This article is a guide for people interested in starting a vending machine business. A little back ground on me for credibility of this article. I bought my first vending machine when I was 12 years old with lawn mowing money that me and my brother earned together. Our mother didn't want us to blow our money so she set up a deal in my home town to buy the vending machine at the hospital. Every Friday after school me and my younger brother would go fill up the machine split the profit and go on our way. When I reached college I started a vending machine route with one machine in 2009 my Sophomore year of school. The two years leading up to graduation I grew the route big enough I didn't get a job upon graduating, I went to work for myself running my route. The two years following graduating through good marketing, hard work and a few acquisitions I doubled the route in size. After learning I enjoyed working on and buying and selling machines I sold my route to a Soda distributor and started selling vending equipment on the Internet. Please connect with me on Linkedin or email me if you have any questions adam@osvendingsolutions.com

When researching your options in starting a vending machine business you will certainly find out very quickly that vending is a capital intensive business. Upon this realization you are on the right track and most likely realize that it is not feasible or smart to invest in brand new equipment. The average price of a brand new snack vending machine ranges from $3500-6500 plus factory freight. Buying used refurbished vending equipment is the way to go and is how close to 90% of independent vending operators run their companies. This list is going to give you in my professional opinion the 5 best snack vending machines to buy on the used refurbished market.

When deciding what used refurbished snack vending machines to buy it is important to understand what factors are importing in choosing your equipment. In my opinion there is three main factors that should sway your decision. These three reasons are:
#1 reliability of machine.
#2 ease of use.
#3 availability of specific equipment.

The 1st reason is important because in the vending industry running into problems is inevitable. Vending machines are not perfect and they are going to give you problems whether new or used. So choosing the most reliable machine will give you the potential to make the most money possible. Costly repairs and down times will cost you money cause a broken machine is not making you money & can cause you to lose your account. Also parts and paying repair techs can add up fast so a reliable machine can reduce the future expenses and keep you in the green.

The 2nd reason ease of use should be important because you are starting a new venture. When you are new to something you don't want to get in over your head and be left forced to pay someone to help you with basic operations that should be common knowledge had you had a few years experience under your belt. Having a machine that is easy to use you will be ahead of your competition as you will know how to operate your machine reducing costly down times.

Reason #3 availability of equipment is something that is not to be taken lightly. One thing I see on a regular basis when selling equipment is customers who have taken reason #1 & #2 into consideration but not #3. Not understanding how available the equipment you choose to buy can hurt because this can end up costing you a fortune. When you start in the vending industry you want to buy something that you like and can become accustomed to, so you know what your doing. This can backfire when you start your route and get used to vending machines that are scarce on the used market. When customers come to me wanting machines that are limited in availability it always cost them much more then they would like to spend. Your getting into this business to make money and spending extra money for reasons that can be prevented is your worst enemy.

The #5 best used refurbished snack vending machine on the market to buy in my opinion is the Automatic Products 7600 snack vending machine. This machine easily ranks the highest on the availability scale. This machine is available in quantities of 20 plus by distributors all over the country. This machine is 20 plus years old so its availability is very high we usually have from 10-40 of these in inventory at any given time. You should pay from $999-1450 for one of these used refurbished snack vending machines. This machine has long been known as the workhorse of the vending industry as it has carried high volume accounts with precision and reliability for years. This machine comes in 32 selections model 6000, or 6600 & in 40 selections 7000 or 7600. This machine only comes in single spiral which is not as desirable as dual spiral machines which can cause more hangups when vending items. This machine's electronics are not new and up to date. This machine can accept only up to a $5 bill and standard coinage. This machine cannot do a credit card processor with out major upgrades. So this machine is not a machine that you can grow into more then what you had initially signed up for. This machine is very basic and easy to use with very minimal programming and electronic options this machine will not leave you baffled asking for help. I highly recommend this machine to someone just starting in the business with a lower budget.

