would you buy this?

[sbishop]

I found a guy selling a 7 way rack and a 6 col sticker machine on location for $800.00 (comes with onhand inventory)

He say that the location averages $150-$180 per month You you buy it?

He also has 3 more racks that he pulled off locations as he ran out of product. They have been off the locations for about a month. I am thinking of asking him where those locations were.

[Big Mike]

Maybe. Would need details. Type of location and type of machines. Condition of machines.

Mike

[Rick Falcon]

I have to agree with Mike its all about the location and what kind of equipment your operating.

Good Luck and Good Selling!

[sbishop]

He said that the rack has super 80s on top and super 60s on bottom...I think i got that right

I am not sure what type of location it is.

[jamesjmcgough]

Go check it out. If it feels right....make the deal. You can't go wrong if the equipment is in good shape. Discount for poor location. I would not believe the gross unless he has signed receipts. Anywho, if the whole deal looks good, just look at the equipment expenditure and discount the promise of future profits based on what he tells you the location grossed.  With a grain of salt.

Jeff in the Caribe, Pocorro, Limon, Costa Rica

[will.vend]

Hmmmm! If I had a rack that grossed that much I wouldnt sell it. Ask him why he's selling also ask him what he pays in commission to the location...I would want to see his records too...

[antoniocinisi]

I just want to add that a 7 way rack would cost a grand new with no location.

[havending]

I just want to add that a 7 way rack would cost a grand new with no location.

A Grand you must buy your machines at Macy's

[antoniocinisi]

4 super 60 $244

2 super 80 $228

1 NW STICKER machine $ 174

silver sentinel stand $170

that is a total of $816 BEFORE shipping at SAMS CLUB not MACYS.of course if your havending you get an automatic 50 percent off since he such an awesome vending operator.had these items been quoted thru northwestern it would have been even closer to 1k

could you both plz do your homework before trying to prove me wrong.I may have been off 75 bucks but it is more realistic then some of the stuff you post havending.

I would buy this deal ecspecially if there is proof of income and the machines are in good shape.

[antoniocinisi]

by the way that is with no stock,so redo your math

[joebob051977]

Sometimes you need to consider income. I have a three head location which does around $800 a year. The value of that location is significantly more than one that does $100 per year regardless of equipment. I would pay $500 for another location that brings in $800 per year whether it came with equipment or not. Don't get overly wrapped up in equipment. It's not the equipment which makes you money, it is the location.       

[havending]

4 super 60 $244

2 super 80 $228

1 NW STICKER machine $ 174

silver sentinel stand $170

that is a total of $816 BEFORE shipping at SAMS CLUB not MACYS.of course if your havending you get an automatic 50 percent off since he such an awesome vending operator.had these items been quoted thru northwestern it would have been even closer to 1k

could you both plz do your homework before trying to prove me wrong.I may have been off 75 bucks but it is more realistic then some of the stuff you post havending.

I would buy this deal ecspecially if there is proof of income and the machines are in good shape.

you said a 7 way rack would be a grand.  I can get three A&A two inch machines for around  310.00 and the one inch for around 200.00 add another 90 to 110 for a stand and im at 620. or so

[antoniocinisi]

I guess I should have said that my paticular machine from northwestern was almost a grand.

[agrantha]

JoeBob is right.  Income is key.  Thus, the location should be your vocal point...not the machine.  Any human that can breathe can acquire a machine.  But, acquiring a money generating location is what separates the accomplished vendors from the hobby vendors. 

In saying this, change your discussion to an accomplished vendor discussion.

[antoniocinisi]

joebob is right,common sense tells us that a good location is worth more then a poor one.I guess any breathing human being can also get good locations too if they can go out and buy machines,right?I was just pointing out how much the machines would cost so he could have a better perspective on things.if you notice I never advised him to buy based on the value of the machines.go read the last sentance of my post, #9,I believe thats the advice an acomplished operator would give,in that paticular scenario with the info given.

[havending]

Your right racks can add up fast.  i think that this would be a good purchase.

[agrantha]

Antonio

My post was not directed at your post.  It seems that you are upset by my post.  There is no harm or insult intended. It just appears that everyone on this board is machine happy.  It sort of reminds me of my co-workers...the way they talk about the car they drive, but they are all broke.  Be careful not to become a proud vendor, but rather a professional vendor.  If you become too proud than you will someday become a victim to yourself. 

I beleive JoeBob will become a wealthy man one day because he has his life in perspective and machines are just a tool.

[antoniocinisi]

argantha:no offense taken at all we are here to debate and thats what were doing.

with proof of income,and with little chance of getting booted on the first service cycle  I believe this would be an acceptable deal for a couple of reasons.I know you cant assume anything but assumeing he leaves you with  good looking machines half full of decent selling stock you should make at least a third of the $ back with that,based on $800,but I wonder have you tried offering less?based on those numbers you should make your money back in about 7-9 months,thats not bad imo.is he selling out ?why did he pull the other racks?go with your gut instinct and let us know what you decide and how it turns out.

[agrantha]

Kelly

Vendstars may be crappy machines, but that is all I have right now.  They are clean and I service them monthly.  One day I will be a big time vendor like you.  I hope you are still around because it is good guys like you that will keep me going 

I think vending is great, but my perspective is based on my long term goals.  As most of you know, my long term goal is to own and operate a Laundromat.  Just like the car I drive, I am not interested in the make and model.  I only care that it is clean, runs well and gets me from point A to point B.  When I purchase a car, I purchase a box of miles.  The same goes for candy machines.  I think all cars are good cars.  The owner of a car is usually the problem if the car is a problem.  As long as you perform routine maintenance on the car it should serve you well.  The same goes for a candy machine.

