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Good Deal on Route?


PitbillSox

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So I made a post outlining what I'd like to do and some people suggested maybe buying a route and altering it from there.

So I looked on CL and I found something I wanted your opinion on:

32 machines (95 1800 Vending machines, with few Vendstar ones)

2 year route

Averages $600 a month with an admittingly non-committed manager

10,000?

That's $312 a machine. I told her it was a bit much and she said she'd work with me.

Thoughts?

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I'm going to take some guesses here...

32 machines, 95 *percent* are 1800's with the rest Vendstars.

The route has been in service for 2yrs.

He pulls in $600/mo now, but is saying he isn't "trying". If he "tried", he could make more.

The selling price is $10K.

If the above is correct...run, don't walk, to the nearest exit. This is a horrible deal.

First, you have to assume the avg is high...it *always* is. And, he is admitting he is lazy, so he is also probably lazy about the income.

But, even if that was true, $600/mo = $7200/yr. There are many ways to value a route, but I don't think anyone would say that paying > 70% or so of the gross is worth it. That would mean about $5K - 1/2 of what he is asking.

Others would only pay for the machines or locations and would arrive at a much lower figure - $3-$4K. But I would say that $5K is fair.

Regardless, $10K is at *least* 2x what the route is worth.

Kevin

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there is no way i would pay 10k for 32 machines! I have never paid over $100 for any machine, ever.

(any bulk machine that is)

value in my opinion:

if you are paying cash I would start at $50 a machine, which is 1600.

2400-3200. would be a reasonable amount.

if you wanna be generous, and the TERMS are right 4000 for the high end...

600 gross is an 18.75 avg.  with a 35% COG, thats 12.19 avg, or 390 for the whole she-bang.

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I don't know about candy routes but when I have bought routes in the past I stayed around 1 years sales.  In this economy though I wouldn't even pay that.  It helps if you are dealing with a desperate seller!  Then you can offer even less!  I am considering buying a small flat/toy capsule route that the seller wants $58,000 for.  I will probably offer $45,000.

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I don't know about candy routes but when I have bought routes in the past I stayed around 1 years sales.  In this economy though I wouldn't even pay that.  It helps if you are dealing with a desperate seller!  Then you can offer even less!  I am considering buying a small flat/toy capsule route that the seller wants $58,000 for.  I will probably offer $45,000.

WTF do you consider small?:huh:??:huh:

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I've been doing this for over 10 years.  It is how I make my living & I have no other job.  The 30 location route I am going to buy is a small route.  It will be a nice little addition to my company.  I like building from within but sometimes it is easier to fill in holes in your route by acquisition.  To show an example of my scale I will use our local movie theatre as an example.  It is a 10 screen cinema in a mall.  I have 17 vending pieces in it including arcade games, redemption games, chicken machines, sticker machines, toy capsule racks & more.  I am in over 20 of this companies theatres.

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I hear ya.  I started out with 8 candy machines & never looked back!  After candy I got into gumball machines then stickers then toy caps then cranes then arcade games, boxers, redemption, chickens etc.  If it makes money I will try it!  My business motto is grow or die!

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So the truth comes out.......

In my back and forth e-mails with her, it comes out she paid $300 for each machine and a locator (prolly $50 a pop) so she paid about $10,500 for the 30 machines to be placed. I tried telling her I can buy 30 machines new, and a locator for probably about $125 each, meaning I can pay $3750 to place 30 new machines. And I asked her why would I pay ~2.5X that for 2 year old machines.

I tried explaining to her she paid 3X the machines value up front, and she's trying to make that back now.

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So the truth comes out.......

In my back and forth e-mails with her, it comes out she paid $300 for each machine and a locator (prolly $50 a pop) so she paid about $10,500 for the 30 machines to be placed. I tried telling her I can buy 30 machines new, and a locator for probably about $125 each, meaning I can pay $3750 to place 30 new machines. And I asked her why would I pay ~2.5X that for 2 year old machines.

I tried explaining to her she paid 3X the machines value up front, and she's trying to make that back now.

Interesting....and what was HER response to your explanation?

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