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Industries — South Africa

One terminal, one portal, whatever you run unattended

Vending, coffee, laundry, car washes, arcades, EV charge points, access control and branded cards — VendBot fits a payment terminal and a live dashboard to your site. None of this is a shelf product you install yourself. Tell us what you’re running and where, and our team integrates it for your site, anywhere in South Africa.

Vending

Snack, drink, ice-cream and fresh-food machines

A VendBot P5L payment terminal fitted to a CV1000 vending machine, with cash also accepted
A standard vending machine fitted with the VendBot P5L terminal — card and cash side by side.

Standard MDB vending machines — snack, drink, ice-cream and fresh-food units — run through the same VendBot P5L terminal and portal, with cash and card sales reconciled together from the same machine.

How it works on this machine: the P5L mounts to the machine’s MDB bus. A customer taps, dips or enters a PIN on the terminal’s touchscreen when the card requires it; cash still works over MDB too. Every sale posts to the portal, and the terminal switches to cellular automatically if the site’s WiFi drops.

Can you put a card reader on any vending machine?
It needs to speak MDB, the standard payment connection on vending machines. Tell us what you’re running and we’ll confirm it for your site.
Do vending machine card readers need wifi?
A network connection, yes — normally WiFi, with automatic cellular fallback if the site’s WiFi drops, switching back once it’s available again.
How much does a vending machine card device cost?
We quote per site rather than publish a fixed price — get a quote for your site.

Coffee machines

Coffee machines

Illustration: a VendBot P5L terminal fitted to a bean-to-cup coffee machine
Illustration — the VendBot P5L on a bean-to-cup coffee machine.

MDB coffee machines run cashless the same way as vending — card on the terminal, cash still over MDB, both monitored the same way in the portal. Machines that use a keypad or buttons instead of MDB are a custom integration; talk to us about yours.

How it works on this machine: where the coffee machine speaks MDB, the P5L fits and reconciles exactly as it does on a vending machine. Where it doesn’t, we scope the connection to your specific machine before quoting anything.

Does a coffee machine card payment integration work on any machine?
Directly, if the machine runs MDB. If it’s keypad- or button-operated, it’s a custom integration we scope per machine — tell us the model you’re running.
Can you add card payment to an office coffee machine?
If it runs MDB, yes. If not, talk to us about the machine model and site, and we’ll confirm the integration path.

Laundromats

Laundromats

Illustration: a VendBot P5L terminal fitted to a laundromat washer row
Illustration — the VendBot P5L on a laundromat washer row.

VendBot Pulse brings a payment terminal and the same portal to laundry machines that don’t speak MDB, with a wiring harness matched to your equipment — card payment on machines that used to take coins only.

How it works on this machine: one VendBot terminal is the brain; a wiring harness matched to your washer or dryer model starts the cycle the way a coin used to, and the sale reconciles in the same portal as an MDB vending machine.

Is there a card machine for laundromats?
Yes — VendBot Pulse fits a card payment terminal to laundry machines, wired to match your equipment. Tell us your machine models and we’ll scope it for your site.
How much does a laundromat card payment system cost?
We quote per site rather than publish a fixed price — get a quote for your site.
Does it work with my existing coin-operated machines?
That depends on the model: a harness matched to it is what we scope per site, rather than sell off the shelf.

Car washes

Car washes

Illustration: a VendBot P5L terminal fitted to a self-service car-wash pedestal
Illustration — the VendBot P5L on a self-service car-wash pedestal.

The same VendBot Pulse approach fits card-operated self-service car wash bays — one terminal as the brain, a wiring harness matched to your equipment.

How it works on this machine: the terminal takes the card sale and triggers the bay controller through the matched harness, the same way a coin or token used to — and it reports into the same portal as the rest of your fleet.

Can a self-service car wash take card payments?
Yes — talk to us about your bay controllers and equipment, and we’ll scope the wiring harness for your site.
Does it replace my existing coin or token system?
It depends on the equipment — that’s exactly what we scope per site before quoting anything.

Arcade & claw machines

Arcade & claw machines

Illustration: a VendBot P5L terminal fitted to a claw machine
Illustration — the VendBot P5L on a claw machine.

Card payment on arcade and claw machines that used to take coins only, run through the same portal as the rest of your fleet.

How it works on this machine: the VendBot terminal and a harness matched to the machine’s coin mechanism take the place of coins, and each play reconciles as a sale in the portal alongside your other machines.

Can arcade or claw machines take card payments?
Yes — talk to us about the machine models you run and we’ll scope the integration for your site.
How much does a card reader for arcade machines cost?
We quote per site rather than publish a fixed price — get a quote for your site.

Photo booths

Photo booths

Illustration: a VendBot P5L terminal fitted to a photo booth
Illustration — the VendBot P5L on a photo booth.

Photo booths and other keystroke- or button-triggered equipment are a custom integration — tell us what software and hardware you’re running and we scope the connection for your site.

How it works on this machine: every booth is different, so we start by reviewing what triggers your booth today before proposing how a VendBot terminal fits alongside it.

Can you add card payment to a photo booth?
It depends on the booth’s software and how it’s triggered — talk to us about what you’re running and we’ll scope it for your site.

EV charging

EV charging

Illustration: a VendBot P5L terminal fitted to a wall-mounted EV charger
Illustration — the VendBot P5L on a wall-mounted EV charger.

Card payment at your charge points is a custom integration, scoped per site — talk to us about what you’re running.

How it works on this machine: EV charge points vary by hardware and network, so we start with your setup before proposing an integration path.

Do you install EV chargers?
No — VendBot integrates payment and telemetry onto unattended equipment; we don’t manufacture or install the charging hardware itself. Talk to us about adding card payment to charge points you already have.
What does an EV charger payment terminal integration involve?
It depends on your charge point hardware and network — tell us what you’re running and we’ll scope it for your site.

Access control

Access control

Illustration: a VendBot P5L terminal fitted to a lobby speed gate
Illustration — the VendBot P5L on a lobby speed gate.

Gates, turnstiles and doors that need a payment or a tap to open are a custom integration, scoped per site.

How it works on this machine: tell us what the gate, turnstile or door already runs, and we scope how a VendBot terminal fits alongside it before quoting anything.

Can you add card payment to a gate or turnstile?
Talk to us — access control is scoped individually per site, the same as any custom integration.

Branded allowance cards

Branded allowance cards

Illustration: three branded prepaid cards fanned out — a VendBot card and two operator-branded cards
Illustration — branded prepaid cards, one design per business.

A card your business issues, with an allowance your team sets and tracks from the portal — not a separate financial account.

How it works on this machine: an issued card taps the same VendBot terminal a bank card does. Your business holds it; your team sets an allowance per card from the portal, and each tap draws down against that allowance, tracked the same way you’d track any other business expense.

Can I have branded cards for my own machines?
Yes — we supply allowance cards printed with your brand, built for your site; your team sets and tracks each card’s allowance from the portal. See what’s possible for your brand →
Who holds the money?
Your business does. VendBot tracks usage against the allowance your team sets; the card itself is not a separate financial account.

Ready when you are

Get a quote for your site

Tell us what you’re running and where. We’ll come back with a plan for your site, not a standard script.

Questions? Chat with us on WhatsApp

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