There’s no approval process. Your link works the minute you have a free VendBuddy account, and it keeps paying for a year after somebody uses it.
Two rewards come off the same link. Credits you can spend in the product, and cash we send you by PayPal. Nothing here is a business opportunity and we aren’t going to tell you what you could make. What we can tell you is exactly what each referral is worth.
Get your link
Free account, no card. The link is waiting on the Referrals tab.
Get my referral link →What you get
10% of $29, $49 or $79 a month is $2.90, $4.90 or $7.90 per paying operator per month. It’s a small number per person on purpose: this pays the people who are already talking to a lot of operators, not the people who post a link once.
How the tracking works
- Someone opens your link. We store the code in their browser, so they can wander off and come back later and it still counts.
- They make an account. The code is written onto their record at that moment. That record is what everything else reads.
- They verify their email and spend a credit. Forty-eight hours after signup, your 25 credits land.
- They put a card on a paid plan. From that month, 10% of what they pay accrues to you, every month, for 12 months.
- We pay out by PayPal once a month. Anything under $25 rolls into next month rather than vanishing.
How it pays
Monthly, by PayPal, to the address you enter on the Referrals tab in the app. The minimum payout is $25 and a balance under it carries forward. Commission runs for the referred customer’s first 12 months and then stops, whether or not they stay.
What does not pay: referring yourself or a second account of your own, signups from the same device, traffic from coupon and deal sites, and anyone who refunds or charges back. If you post your link publicly you have to say it is a referral link. That’s an FTC rule about your post, not a VendBuddy preference, and the word “referral” sitting in plain sight is all it takes.
Who this is for
- Vending creators on YouTube and TikTok. You already answer “how do you find locations” in the comments every week. Link the answer.
- Facebook group admins. A pinned post and a link in the group rules keeps earning long after you stop thinking about it.
- Operators with a crew. Your drivers and the operators you trade tips with are the exact people this was built for.
- Locator services. You already sell finding locations. This is the tool your clients will ask about afterwards.
- Machine sellers and distributors. Somebody who just bought a machine has one question, and it’s where to put it.
Copy and post
Five things you can put somewhere today. Your own link is already in each one if you’re signed in, and every one of them discloses that it is a referral link.
If you run vending, this is the tool I use to find placements: type a ZIP, get the buildings scored, get the name of the person who decides. Referral link, so I get paid if you stick around: vendbuddy.io/?ref=YOURCODE
This comes up here every week, so: the way I find locations now is to type the ZIP into VendBuddy, look at what it scores highest, and pull the decision-maker contact for the two or three worth a call. Searching costs nothing, a credit only goes when you reveal a contact. Referral link below, which means I earn something if you subscribe: vendbuddy.io/?ref=YOURCODE
Stop cold-walking strip malls. Type your ZIP, get the buildings ranked, get the name and email of whoever signs. Free to search. Referral link: vendbuddy.io/?ref=YOURCODE
Quick one. I have been using VendBuddy to work out which buildings near me are worth a machine, and it has saved me a lot of pointless driving. You type a ZIP, it scores the businesses in it on dwell time and foot traffic, and for one credit it hands you the decision-maker with an email and a phone number. Scripts and a placement agreement are in there too. A free account gets you 5 credits with no card. The link below is a referral link, so I get a cut if you subscribe: vendbuddy.io/?ref=YOURCODE
I use VendBuddy for location scouting (referral link, disclosing that up front): vendbuddy.io/?ref=YOURCODE
Questions people actually type
Do I have to apply?
No. There is no application, no approval queue and nobody reviewing your follower count. Make a free account, open the Referrals tab, and the link sitting there is already live. That’s the whole process.
When does a referral actually count?
Two different clocks. The credits land once the person you sent verifies their email, spends at least one credit in the product, and has been signed up for 48 hours. That waiting period is there so a throwaway address can’t mint credits. The cash starts the month they put a card on a paid plan and runs for their first 12 monthly payments.
How much is it, in real money?
VendBuddy is $29, $49 or $79 a month depending on the plan. 10% of that is $2.90, $4.90 or $7.90 a month per paying person, every month for 12 months. Small per head, which is why the people who do well at this are the ones already talking to a lot of operators.
How and when do I get paid?
By PayPal, once a month, to whatever address you put in the Referrals tab. Nothing goes out under $25; a balance below that rolls into the next month instead of disappearing. If we have no PayPal address for you, the balance sits there until you add one.
What gets a referral voided?
Referring yourself, a second account of your own, or someone on the same device. Coupon and deal-site traffic, because that’s not a person you introduced to us, it’s someone who was already coming. Signups that get refunded or charge back. Posting the link without saying it is a referral link also puts you on the wrong side of the FTC, so that one is on you to get right.
Can I run ads on VendBuddy’s name?
No. Bidding on our brand terms means we pay you a commission on people who were typing our name into Google anyway. Write something, talk to your audience, put the link where it belongs. That’s the version of this that works for both of us.
Related
Make vending software or hardware? Partner with VendBuddy is the page for reviews and sponsorships. The gear page shows how we treat a paid link on our own site. Pricing has the plan numbers the commission is a percentage of.