Nowadays, due to the proliferation of scammers in the online market place, many legitimate businesses are being affected and being questioned of their legitimacy. Take for instance the honest business of vending locators in the market. Since there were a number of people who were tricked by vending locator scammers, the legitimacy of the vending locator business is being doubted.



Vending locator services are legal businesses run by some companies dedicated in helping those who are in the vending machine industry. Though there is an abundance of vending scams posing to be legitimate and "professional", there are still quite a handful of honest ones who stick to their promise and do not make any excuses when you are dealing business with them. Let me tell you how to differentiate the good vending locators from the bad vending locators based on my 20-year experience in the vending industry.

Dishonest Vending Locators

Obviously, vending locators who want 100% of the locating fees before the machines are placed are dishonest and will do you no good. These companies will either run away with your money and leave you cursing or they are profit hungry ones who want you to surrender your cash first before they evaluate if they can really do the job that will satisfy you. The second thing you have to consider and avoid are companies that do not return your phone calls within 24-48 hours. These companies do not really care about your business and will always make it a point to invent never ending excuses just so they can protect their "professional" interest. Lastly, be wary of the amount of money you will reap in each location. If a locator says that you will get back your investment in six months time, he is without a doubt lying. The average vending operator gets his investment back in a year most of the time.

Legitimate Vending Locators

Legitimate vending locators, on the other hand, understand your needs and work with you by first developing a profitable vending route suitable to your needs. There are two kinds of vending locators, one that locates in person, and another that locates via telemarketing. If you ask me, it is better to stick with the latter. Why? Because more often than not, in-person vending locators are clueless beings who will just dump your machines to any place they think is okay without even surveying other places. A lot of vending locators want to get it done in a hurry and get out of town as fast as possible. The only chance locating thru an in-person is okay is when you go with them and make sure that everything is being done right. Otherwise, stick with the telemarketers. Locating thru telemarketing is a safer way since telemarketers already have leads of legitimate locations and can easily make a call to inquire if a certain location is available or not. You get to see a list of all the companies to choose from and are not on foot in a single area just going door to door.

Also, unlike unethical or dishonest vending locator companies, legitimate ones make it a point to offer a 60- day satisfaction guarantee to give you the chance to see and relocate the products that are not selling. Relocation is at no charge.

Being vigilant pays, now that you know how the dishonest vending locators operate, I am sure that the number of vending machine operators who might be victimized will lessen. The only thing left for us to do now is to spread the word to those who are still unaware. Let us help stop these scammers and let the vending machine industry grow more the honest way.