lopezmatthew01 Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 Hello everyone I'm new to this forum and was hoping to get some insight on a combo vending machine. I found someone selling one for about 1000. They say that it has only been in use for about a year in a half and are selling b/c they are upgrading. I tried to search for reviews on the machine but haven't been able to really find anything. Does anybody use this type of machine or hear anything about them? Any input would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shauna Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 Do you have a brand name we can reference? Is it mechanical or electrical? In my humble opinion, I would not pay that much for any used combo machine. But I'll be better able to reference what you are looking at with a few more details. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 I have never used one of these and probably have never touched one in my entire vending-related experience. I do not recommend buying it unless everything works and it's no more than $500. You could place this at a decent location and make your money back but the only reason why I would even tell you to offer any money for it is because full-size combo machines are so expensive. To sum up what I am saying here... that machines is an inferior piece of equipment. You might have a hard time finding parts or finding someone to service it. Unless you have an account that can use a combo machine RIGHT NOW, I wouldn't even bother with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopezmatthew01 Posted February 29, 2012 Author Share Posted February 29, 2012 Let me follow up with this. I already have a location at an eye doctor's office where I previously had a mechanical vending machine. That machine was bringing in between 40 and 50 bucks a week. Not much but for a college student it's something. That machine started to leak a bit and was annoying to the employees who had to consistently mop it up since I went bi-weekly. I disclosed this information to a buyer and we still agreed to a price of $900 for that machine. The location is readily available to me as my uncle is the owner and I don't pay anything to have the machine there. I just took out the other one b/c I felt bad for the employees. The way I was looking at the situation was that if I could find an electric one (which is the one I stated in the original post) for the same price, then it will just be like I upgraded machines for free. I understand that overall consensus would be to get a snack and drink machine individually however the office lobby is not big enough for 2 machines hence my need for a combo. With that in mind would you still suggest that I avoid this combo machine. I believe the exact model is a Seaga Elite Service HF 3500. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 Your situation is unique. Seage and Antares are both generally poorly regarded in the industry. The distributors that sell them, IMO, are at the level of a biz-op. Parts are hard to get and usually pretty expensive. The next question I would ask is what are you planning to do with the business? Are you wanting to grow it or is this just a part time gig until you get through school? If you are planning to grow this into a full line vending company then stay away. If this is temporary then maybe..... at the right price. That would be around 500 or less. Here's why, if you double your cost (industry avg) then at 50 per week your gross profit is 25. From that you have some minimal expenses to cover, gas, stales, your time etc. From what little is left you would calculate your return on investment that would likely be a number of years. Again, from a business perspective, most vendors try to have a ROI less than 2 years, for used equipment ideally less than one year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopezmatthew01 Posted February 29, 2012 Author Share Posted February 29, 2012 Thanks for the feedback this will definitely just be something part time. I dont intend on trying to grow this. The location is fairly close to my house and based on my previous revenues I was tripling the amount I spent on snacks and drinks. Bit of a high markup but the people didn't seem to mind and continued paying. I keep seeing that 500 number and I'm shocked because new these machines go for 3000. I guess I'll have to look around and see who sells parts before committing to anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shauna Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 Do you have a brand name we can reference? Is it mechanical or electrical? In my humble opinion, I would not pay that much for any used combo machine. But I'll be better able to reference what you are looking at with a few more details. Okay, I blame my blonde moment on the time of day. Please excuse my retardedness in the above statement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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