r1375 Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 Hi everyone, It has been awhile since I've been in. The Air Force ended up moving me out to Colorado Springs and am finalling getting settled in here. I am anxious to get my household goods and machines delivered to me in about another week or so. Then once the house is taken care of see if I can get my machines placed and start making quartes. Glad to see that the forum is still going strong and that some familiar names are still here. Anyways, I came upon a route for sale on Craigslist that I'm considering if I can get a good price. It is for 8 U-Turn machines (8 and 12 cannister) that are already placed and making quarters. The claim is that the machines bring in about $400-$800 per month depending on the season. Although, the person does not have any records to back-up this claim. The asking price is $3,000 which I know is high. So my question is what would you all consider to be a fair price for this route? I have not even spoken with the person yet, just a few e-mails. So no real idea of how the route has been serviced. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T BIRD Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 Good to see you back here r! I would start from $1500.00 and go from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-man422 Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 I agree with Johnny. Throw a lowball offer and see if you can go with him/her next time the route is serviced. They better be in some busy locations if they are 8 and 12 selections. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alyssamma Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 *If* the machines are really making $4-800/mo, then I don't think $3K is unreasonable. Taking the low end, $400/mo, that is $4800/yr. If there was a way to verify that then I think you are ok. That being said, I know lots of people here think that you should just pay for the machines and that is it. You should ignore how much they make per month. I'm kind of split on this myself. If you cannot verify income go lower than $3K. If you can verify at all then $3K is a fair price. Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nepavend Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 Always keep your offer low, its best to make deals for pennies on the dollar whenever possible to maximize your ROI. I would start at $1000 with the stipulation that some way to verify the income be provided, and negotiate from there. The max I would go would be 6 months net sales, which means that 400-800/mo less commission/product. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bravo Duck Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 Falsetto- RUNAWAYYYY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer980 Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 My initial thought was $1500 also. Explain that without any records the income potential claim is just that. See how old the machines are and how long they have been on the route. How often do they claim they service them? If they really want to sell quick they will come down to your terms. It is not an emergency on your part that you must buy a route this week so leave it up to them and loose interest if they give you a hard time on the price. I would also go on the collection before the final deal to verify everything and have some terms beforehand on what happens if A happens or B does not pan out. Nice to have you back in one piece. Are you out of the service or relocating? Thank you for your service as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vendamania Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 I agree with Joe.... I wouldn't offer more then $1000 because more then likely you are just buying used equipment. So if you are happy with 8 used Uturns for $1000 then you can't loose.Maybe you will get lucky and a few of the locations turn out to be ok. Personally I wouldn't pay more then $50 a piece for those machines. Fred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alyssamma Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 All, I think there is something else to consider here. If you don't care about getting the route or not, it is fine to lowball. If you have the time to take machines and locate them yourself, again, it is fine to lowball. If, however, you want to expand and you don't have the time to locate yourself, then a fair price for a route is 70% of gross. In general this gives you a ROI of a year - which is a pretty amazing figure. I understand the "trick" is to be able to verify the gross. You could be paying 70% of a route that makes next to nothing. However, even taking the low end of the figures above ($400), a $1500 offer would be an insult. That is less than 4mo. of income. Again, if you are in no rush, have time, etc., then by all means lowball. You *will* get lucky from time to time and pick up great deals. But paying a "fair" price for something you need/want *now* is not a bad thing either Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vendamania Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 Who says they are doing $400 anyways? Maybe they only do $200 or less . Also that number is gross not net. Don't worry about insults....I would worry more about the fact that the guy may be trying to unload his junk in bad locations. Fred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alyssamma Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 Fred, I think you misunderstood my point. First, I am well aware that number is gross. I thought I made that clear. Second, he said $4-800...I took the low end. Third, I made it very clear that verifying the income was difficult. The fact is, if the route really is doing $400+ then the guy would be crazy to sell it for $1500 let alone $1000. *IF* you can afford to wait and are not in a hurry, have time to locate yourself, etc. then by all means make lowball offers and you'll eventually get lucky and get a great deal. However, if you want to expand, and find a good route, there is nothing wrong with offering a fair price for it. It doesn't have to be a zero-sum transaction...both parties can walk away winners. So, if the machines really are making that much, and if the OP is looking to expand quickly, making a fair offer instead of lowballing is perfectly acceptable IMHO Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nepavend Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 