Frequently Asked Questions

Click below for quick links to the following sections:

Bulk Vending Business

Our Business Practices and Terms & Conditions (includes shipping, guarantee and warranty questions)

Our Bulk Vending Machines

Bulk Vending Business Questions

1. How much money will my gumball machine make?

There is an old saying in the real estate business that the three most important rules for successful real estate are location, location and location. The same thing is true in the gumball vending business. In the right location, practically any gumball machine can generate good revenue. The trick is to get enough of your machines in the right locations and then to service those machines with the right sort of product. The more traffic your gumball machine faces, the better. A general rule of thumb average for any gumball machine in the vending business is 1-2 vends per selection per day. Assuming 25 cents per vend, the daily yield per machine would be 25-50 cents, or $7.50-$15 per month, per selection. As with any average, your machine will do more or less which in fact will be the case.

2. Do I have to pay the store I place my gumball machines in? How does it work?

There are generally two different approaches on this – either commission or charity. With the commission approach the store owner receives a percentage of what the machine makes.  For example, most operators offer a commission on sales in the 10%-30% range, depending on the type of location and how competitive the local marketplace is.  

The charity approach requires you to have a charity affiliation.  The charity endorses you as a vendor and the store owner is persuaded to donate a small amount of space in their store for your machine to help support the charity.  With a charity, your machines are required to have a sticker placed on them that identifies the charity that has endorsed you.  You, as the operator, are required to pay a monthly "royalty" fee to the charity for the use of the stickers.

3. How do I get locations for my machines?

The most cost efficient, albeit the most time consuming process, is locating the machines yourself.  However, most new operators, and even experienced operators, chose to outsource this process to a professional locator since they specialize in the “art” of securing locations for your machines.  Locators either work through telemarketing (they solicit locations by cold calling target locations and making their pitch over the phone) or by onsite locating.  For onsite locating, the locator goes door-to-door making their pitch and they bring fully loaded machines with them to place immediately in the location.  If you choose onsite locating, it is a good idea to ride along with the locator, so you learn the art of locating.

Business Practices and Terms & Conditions

 

1. What are your office hours?

We are open Monday-Friday 9:00am-4:30pm Eastern Time.  Our warehouse is located in Millington, NJ.   Our address is 50 Division Ave, Millington, NJ 07946. 

2. I live near Millington, NJ.  Can I pick up my order in person to save on shipping costs?

Absolutely.  Many of our customers pick up their orders at our warehouse.  Orders can be picked up in person before 3:30pm Eastern Time.  If you are going to pick up in person, please let us know when you place your order, and we ask that you give at least a one day notice, so that we can have your order ready for pick up when you get here.  For larger orders, such as a number of machines or capsuled toys, please provide 1-2 days notice, so that we can build and test the machines for you.  For machines that are being built for customer pick up, we can also mount them on racks and pipe stands at no extra charge.

3. How long will it take to receive my order?

Order processing takes place Monday-Friday between 9:00am-4:30pm Eastern Time and most orders ship within 24-72 hours of receipt of your order.  Depending on your location, shipping may take another 2-5 days (see UPS ground service map below).  Extra time may be required for large filled capsule toy orders to allow for assembly of capsules.  Spiral Machines are built-to-order and require a minimum 2-week lead-time.

4. What are my shipping charges?

All orders are shipped FOB from our Millington, NJ warehouse.  Normal shipping is by UPS Ground.  Shipping charges are added to each order and are calculated on each individual order based upon your zip code, number of packages and weight of each package.  Over sized items and dimensional sized boxes are subject to additional charges. 

We pack each order as efficiently as possible, combining multiple items into as few a number of shipping packages as possible, in order to minimize shipping charges.  .

Large orders are shipped by LTL (less than truckload) service via a common carrier.  If you require faster delivery, please let us know when you place your order.

Orders shipped to Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico are typically shipped by UPS Ground service, unless specified otherwise.  Other international destinations, United States possessions (such as Guam, Saipan, etc.) and military APO/FPO address are typically shipped via US Postal Service Economy Parcel Post, unless specified otherwise.  Large international orders can be shipped by either sea or air-freight.  Pricing for international shipping will vary greatly based upon type of transport method used.  Please contact us for delivery and freight quotes for international shipments.

5. How long will it take to get my order?

Please refer to the map below for approximate scheduled delivery times for orders shipped by UPS Ground service.  For destinations not included on this map, please contact us.

