How to Buy a Redbox Machine

Since you have made it to our site, I’m assuming you are looking for information on how to buy a Redbox machine and what it costs.  There isn’t a lot of information available as I’ll explain more in a bit.

Many people are interested in starting a Redbox DVD rental business as this company has exploded over the years.  Redbox was initially started with funding from McDonalds to place 11 kiosks in 2002.  McDonalds eventually sold the business to Coinstar in 2009 after passing 800,000 rentals and later became Outerwall.  Redbox has since grown to over 50% of the physical DVD market with over 48,000 machines which has really changed the dynamics of the movie rental market with notable Blockbuster and Hollywood Video filing for bankruptcy protection along with many mom and pop stores going out of business.  With Redbox’s aggressive pricing of what is now $1.20, advanced technology allowing customers to reserve their movies from their phones and much lower overhead than a physical location, many entrepreneurs want to buy a Redbox machine and make their fortunes.

While there is a lot of excitement for Redbox kiosks the unfortunate answer is that you can’t currently purchase a kiosk from them.  If you are a location such as grocery store, pharmacy, retailer, convenience store or fast food restaurant, you can apply to have a unit at your location.  The company will review your location and see if there is enough demand for them to place a unit there.  You as the property owner, will receive revenue through the rental of space.

The steps to get a Redbox are as follows:

1. Contact Redbox (Click Contact Us on the company’s website and send a message or call 866-733-2693. You can also email on questions@redbox.com and Redbox will send you an application to fill out

2. The application will ask you for your name, email address, state,zip code, location type, average daily traffic or business transactions, and location description. Add this information to the application form and return it.

3. A response from Redbox could take some weeks as they receive many applications each day so be patient.

4. Keep information on traffic numbers and and sales handy as Redbox will ask for those details to analyze your location.

While Redbox has a majority share that doesn’t mean there isn’t opportunity to get in on the DVD kiosk rental bandwagon.  Other companies such as DVDNow offer franchise opportunities to make money.  As it is complex to get licensing deals with the movie houses, finding someone to help get access to inventory is critical to your success.  There is currently a lot of opportunity in the smaller rural markets for DVD kiosks as Redbox focuses on the larger areas of the U.S. which means potential opportunity for entrepreneurs to get in before they do, as the smaller markets will not be likely to support multiple machines and still be profitable.  If you are considering this route, be sure to have the abillity to place several machines since each machine only makes a little profit as we discovered with our research found here.

While the company has produced impressive results, you won’t be able to buy a Redbox machine but there are alternatives through leasing them space or owning a franchise from a different company.