Machine price sudden drop

[AJ519]

When I first got into vending back in february, I couldnt find an oak triple head machine for less than 180$. Now, I'm seeing them on fb marketplace for 80$ like crazy. Anyone have any insight why theres been a sudden collapse in price in the last month or two? Is it cyclic? The economy? 

[gumball guy]

18 minutes ago, AJ519 said:

When I first got into vending back in february, I couldnt find an oak triple head machine for less than 180$. Now, I'm seeing them on fb marketplace for 80$ like crazy. Anyone have any insight why theres been a sudden collapse in price in the last month or two? Is it cyclic? The economy? 

Bulk vending is on the way out. Outside of gumballs the wholesale cost of bulk candy is sky rocketing.

[AJ519]

4 minutes ago, gumball guy said:

Bulk vending is on the way out. Outside of gumballs the wholesale cost of bulk candy is sky rocketing.

Yeah but even those machines and toy machines are cheap. I just bought 20 LYPC toy machines for 100$ a piece. I used to couldnt find these for nearly this price. And theyre 1.00 mechs and I'm able to buy toys for .20 something cents each. Seems very viable still 

[AngryChris]

19 hours ago, AJ519 said:

Yeah but even those machines and toy machines are cheap. I just bought 20 LYPC toy machines for 100$ a piece. I used to couldnt find these for nearly this price. And theyre 1.00 mechs and I'm able to buy toys for .20 something cents each. Seems very viable still 

Yes but it doesn't matter unless you can sell them in a good volume.

[AJ519]

Im going to try it for a month or two and see. If they do well I'll keep it up. If not I suppose ill try to sell my machines

[gumball guy]

12 hours ago, AJ519 said:

Im going to try it for a month or two and see. If they do well I'll keep it up. If not I suppose ill try to sell my machines

As long as you are keeping it all in perspective (and it sounds like you are) it can be a viable short term investment. If you can find some solid locations and get a quick ROI then I see that as a winner that may pay decent dividends over the next couple of years. I have had a strong year so far in regards to gross sales but I know that soon it will become impossible to run anything other than gumballs at 25 cents and that will hurt sales. 50 cent and 1.00 mechs are helpful but I have not heard of anyone having widespread success vending bulk candy north of 25 cents. Toys are definitely the answer at the higher price point but you are limited to venues that have a fair amount of kid traffic to have success so that hinders growth. Add to that the continued decline in the number of people carrying coins/cash it doesn't paint a positive picture for the future of bulk vending. I really believe that gumball vending still has a few years left especially in right demographic areas but it eventually it will disappear as well.