Payments & hardware for vending machines — South Africa
Card & cash payments for vending machines in South Africa
The VendBot P5L is a card machine built for vending machines: it takes contactless and chip card payments, and the machine’s cash sales are captured too, so every sale — card and cash — lands in one reconciliation.
Pricing is quoted per site — see Get a quote.
The terminal
Tap to pay, or dip
The VendBot P5L runs on Android with NFC for contactless bank cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay, plus a chip reader for cards that dip. PIN entry on the terminal’s touchscreen when the card requires it — the same flow shoppers already know from a shop counter.
The same terminal has a camera and a large colour touchscreen. Outside of a sale, that screen is a branding surface — see what’s possible on Your Brand.
Card and cash
Cashless or cash, one reconciliation
Card and cash sales over MDB are both captured on the same machine and land in the same reconciliation — no separate cash count to square against a card statement by hand.
Settlement is set per machine: a direct sale at the point of tap, or a pre-authorisation that captures on a confirmed vend, where the payment provider allows it.
The retrofit
What a retrofit involves
The P5L mounts to the machine and connects over its MDB payment connection. If the site’s WiFi drops, the terminal switches to cellular automatically, and switches back once WiFi is available again.
VendBot installs the terminal — built and supported in South Africa, rolled out nationwide. Typically live within 48 hours of document approval, often the same day. Read the full walkthrough in our retrofit guide.
Pricing
What you’re paying for
Pricing is quoted per site, not published as a fixed number — here’s what goes into a quote.
The terminal
The VendBot P5L payment terminal itself, configured, tested and ready to vend.
Connectivity
Data SIM and connectivity, including the automatic cellular fallback if the site’s WiFi drops.
The portal
Software, live telemetry and reporting in the VendBot portal — see what it shows on Platform.
Per-transaction processing
Card processing: a per-transaction fee, through AddPay.
Installation
Fitting the terminal to your machine, with local installation support.
We quote per site rather than publish a fixed price — get a quote for your site.
Settlement, set per machine
Most machines run a direct sale — the card is charged at tap. Where the payment provider allows it, a machine can run pre-authorisation instead: a hold placed at tap, captured once the vend confirms.
Card sales settle next-day (T+1). Card data is stored masked only — scheme and last 4 digits. Payments are powered by AddPay; VendBot is an AddPay ISO.
From our installations
What a fitted machine looks like
A standard snack-and-drink vending machine, at an anonymous South African site. What was fitted: a VendBot P5L terminal, mounted on the machine and connected over MDB, taking card and cash side by side.
What the operator sees: every sale — cash and card — reconciled in one portal view, with a heartbeat every three minutes so a problem shows up before a site visit does. More real sites on Installations.
Onboarding
Four steps to live
Documents
You send us your KYC documents; we load them into AddPay’s onboarding portal for verification.
AddPay approval
AddPay verifies and approves the merchant, then issues the agreement.
Bench test
Each terminal is tied to its machine’s serial number and bench-tested.
Live on first sale
The machine is marked live automatically on its first real, approved sale.
Typically live within 48 hours of document approval, often the same day.
Compatible machines
Fits the machines you already run
The P5L is a vending machine card reader built to fit standard MDB machines. Tell us what you’re running — if it’s not listed here, ask.
HZ70
A standard HZ70 vending machine, fitted and tested with the VendBot terminal.
CV1000
Takes cash and card on the same machine, both captured in one reconciliation.
Coffee machines on MDB work the same way as vending; keypad- or button-operated machines are a custom integration — talk to us about the model you run.
Non-MDB machines — laundry, car wash, arcade or claw — are the job of VendBot Pulse, now in pilot: a terminal plus a wiring harness matched to your equipment, scoped per site. See Industries.
What we need from you: the machine’s make and model, and the site’s connectivity (WiFi, with automatic cellular fallback if it drops) — enough to confirm fit and quote your site.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
- How does a vending machine card reader work?
- The VendBot P5L mounts to the machine and connects over MDB, the standard payment connection on vending machines. A customer taps or dips, with a PIN when the card requires it, and the sale posts to the portal in real time.
- Does tap to pay work on vending machines?
- Yes — the P5L takes contactless bank cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay, plus chip cards that dip, with a PIN on the terminal when the card requires it.
- What does a card machine for a vending machine cost?
- We quote per site rather than publish a fixed price. A quote covers the terminal, connectivity, the portal, per-transaction card processing through AddPay, and installation — get a quote for your site.
- Does it need WiFi?
- Most sites run it over their existing WiFi. If that connection drops, the terminal switches itself to cellular so a sale still goes through, then hands back to WiFi once it’s up again. Machine-specific notes are on Industries.
- Can I keep cash?
- Yes — cash sales over MDB are captured alongside card sales and reconciled together in one portal view, no separate cash count to square by hand.
- How long does it take to go live?
- Typically within 48 hours of document approval, often the same day. See the full walkthrough in our retrofit guide.
- How is card data handled?
- Card data is stored masked only — scheme and last 4 digits. See our Privacy Policy.
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.