull $60.00 out of a machine the product you sold cost you $30.00. So with 4 machines grossing $60.00 a week your net profit not counting gas and your time for those 4 machines is $120.00 a week.
At a Starting bid of $7,300.00 your paying $912.00 per machine and location which means if you can net $30.00 a week per location you can pay the whole thing off in approimately 30 weeks, I assume the four 14 dollar a week machines are going to your oil change locations. But remember you have not paid for gas or paid yourself yet.

Third and final; I am not familiar with the machine in the add so I cannot comment on them. But I noticed that there is no mention of the optional dollar bill changer in the add or his comments. A vending machine that will not take dollar bills or give you change for one so people can buy things is death. I would ask about that also.

Hope I did not bore you, good luck and good hunting

Thanks for the response snackdude. I'm a little weary about it also because of the two week thing. He gave me his phone number and its local so that's a good sign. I think after the new year I'm going to go around and look at all of them with the owner. If they don't look sketchy and he seems like a legit guy I'm probably going to offer him $6000 because I don't see him getting $7300 for them.

[mikepn]

Hey,
Just thought I'd add a couple thoughts (I'm new, so take my advice with a grain of salt). First, the Craig's List machines are "junky" machines. I don't care how much they cost new. The company that sells the machines is a "business in a box" company and their prices are extremely inflated. If you like at the Sam's Club website, you can see what kind of awesome machines you can get for $7000 (the amount that he claims they sell for new now.) The machines are worth something, and it's my understanding that most mechanical machines will give you fairly little trouble. Offer him maybe $400 per machine.

When I'm deciding if an existing vending route is a good deal or not, my general rule is that I pay 20 times weekly revenues on average. So, if a machine brings in $100 revenue (not profits)/week, it's worth $2000 on its current location. There are, of course, upper and lower limits to that, but that seems like a good rule of thumb. So, this fellow claims 4*$60+4*$14=$296 revenue per week. That times 20 is $5920. So, if you can *verify* his revenues, you could offer him $6000. Reduce that amount if things seem dubious (which they do). Don't get caught up in buying any one particular vending machine or route. There will always be more. I passed up a couple of hot deals (timing wrong) before I finally bought my 13-location route for $600 (no, I didn't leave off a zero - six hundred for 15 junky mechanical machines on 13 locations.) Brings in about $110/week in revenues and needs to be serviced about once every 3 weeks, which takes me a bit over 4 hours for all 13 locations.

One thing to keep in mind is that a *vending machine* is worthless. It's only value is its ability to make money. I can recommend the book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" for a good definition of the word "asset". Basically, an asset is something you own that brings you income. So, a vending machine is not worth something because it is nicely arranged piece of plastics and metals, but rather because people put money into it and you get that money. A $10,000 vending machine on a location that brings you $10/week is only worth $200 according to my formula. Just as in real estate, there are 3 things that determine the value of a vending machine: location, location, location.

By the way, good luck! I'm also a young college student (grad student now - not quite as young as you.) You certainly can do it! As in any business, it takes work, but it's a different kind of work and it comes with its own frustrations and satisfactions.

Share your experiences as you make progress!

-Michael

[Agee Vending]

I'm young(21) and I'm in college so I'm looking to buy something that I can make a little money on the side. I also need to satisfy my entrepreneurial itch at in a fairly affordable way. Anyway, I've found these and I'd like to buy a couple of them but I'd like some feedback on their quality, peoples experiences, etc.

Thanks in advance

http://greenville.cr.../969004405.html

I guess I'm a veteran here, I've been in the business all of 5 years. I started with the mechical machines. Bad idea... they are difficult to change prices and a limited on how much change you keep in them. In short they suck.

Buy a real snack and soda machine... you'll have service them less and you'll make more money. If you're shrewd you can pick up a nice snack and soda machine for about 1000, find a good location yourself. $100 bucks a week and the location will pay for the machine in 6 months.

Jiffy Lubes aren't good locations unless they are in the boon docks, if they are right next door to a AM/PM you're wasting your time. Get a phone book and find some businesses in your area with 50+ employees and call them up. You're the new guy in town and you'd like a shot at their business. Don't worry if they already have machines... you'd be suprised how many people are unhappy with their vending service. If you can't call on locations... don't get into the business.