6. How can I track the status of my shipment?

If you provided an email address to us when placing your order over the phone or on the Internet, and your order ships via UPS, you will receive an email notification when it leaves our warehouse.  The email notice will include the UPS racking number of your shipment.  The tracking number is hyper-linked to the UPS tracking website so it can be clicked to view the current status of your shipment.  You can also enter the UPS tracking number at the following URL to get most current tracking information:

http://www.ups.com/WebTracking/track?loc=en_US&WT.svl=PriNav

7. Is there a minimum shipping charge for orders?

Yes, the minimum shipping charge is $4.95.

8. How can I pay for your products?

We accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express.  If you do not wish to pay by credit card, you may mail a check or money order. 

9. Do you accept COD?

We do not ship via COD. 

10. What is your return/cancellation policy?

We want you to be totally satisfied with your purchase, so we have a 30-day money back guarantee for all our products, except food products (gum, candy and nuts) and Crane Machines.  If you are not satisfied with your purchase for any reason, simply contact us within 30 days of receipt.  If we cannot resolve the problem, we will provide you instructions on how to return your products.  Upon arrival of the returned item, a credit will be issued for the cost of the item less the shipping charges and a 20% restocking fee.  For orders over $2,500, the restocking fee is 25%, less shipping charges.

All returned products must be in their original packaging and must be returned in a never-used condition.  No returns or adjustments after 30 days.  Shipping charges for returns are the responsibility of the customer.

11. What happens if my order arrives damaged?

We cannot be responsible for breakage, damage or loss of merchandise while in transit.  All freight claims must be reported to the carrier within 10 days of receipt of your order.  The carrier will submit a claim to us and we will be able to re-ship the damaged or lost pieces of your order. 

For damaged or lost UPS shipments, you can file a UPS claim electronically by visiting http://www.ups.com or by calling 1-800-PICK-UPS.  Please have your UPS tracking number handy. 

For more information on how the UPS claims process works, please refer to http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/resources/service/claims/hlp/faq.html.

12. What is the warranty on the machines?

All of our bulk vending machines carry a Lifetime Warranty against manufacturers defects.  You simply ship the warranted product, postage/freight paid, back to us and we will will then repair or replace the warranted part or the entire machine, at our discretion. The Lifetime Warranty is valid on the entire machine, with the exception of the globe and coin mechanism.  Vandalism and normal wear and tear are not covered under the warranty.  The customer is responsible for return freight charges.  Please pack a note with the warranted product that you are returning that includes the following information:

1. Original purchaser's name, address and phone number
2. Return ship to address, if different than above
3. Description of the problem
4. Method of payment for return shipping charges (such as, charging the credit card that is on file; contact purchaser before shipping; new credit card number with expiration date, etc.)

We also offer an Advance Cross Ship program for warranty replacement parts.  If you need a warranty replacement part immediately and cannot wait to ship it back to us before receiving the new or repaired part, you can call and request an Advance Cross Ship warranty replacement part.  We will require a credit card number in order to process the Advance Cross Ship, however your credit card will only be charged for the price of the part and freight if we do not receive the defective part back from you within 20 days.

13. Do you offer any financing or leasing options?

Yes, we can offer financing options for transactions over $5,000 in value.  Please call 1-800-927-4526 for more information or click here to fill out an online finance application.

14. Can you explain how your locating services work?

For small locating projects (typically less than 40 locations), we perform locating services via our in-house telemarketing locator.  Our in-house locator will contact you beforehand to discuss what type of vending approach you will be using (e.g., commission or charity), and the size and type of machines that need to be located (if they were not purchased from us).  Once we secure a location, we call you immediately to let you know the name and address of the establishment and your point of contact to see when dropping the machine off. 

For large locating projects (typically more than 40 locations), we perform locating services via our onsite locator.  Our locator will contact you ahead of time to coordinate logistics, such as travel arrangements, truck/van rental requirements, start date, etc.  To make the most efficient use of your time with our locator, by the time our locator arrives, you are responsible for having all the machines setup, loaded with product and having the machines loaded in a truck or van to transport them.

15. Do you offer any guarantees on the locations you find?

Yes, our locating policy is as follows.  First, it is understood that you will accept all the locations we find, within reason, and that we make no guarantee as to the financial return of any location that we secure for you. Also, for our telemarketing locating services, you must attempt to place your machine within seven (7) days of the date that we notify you of the location we have secured.  We guarantee to get your machine placed in a location, so if any location refuses your machine to be installed at the time of placement, we will find you another location free of charge. 