Snack machine #4 on this list is the Crane National 147 or 148. This machine comes standard dual spiral accepting bills, coins & can be upgraded to accept $5's. This machine looks great when it has been refurbished with new paint and new vinyl. this machine is readily available on the used market. We usually have any where from 10-40 of these in inventory at any given time. You should pay from $1100-1495 for this machine. This machine has simple easy to use programming and selection features. The largest down side to this machine is the connections on the back of the trays that hit the connectors which run all the way to the board. If not done right these connectors can miss the connection and cause certain selections to work sporadically. But there is an upgrade to hard wire these trays in that removes this problem all together. This machine is definitely great buy and an upgrade from number #5 with dual spirals coming standard. Dual spirals spin away from each other allowing the bag of chips to fall freely to the bottom of the machine. A single spiral corkscrews the product out and can catch the edge of the bag of chips and cause it to hang up more frequently.

Snack machine number #3 is the Automatic Products 113 or 112 snack vending machine. This machine can come in single spiral or dual and comes in a 5 wide or 4 wide. This machine when fully refurbished looks excellent with its clean basic look. This machine is also arguably one of the more reliable machines in the industry. This machine is very available across the country, ordering 10 or more of these would not be a problem from most larger distributors. You should pay from $1200-$1895 depending on configurations. This machine can accept bills and coins & can be upgraded to accept up to a $20 bill. The biggest down side to this machine is that it is not mdb. This price range you are approaching machines that will be mdb and this is important because new up to date accessories such as credit card readers and remote monitoring devices will all by mdb.

Snack machine number #2 is the Crane National 167, 168 snack vending machine. This machine comes in 4 wide & 5 wide sizes. This machine comes standard mdb, dual spiral, rolling price labels. This machine can come with sure vend technology. This is a drop sensor a laser beam through the delivery bin when customers product does not break this beam the machine is smart and spins again. This ensures customers product is delivered or a refund is given. MDB means this machine can run credit card processors, remote monitoring devices & other 3rd party accessories with no extra wiring or software upgrades required. This machine is some of the most reliable I have experienced and when operating it gave me very little problems. The few downsides to this machine are price ranging from $1800-2850 it is a bit on the expensive side for comparable equipment. This is because it is not as available as some of the equipment similar to it. We usually have from 0-5 of these in inventory at any given time. If you decide to spend the money to buy these machines you will not be disappointed.

The #1 used refurbished snack vending machine in my opinion is the Automatic Products 123 or 122. This machine is very reliable like many of the other machines made by this company. This machine on the reliable scale is a 10 out of 10 being as reliable as used vending machines get. This machine is a newer sturdy reliable work horse snack machine that will make you money and continue to make you money for years to come. This machine usually comes standard dual spiral and with a vend or drop sensor. Dual coils for chip selections greatly reduces hang ups causing customer frustration and causing you service calls and head aches. The vend sensor is a laser beam through the product delivery bin of the snack machine. If the customers purchased product does not break this laser beam the machine is smart and will spin again ensuring delivery of the customers product. In the event the machine does two full spins and the customers product does not drop say because they accidentally selected an empty column or product is very hung up the machine will issue customer a credit on the machine or a refund. The AP 123 is very easy to use and maintain. The programing is kept simple and basic and each machine has a description on the inside of the door on how to perform all the functions of the machine. Being an MDB machine this machine can accept credit card readers, remote monitoring devices, bill recyclers and other 3rd party accessories with out extra wiring or programing. The 3rd and final reason to choose a used snack vending machine ease of use this machine gets a very high rating. This machine is readily available on the used market and should cost you between $2250-2650 depending on configurations condition and 3rd party added accessories. We usually have from 5-20 of these in inventory at any given time and could easily gain access to more with appropriate time lines. One particular feature of this machine I think makes it one of the best used snack vending machines is its ability to run a cold or frozen food satellite unit. A satellite unit sits next to the snack machine and runs off of its board and money acceptors to vend the products inside it. The benefit of this is a reduced cost & maintenance because it doesn't have its own board or money acceptors. We have these units in stock and can refurb them to match the home snack unit with paint, trim and vinyl fronts.