Buying a Vending Machine Route in Australia — Due Diligence Checklist
Buying an existing vending route? Here's the 12-point due diligence checklist every buyer should run before handing over money.
14 March 2026 · 8 min read · Reviewed and updated 13 September 2026
Why routes come up for sale Operators retire, downsize, or move interstate. A route with 15–40 machines can be a turnkey small business — if you buy the right one.
The 12-point checklist 1. **Machine list** — make, model, age, serial number, location, monthly gross. 2. **Site agreements** — written and current? Assignable to a new operator? 3. **Cashless contracts** — Nayax/Vendon accounts, transfer fees, remaining term. 4. **Bank statements** — 24 months of deposits reconciled against reported gross. 5. **DEX or telemetry data** — sales by machine, by month, by product. 6. **Cost of goods** — supplier accounts, current pricing, minimum order values. 7. **Service history** — breakdown log per machine. 8. **Vehicle & warehouse** — included in sale or separate? 9. **Staff** — anyone under an employment contract? 10. **Debts to sites** — commission owed, unpaid rent. 11. **ATO / super compliance** — clean statement of position. 12. **Handover period** — 4–8 weeks of shadowing is normal.
Typical valuations Routes trade at **8–14× monthly net profit** (not gross). Anything higher, ask why. Anything lower, ask harder.
Related: start a vending business · site services.
Verify the revenue before you value the route
A route is worth its site agreements and its cash flow, not its machines. Ask for, and actually check:
- Twelve months of cashless settlement statements — these are bank-verifiable in a way that a spreadsheet is not.
- Cash reconciliation records for the same period.
- Every site agreement in writing, with the remaining term and notice period.
- The age of each machine, and each refrigeration deck.
- Which sites the seller has lost in the last two years, and why.
- Whether any site is a related party or a personal relationship that will leave with the seller.
Sites with no written agreement can terminate the week after settlement. Price them at close to nothing.
Geography is the hidden value
Route density determines whether the business is a job or an investment. Twenty machines within a 20 km radius of Newcastle, Geelong or Ipswich is a viable operation; twenty machines spread from Sydney to Dubbo is a driving career. Map every site before you agree a price, and drive the loop once at the time of day you would actually service it.
Also confirm freight and technician access for any remote site, and whether stock supply arrangements transfer. Read the due diligence background and the income reality check.
Frequently asked questions
- How do you value a vending machine route in Australia?
- On verified cash flow and the strength of its written site agreements, adjusted for machine and refrigeration deck age. Sites without written agreements carry very little value.
- What records should a route seller provide?
- Twelve months of cashless settlement statements, cash reconciliations, every site agreement, machine and deck ages, and an honest account of sites lost recently.
- Does route density matter?
- Enormously. Machines clustered within a short radius are a business; the same machines spread across hundreds of kilometres are mostly a driving commitment.