If a location we find for you is not working out or you want your machine relocated, we will find you a new location for half of our standard locating fee.  For example, our standard locating fee is $60, per location for a single, double or triple machine, so the relocation charge would be $30, per location.  The relocation will be conducted via telemarketing.  This discount only applies to machines we have previously located and does not apply to new machines a customer may wish to have located.

16. Please explain how your package offers work?

Our packages include everything you need to get started in the vending business, or to expand your existing route.  Packages are available for our most popular machines: the 7900 Basic, 7900B Series Doubleheader and the Trivend machine.  Each package is a turnkey program that includes the all the machines, locations (either through telemarketing or onsite locating, depending on the size of the package) and food products to either get started in the vending business or to expand your existing routes.  You can choose the food products (Reese's Pieces, Cashews and Pistachios are available at an additional cost) at time of order, or we can make recommendations for you based upon our experience of what sells best in these types of machines.  Enough food is included to fill each head once.

17. What if I want to order a package, but don't need any locating services?

We have all of the same great turnkey packages that have locating services included also available with only the food and machines.  Click here to view our packages that include only food and our best selling machines.

19. What if I want to order a package, but don't need any food?

    We do offer the same packages in a machine + location only package.  Please call us at 1-800-927-4526 to inquire.

20. How do you ensure that the information I provide you is kept private and secure?

Your personal privacy is very important to us.  It is our policy that the personal information you provide us in the course of conducting business with us, such as your name, address, phone numbers, email address, credit card number, etc., is kept private and confidential.  We may use and will only use this information to process and ship orders, to contact you about the status of your order, to contact you with answers to your questions, or to provide you with information about our new products and special offers if you wish to receive such information. We do not sell or provide any personal information to third parties.  

An SSL-encrypted shopping cart processing system handles all online transactions.  This prevents any unauthorized person from seeing your information.  If you are not comfortable with online transactions, please call us and we’ll be happy to process your credit card payment over the phone.

Our Vending Machines

 

1. What is the difference between a candy wheel, gumball wheel and toy wheel?

In order for a bulk vending machine to dispense a certain type of product, it must be outfitted with a proper wheel mechanism.  To determine what wheel you need to specify at the time of order, please refer to the following: 

Gumball Wheel – Vends 1” (850 Count) (most popular size) and .94" (925 Count) gumballs, 1” round capsuled toys and 27mm Superballs (bouncy balls) 

Candy Wheel – Vends Small candies, nuts and gum (Chicklets) and small-gumballs (1080 Count, 1430 Count, 3650 Count and 8500 Count) 

Toy Wheel – Vends 1.1” capsuled toys, 1.13" (600 Count) and 1.2" (475 Count) gumballs

Please note, only the Elegante Capsule Vendor machine can vend 2" (138 Count) gumballs, large 49mm Superballs and 2" and 1 3/4" capsuled toys.

2. If I don’t specify a type of wheel at time of order, what kind of wheel will I get?

You will receive a Gumball Wheel.  Please note, however, that Trivends come standard with three (3) Candy Wheels.

3. What are the standard sizes of gumballs?

The "count" number of the case indicates the size of the gumball, as well as how many gumballs are in each case.  Click here for a gumball size chart.

4. Can I vend large gumballs in a candy wheel or vice versa?

Large (850 or 925 count gumballs) cannot be dispensed in a candy wheel.  The gumballs will be sliced and/or the machine will jam.  Small gumballs can be dispensed in a gumball wheel, however, too much of the product will be released and if the coin mechanism handle is jiggled without putting a coin in the coin mechanism, product will trickle down the chute – giving it away for free.  Therefore, it is very important that you specify the type of wheel for the product that you plan on vending in your machines.

Please note, only the Elegante Capsule Vendor machine can vend 2" (138 Count) gumballs and a toy wheel is required in our small bulk vending machines to dispense 1.13" (600 Count) and 1.2" (475 Count) gumballs.

5. Can I vend capsuled toys in a 7900-12000 series machine?

Yes.  You can vend 1” round capsules with the standard Gumball Wheel, or with the optional Toy Wheel, you can vend 1.1” capsules.

6. Can your machines be sent to vend for foreign coins or tokens?

Yes, we have literally cut coin mechanisms for thousands of foreign coins and tokens.  We maintain a physical inventory of hundreds of foreign coins and tokens that we have at one time cut a custom coin mechanism for.  Please contact us for more information. 

