The LLC / EIN / permits and insurance checklist, the all-50-states distributor list, and the terms glossary that stops you sounding brand new on the phone.
Want all three kits? The Get Started Bundle is $74 of kits for $69, and adds two bonus documents.
It depends on which of the three buying lanes you use, and the distributor list separates them for that reason. A new machine with a card reader lands in the $3,000 to $6,000 band. A dealer-refurbished unit lands in the $1,200 to $3,000 band. A private-party marketplace machine lands in the $300 to $1,500 band. The quoted price is rarely what you pay. Freight, delivery type, a card reader and a small parts kit can move the total by hundreds. The list tells you what to ask, so the number you are quoted is the number you pay.
No. We do not sell machines, we do not take a cut from anyone who does, and there is no referral arrangement behind the list. The distributor list names the national sellers that freight to all 50 states, the refurb dealers worth calling first, the specialty equipment suppliers, and the local lanes that exist in every state, and it tells you what each one is genuinely best for. You buy direct from them.
Legally, in most places, no — you can operate as a sole proprietor. Practically, the reason to form one is that a machine is a heavy object in a public hallway that dispenses food, and an entity is what keeps a claim against the business from reaching your house. The checklist walks the formation, the EIN and the business bank account in the order that makes the liability protection actually hold, and it is explicit that the account being separate is the part people skip.
No. It is a checklist of the steps operators go through, with typical costs. Requirements vary by state and county, and nothing here replaces a local attorney or accountant. Every step that genuinely varies is marked with the exact office to call or phrase to search rather than a national answer we cannot stand behind.
The formation and permit steps are the same everywhere; the specifics are the ones you look up on your own Secretary of State and county health department, and the checklist tells you exactly what to search for. Our free state-by-state vending laws page covers the local quirks.
The setup in this kit is built around that. It is a two-to-three-week list of mostly evening and lunch-break tasks, done while you shop for a machine. The week-by-week timeline assumes you are not doing it full time. What a job does change is the pitching and the restocking. Neither of those is what this document covers.
Three files, 26 pages total. Yours to download and keep — there is no subscription attached to it and access does not expire.
Only if you want both jobs done. This one gets you legally operating and knowing where to buy; the Playbook gets you the conversation that lands a signed location. If you want both, the Get Started Bundle is those two plus the AI prompt pack for less than buying them separately.
Payment is handled by Stripe. VendBuddy sells documents and software. We make no representation about the income, profit, or number of placements any operator will achieve — results depend on your market, your effort, and factors outside anyone’s control. Nothing here is legal advice; have a local attorney review any agreement before you rely on it.