Maybe one day when I purchase a laundromat, I will concern myself with name brands…or will I really?

I guess by reading my post you guys can tell I clip coupons and have lots of generic food at home. 

Value....Value.....Value....Value....Value 

[lurtsman]

Go out and buy a bunch of crappy machines and get ya some good locations, let me know how that works out for ya.

I did this. Bought 15$ machines and by sheer accident acquired gravy locations. I'm actually quite happy with how it worked out The locators were paid off in 2 months time. I'm working through a huge batch of 35$ triples now and couldn't be happier. There are times for spending, but there are also some great steals that come along. In this particular case, I'd probably buy the equipment after talking to the store owner to make sure it could stay there. I have no problems paying a full years net to acquire a rack on location. The brand of the machine matters also, because I want it to be quick to service and hassle free. I have a strong preference for northwesterns on my racks and 1800 triples. Now I do have some real junker machines, and I'd be a little embarassed to bring them into nice locations. I'm working on selling those off, but I do have some on location. I got them for a couple bucks per machine and self located them. Paid off in the first month. Two month service cycle and the locations are convenient. I prefer having great machines to work with, but sometimes you get an opportunity that will help you expand. If I ran out of money expanding this business, I'd be working all kinds of over time and asking family for loans. So a good opportunity to buy cash flow sounds quite exciting. For me, by far, the hardest part of the business is acquiring new accounts. I'm working on that, and it is a struggle. I got two more "yes" while I was out servicing my route yesterday. I've certainly made some bad decisions that set my business back, but I think new vendors may get price and quality mixed up. The machines I bought for 35$ were easily worth 100$.New vendors need to remember a few things:

1. Buying cash flow is a good thing, just make sure you have a reasonable pay back period and that the account will stay active.

2. The kind of machines you buy is a part of the equation. If this same deal was presented with poorly maintained machines without drop through mechs, I'd be inclined to walk away.

3. Price is not always reliable in establishing the quality of the item being purchased or sold. The sellers sometimes don't have a clue what fair market value is for an item. I've called people to find out they wanted 100$ for a pair of old A&A one inch cap machines. It's not that the deal is awful, but they got ripped off on a second hand website and were convinced they had the right price. Those machines are probably still in their basement. I thanked them politely and declined. They were insistent that I didn't know the value of the machines, but as a professional operator, only I knew the value. If that same double head was on a charity location doing 20-25$ a month, I would've bought it for the cash flow.

[havending]

Kelly

Vendstars may be crappy machines, but that is all I have right now.  They are clean and I service them monthly.  One day I will be a big time vendor like you.  I hope you are still around because it is good guys like you that will keep me going 

I think vending is great, but my perspective is based on my long term goals.  As most of you know, my long term goal is to own and operate a Laundromat.  Just like the car I drive, I am not interested in the make and model.  I only care that it is clean, runs well and gets me from point A to point B.  When I purchase a car, I purchase a box of miles.  The same goes for candy machines.  I think all cars are good cars.  The owner of a car is usually the problem if the car is a problem.  As long as you perform routine maintenance on the car it should serve you well.  The same goes for a candy machine.

Maybe one day when I purchase a laundromat, I will concern myself with name brands…or will I really?

I guess by reading my post you guys can tell I clip coupons and have lots of generic food at home. 

Value....Value.....Value....Value....Value 

Im a rack guy and only have a hand full of vend stars.  And I have loaned most of them to a church to raise money for their youth trip.  Only bought them because i got them for like 30 bucks brand new.  But my point is that they are NOT crapy machines.  The lid seals tight and the coin door closes tught and is recesed to help prevent theift.  There lite when empty.  They are just way over priced when bought from VEND STAR direct.  Buy all the vend stars you want only if you get a good price, Find great locations and you will be fine.

[havending]

I just saw some one had said the word VendStar and I guess I thought we were comparing them.  But Kelly is right its best to buy good quality machines that will work 99% of the time for you.  If not you end up having to drive out to a service call many times for a very small problem.  I tend to shy away from buying on ebay or clist because often times you will end up with crap.  I do understand that sometimes a great deal will come by that you must jump on.  I feel thats its also best to stick with the same line of machines,  The reason being changing parts and fixing machines is much easyer if you are stramlined.  Also best to only have a few key codes that maks is alot easyer.  Im not putting down any ones way of doing things just adding some thought to the topic.  I know starting out you often have to do what you need to do to help keep cost down just dont do it at the expence of being profitable in the long term.  If any of you remember when sams club used to sell eagles most of the clubs had a well stocked supply of them.  Thats what i started with and i ran those jokers til they just wouldnt turn any more.  Good topic keep it going

[sbishop]

Thanks for all the advise. I have not done anything yet. I am waiting on my tax return check. The guy is getting out of the vending business becuase he is too busy to keep up the route. He had some other locations that he pulled the machines as he sold out of product.

At this point I am waiting for the refund before I inspect the location.

[amc-vending]

I prefer XYZ or 1800 machines and have several of them on location and some getting cleaned up to put on location.

BUT I had a guy call me a couple of weekes ago that I had purchased 2 vendstar 3000 from when I first started out and  because of his health and wifes health he is getting out of the business.  he had 17 machines on location, 35 in storage and another 25 that was "incomplete" plus a small table top snack machine and a small soda machine that holds 3 selections about 60 cans total (on location),, plus tons of spare parts etc - I purchased everything for 3K.

Once I get them locatated Plus the XYZ's I will have around 107+ machines making quarters every month.

So as long as they work and make you money that is what matters.