We are on the same page Fred, there are always deals out there to be had for lowball figures. I have made two in the past 30 days that I wasn't really trying to find, but sure am glad that I did! If I can't get it for the price that gives me a certain ROI, I wait for the next one that does. However, it is a personal choice of a vendor, depending on what their desired return on their investment threshold is. Mine is probably higher than others on this board and lower than others as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markvend Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 I agree with the others about the 1500 or under range for the machines. I'm not real familiar with these machines but have heard at least two vendor who were really dissatisfied with the quality. It may have been an earlier version of the machine they had an issue with. Hopefully you could verify both the income (as already mentioned) and the quality of the machines. It would be great to go ahead and start at 1000 or under and see if he bites at all. Good luck! Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shvend Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 I agree with markvend on this one start low and see if he will bit at all. I agree 3k is a little high for the quality machine you are getting with unkown intake of the locations you are about to aquire. If you do purchase them remember they will make more money in a slow locaiton than in your garage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r1375 Posted October 22, 2008 Author Share Posted October 22, 2008 Thanks everyone for the great inputs. I have tried several times to get in touch with the person but have not had any luck. I think I'll try a few more times to see if they answer the phone number they provided. Anyways i'll be sure to keep you all posted on what is going on. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vendboy Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 You'll probably never hear from them again....lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r1375 Posted November 7, 2008 Author Share Posted November 7, 2008 Well after several voice mail messages I was finally able to talk with the lady and see one of the machines at a FedEx location. Her boyfriend showed me how to service the machine and he filled it up with product while I was there. By the time I was able to talk with her she had already sold three of the machines to some friends. Anyways, I bought the remaining five machines. So I ended up with five located machines, one eight head machine for parts, six bags of product and I get to keep the money that is in the other four machines. All of this for $1,500. Now I need to go to Sam's Club and get some more product so I can service the remaining four machines on Saturday. I'll be sure to let you guys know how much I end up collecting. Of course my wife was thrilled that I was bring more stuff into the house as we are still trying to unpack all the boxes from our move. I have a feeling I'm going to be busy Saturday with servicing the machines and unpacking more boxes. Take care Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer980 Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 Was that FedEx location an Express, Ground or Freight building? Was it in the breakroom/driver area or a lobby type area? Do you have to give them a commission or is it a charity spot? Good luck on the unpacking and Sam's. The good part about Sam's is you can get in during business hours before they get busy. I can't stand going to my Sam's after 10am, it is a zoo all day long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r1375 Posted November 9, 2008 Author Share Posted November 9, 2008 Beer, I'm not really sure yet what type of FedEx it is, but the machine is in the breakroom/driver area. All five of the locations are charity locations. I was able to service three of the five locations today. It took a lot longer then I had thought that it would. The lady told me that the machines were the eight select, however all three that I serviced today were the 12 select U-Turn machines. I was also surpised to find that two of the machines are in adult bookstores. I'm not relly sure what to do with these machines yet since I normally don't visit those sorts of places. Also they never kept any records. So the majority of my time was spent taking the canisters apart to see what setting the wheels were on. It also looked like the machines hadn't been serviced in awhile. Anyways, here are the numbers from the three locations. Bingo Hall $104.10 Adult Bookstore #1 $96 Adult Bookstore #2 $45 plus 10 cents that I found on the floor by my machine So I brought in a grand total of $245.20 today, which I was pleased about. I'm hoping to get to the other two locations on Monday. I know the FedEx location will be low since the previous owner sort of serviced it this past Thursday. But I still need to go there and fill up the remaining canisters and get it into my normal rotation. I have a feeling that it is going to take awhile to get these five machines to the level that I want them at. I say this because there are several canisters that are cracked and every single canister needs to be cleaned. Unfortunately, I don't have enough spare canisters to do a complete swap. So I guess I need to be keeping an eye on EBay for some spare canisters. Unless any of you all have any that you would be willing to sell me. Guess thats it for now. Hope you all have a great night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluePlate Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 My suggestion with the adult bookstore, just keep some of them little sani-wipes with you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T BIRD Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 I'll take that location off your 'hands' rt.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer980 Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 I would look for a new spot on adult bookstore #2 but don't pull it before you find one. If these are monthly totals then you got some good ones. For the FedEx one look at their shirts if you can. If the Ex is green then it is FedEx Ground, if it is red then it is Freight, otherwise it is Express. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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