I like mikepm's multiple on revenue as a starting place... a little to low for real machines... but might be ok for that snacktime stuff. If you can pay 50-75% of 1x annual revenue ($1000 a year in revenue = 500-750 sales price) then you've got a deal.

I also agree that machines don't make money in your garage... keep them working.

FYI this business isn't as easy as you think it is... you're not going to just wake up service your machine and make 10k a year... You need to keep track of your inventory, buy product, make sure your machines work, get change, clean machines, fix customer problems, etc... If you're in it just to make an extra 1000 a month or so... it wont be an issue... but if you're looking to make some money... you'll need some more time and energy..

Good Luck

[ambitionoverkill]

I guess I'm a veteran here, I've been in the business all of 5 years. I started with the mechical machines. Bad idea... they are difficult to change prices and a limited on how much change you keep in them. In short they suck.

Buy a real snack and soda machine... you'll have service them less and you'll make more money. If you're shrewd you can pick up a nice snack and soda machine for about 1000, find a good location yourself. $100 bucks a week and the location will pay for the machine in 6 months.

Jiffy Lubes aren't good locations unless they are in the boon docks, if they are right next door to a AM/PM you're wasting your time. Get a phone book and find some businesses in your area with 50+ employees and call them up. You're the new guy in town and you'd like a shot at their business. Don't worry if they already have machines... you'd be suprised how many people are unhappy with their vending service. If you can't call on locations... don't get into the business.

I like mikepm's multiple on revenue as a starting place... a little to low for real machines... but might be ok for that snacktime stuff. If you can pay 50-75% of 1x annual revenue ($1000 a year in revenue = 500-750 sales price) then you've got a deal.

I also agree that machines don't make money in your garage... keep them working.

FYI this business isn't as easy as you think it is... you're not going to just wake up service your machine and make 10k a year... You need to keep track of your inventory, buy product, make sure your machines work, get change, clean machines, fix customer problems, etc... If you're in it just to make an extra 1000 a month or so... it wont be an issue... but if you're looking to make some money... you'll need some more time and energy..

Good Luck

I don't think it's easy. I think it's just like any other business, it requires time and money. Thanks for the response though.

[jblvending]

I'm young(21) and I'm in college so I'm looking to buy something that I can make a little money on the side. I also need to satisfy my entrepreneurial itch at in a fairly affordable way. Anyway, I've found these and I'd like to buy a couple of them but I'd like some feedback on their quality, peoples experiences, etc.

Thanks in advance

http://greenville.cr.../969004405.html

Save your money, buy a full size vending machine and make what you can make with about 10 of these machines your looking at now, you have gotten a lot of good advice from others on here, I'd listen and follow it.

[ambitionoverkill]

Save your money, buy a full size vending machine and make what you can make with about 10 of these machines your looking at now, you have gotten a lot of good advice from others on here, I'd listen and follow it.

Oh I am. I've already cancelled out the Vendstars...after doing some research I discovered they were crappy and more of a liability than anything. I'm actually still talking to the guy that's selling the route on ebay that's near me. As soon as I get settled into my new place I'm going to take a look at them with the guy.

Keep the advice coming guys!

[ambitionoverkill]

Save your money, buy a full size vending machine and make what you can make with about 10 of these machines your looking at now, you have gotten a lot of good advice from others on here, I'd listen and follow it.

Aren't those ones I was looking at in my second post full size though? Maybe I don't understand what fullsize is...

[jblvending]

Aren't those ones I was looking at in my second post full size though? Maybe I don't understand what fullsize is...

A full size machine is a glassfront snack machine(large in size) that is dedicated to just snacks and the same for the drink machine,there are some machines that have both snack and drink combo, but I do not recommend them, due in large part, when one breaks down, typically there both down, costing you sales, and a large repair bill's. The biggest and most common mistake most people make in vending is they look, and concentrate on the amount of sales when they are buying a route. What you need to look at is the machines, because ultimately, you may have to relocate it down the road for any unforseen reason due to losing of that account, or other issues they will come up, and then your stuck with a machine that has both a snack and drink, then if you relocate it, and your new customer wants just a snack machine, your screwed, because you have a combo.