Guide
Machine Sellers and Managed Operators Are Two Different Products
Both models are legitimate. They are sold in similar language and they are not the same purchase.
A machine seller sells hardware; the buyer becomes the tobacco retailer and takes on licensing, stock, servicing, payment processing and the age-verification duty, and keeps the margin. A managed operator owns the machine and the stock, is the retailer, and pays the venue a share. Buying has the higher ceiling and all of the obligations. Hosting has a lower ceiling and almost none of them.
The comparison, line by line
| Buying from a machine seller | Hosting with an operator | |
|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | The machine, delivery, installation | None |
| Tobacco retailer license | Yours to obtain, hold and renew, per location (§ 61-37-7) | The operator's, where applicable rules allow |
| Who is the retailer | You | The operator |
| Age-verification duty (§ 61-37-14) | Yours | The operator's, performed at the machine |
| Stock | You source it, fund it, count it | Operator owns and replenishes it |
| Servicing and repairs | Yours | The operator's |
| Card processing | Your merchant account | The operator's |
| Revenue | All of it, less your costs | An agreed share |
| If it does not sell | You own a machine and the stock in it | You have spent wall space |
| If you want it gone | Resale or storage is your problem | Removal terms in the agreement |
Where buying genuinely wins
It is the better deal for a venue with high, predictable volume that is already comfortable holding a tobacco retailer license — a large operation that also runs its own retail, for instance. You keep the whole margin and you are not sharing anything. Anyone telling you buying is simply worse is selling the other model.
Where it goes wrong
The failure mode is not the hardware. It is the obligations that arrive with it and were priced at zero: the license per location and its fee, the supplier relationship, the stock float, the verification duty under § 61-37-14 sitting with you, and the machine that jams on a Friday with nobody but you to fix it. A quote for a machine is not a quote for the business the machine requires.
How to tell which one you are being sold
- Ask who the tobacco retailer is at the point of sale. One name. If it is you, this is a hardware sale.
- Ask who applies for and holds the license for your address, and what it costs.
- Ask who owns the stock at the moment a guest buys it.
- Ask who the merchant of record is for the card payment.
- Ask what happens on day one of a fault, and who attends.
- Ask what removal costs and who makes good the wall.
The full list to put to any operator →
Where Afterwrk sits
Afterwrk is the second column. We do not sell machines. We own the machine and the stock, handle the operator-side licensing for the placement where applicable rules allow, service the unit, and pay the venue a share of sales. That is a deliberate trade: a venue gives up the higher ceiling of ownership and gives up the obligations with it. What hosting costs and how the share works →
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Common questions
Is hosting always cheaper?
It always costs less up front — there is no equipment, stock or servicing cost. Over a high enough volume, ownership keeps more of the revenue. The crossover depends on your traffic and on what the license and stock actually cost you.
Can a venue buy a machine and have someone else run it?
Arrangements like that exist, and they are the ones to read carefully: owning the hardware while someone else is the retailer needs the roles written down, because the licensing and verification duties follow the retailer.
Does Afterwrk sell machines?
No. We own and operate them, which is what keeps the licensing, stock and servicing off the venue.
See whether your venue qualifies
The assessment applies everything on this page to your actual address.