7. Can your machines be set to vend for free?

Yes, please note this as a special request at the time of order.  There is a $10.00 factory charge to set the coin mechanism to vend for free.

8. How can I tell the difference between a Gumball Wheel and a Candy Wheel?

The Gumball Wheel has one large spring facing straight up.  The Candy Wheel as 8 small springs facing straight down.

9. How can I adjust the setting of my Candy Wheel?

The Candy Wheel (also known as the Deep Adjustable Wheel) has 6 different settings that allow you to adjust the amount of product that is dispensed per vend.  Setting 1 dispenses the most amount product and Setting 6 dispenses the least amount of product.  Our machines ship with a default setting of 4, which is adequate for most small candy products.  To adjust the settings, follow these simple steps below (the instructions are for a 7900-12000 Series machine, for a Trivend just follow steps 3-5):

1) Unlock lid (turning key counterclockwise) and remove the lid

2) Unscrew the 2 side rods that secure the globe enough to remove the globe from the body (click here for a schematic) 

3) Remove the Deep Adjustable Brush Housing (wheel with 8 small springs facing down) by sliding it up the center rod

4) You will see a propeller wheel with a single notch that should be locked into Setting 4 of the Deep Adjustable Wheel.  Simply lift up the propeller wheel and position it into a new setting (Setting 1 dispenses the most product; Setting 6 dispenses the least product).

5) Before re-installing the Deep Adjustable Brush Housing, make sure that the three openings in the Wheel are at the 12 o'clock, 4 o'clock and 8 o'clock positions, with the 8 o'clock position completely over the product chute.

6) Slide the Deep Adjustable Brush Housing back down over the center rod.  There is only one way the brush housing can be installed, so the 2 holes for the side rods will be at the 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock positions. 

7) Re-install the globe by screwing in the side rods.  Make sure that the side rods are screwed in tight, otherwise there might be a little play in the Deep Adjustable Wheel that could cause extra product to be dispensed.

8) Re-install the lid and you are done. 

10. How are the coins retrieved from my 7900-12000 series machine?

1) Unlock lid (turning key counterclockwise)

2) Taking hold of the coin mechanism handle and side or rear of the lower body case, lift entire machine (except base) straight up a few inches until the bottom of the body case clears the interior side walls of the base. 

3) Turn machine to the right or left so that the bottom of the body case can rest securely on the interior side walls of the base.

4) Coins may now be easily hand-scooped out of the lower opening over a specially beveled threshold into any container of choice.

5) With all coins collected, simply turn and slip the machine back down onto the base.

Once the above procedure is learned, it can be done in a matter of seconds. The coin retrieval system allows coin removal without having to lift up the globe assembly or lower body case up over the center rod....then having to look for a place to set them down. This procedure is a time-saving, time-proven method almost universally endorsed by the largest and most successful operators in the industry

11. How are the coins retrieved from my Elegante toy capsule machine?

The Elegante accepts the coins and cycles them through the Coin Mechanism into a coin box in the Base. You do not need to remove the product to retrieve coins.

1) Unlock lid (turning key counterclockwise) and remove lid

2) Lift the front of the Globe Assembly about one (1) inch (refer to figure below)

 
3) Tilt the top of the Front Panel forward and down

 

4) Coin box is located on the left side of the vending machine (refer to figure below)

 

12. What are the steps to mount my small bulk vending machines onto a pipe stand?

1) Screw one end of the threaded pipe into the pipe stand base. 

2) With the screws and nuts included with the pipe stand, mount the threaded flange to the double bar by bolting the flange onto the bottom of the double bar through the holes with the metal sleeves in them. The screws should be facing downwards, so that the nuts are on the bottom of the double bar and should be screwed through the two LARGE holes in the flange.

3) Unlock and unscrew the lock from each machine.

4) Lift the entire body from each machine off of the base by sliding it up the center rod.

5) Place each base on the double bar so that the holes in the bottom of the base are directly over the threaded screw holes on each side of the double bar (make sure the bases are both facing the same direction).

6) With the mounting screws and washers included with the machines, place one of the washers over each hole in the bottom of the base and then screw a bolt into the double bar. Tighten so that the washer and screw are secure.  You do not need a nut on these bolts.

7) Repeat for each base (there are two mounting holes per base).

8) Once the bases are securely mounted on the double bar, reinstall the bodies back on each base.

9) Screw the double bar/mounted machine assembly onto the pipe stand and you are done.