The numbers
As stated by the listing on September 21, 2026.
- Asking price
- $2,765,000
- SDE
- $790,000
- Multiple
- 3.50x
- Employees
- 2
Why we like it
An ATM only earns its keep where the alternative is walking to a bank, and Myrtle Beach's boardwalk bars, beach shops and late-night convenience stores are exactly the cash-only, high-traffic spots where that alternative doesn't exist. The margin isn't retail markup, it's the surcharge tacked onto each withdrawal, paid by a tourist who wants forty dollars to keep a tab running rather than leave the bar to find a branch. This route runs its machines across those locations with two employees handling replenishment and service, which makes it a cash logistics business more than a retail one: the product being sold is availability, and availability means somebody drives the circuit and refills the vault before a machine runs dry on a Saturday night. Start with the placement agreements, because a route's revenue lives entirely inside contracts with third-party property owners who can end a location on short notice, and the handful of highest-volume machines usually carry a disproportionate share of the surcharge income. The other thing to understand going in is that Myrtle Beach itself is a seasonal, tourism-driven cash economy, so transaction volume almost certainly swells with the summer boardwalk crowds and thins out over the winter, meaning the stated SDE reflects a full-season blend rather than a number that holds steady month to month.
No personal licence needed
Running an ATM route does not typically require the owner to personally hold a license or credential. ATM operators dispense their own cash and collect a surcharge fee, which is generally treated differently from money transmission, so no money transmitter license is normally required. Confirm there is no South Carolina-specific ATM owner registration requirement before closing. If armored transport or cash-in-transit services are outsourced, that vendor carries its own licensing, which is a separate question from anything the buyer needs to hold personally.
What worries us
- Owner-dependent cash logisticsWith only two employees, the daily work of loading vault cash, servicing machines and handling cash pickups is operational rather than passive, so a buyer needs to personally run the route or immediately fill whatever role the seller currently occupies.
- Revenue sits on other people's propertyThe entire income stream depends on placement agreements at bars, stores and other third-party locations, which are often cancellable on short notice, so losing even a few high-volume placements to a landlord change or a competing operator can shrink cash flow with little warning.
- Seasonal, tourist-driven volumeMyrtle Beach traffic swings hard between summer and winter, so the stated SDE is likely a blended annual figure and monthly cash flow probably dips well below average in the off season, which matters even though the calculated 1.64x debt service coverage looks comfortable on paper.
The callSuits a hands-on buyer comfortable with cash logistics, vault runs and short-notice location contracts, not a passive investor seeking steady, hands-off income.
Our calculations
Our standard SBA 7(a) acquisition structure applied to the asking price. Assumptions below.
Sources
| SBA 7(a) loan | $2,627,411 |
| Seller standby note | $145,968 |
| Buyer cash at close | $145,967 |
| Total sources | $2,919,346 |
Uses
| Purchase price | $2,765,000 |
| Closing costs (est.) | $82,950 |
| SBA guaranty fee | $71,396 |
| Total project | $2,919,346 |
- Monthly payment
- $33,639
- Annual debt service
- $403,673
- DSCR
- 1.62xSTRONG
- Injection check
- Meets 10% ($291,935 against $291,935 required)
- Closing costs estimated at 3% of asking price
- Owner salary of $120,000, loaded
- Rate of Prime + 2.25% = 9.25%
- 10-year term, fully amortizing
- Injection split half cash, half seller standby note
How we would go about buying it
The order matters. Every step below is free until the last one, and each is a chance to walk away before it costs you anything.
- 1
Call the broker, not the bank
The listing is brokered, so the broker is the gate. Ask for the CIM and the last three years of tax returns, and expect to sign an NDA first. Do this before you talk to a lender: no lender will size a loan without the numbers, and the broker will not release them to a lender you have not engaged.
Open the listing - 2
Ask these before you spend anything
Specific to this business, from our read of the listing. The answers decide whether the numbers above survive contact.
- For the ten highest-volume machines, what share of total surcharge revenue do they represent, and what are the term and cancellation notice on each placement agreement?
- Who currently funds and manages the vault cash loaded into the machines, is that cash included in the $2,765,000 asking price, and how much additional working capital will the buyer need to fund cash floats at close?
- What is the monthly transaction count and surcharge revenue for the past 24 to 36 months, broken out by month, to see how much volume actually falls off in the off season?
- Who handles armored transport or cash replenishment today, is it under a written contract, and does that contract transfer to a new owner?
- What is the age, brand, and EMV compliance status of the machine fleet, and are any units due for near-term replacement?
- 3
Take it to lenders who do this size
Talk to more than one. Rate is the least of it: the lender who has done fifty of these in South Carolina will close, and the one who has done two will waste your quarter. Below are the lenders whose typical deal size actually fits this one.
- 4
Structure the offer around the coverage
Our structure clears the floor at 1.62x, and a lender will run its own version with its own add-backs. If the earnings come back lower than stated, the price has to come down or the seller note has to grow. Model both before you make an offer.
Model it yourself
Who we would call
Active South Carolina acquisition lenders whose typical deal size fits this one.
- GBank
15 loans in SCmedian $2,200,000median rate 8.50%~13 days to first disbursement
- First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company
6 loans in SCmedian $1,219,500median rate 9.63%~28 days to first disbursement
Loan counts and medians are that lender’s change-of-ownership loans in South Carolina, FY2025 to FY2026 Q3. Funding speed is the lender’s national median from approval to first disbursement. Names link to our data profile for each lender.
The fine print
The statements this write-up makes about the trade and its rules, as opposed to the figures, were checked against public sources on September 21, 2026. 3 claims were checked.
Worth verifying yourself
These are industry statements we could not confirm against an authoritative public source. They are not contradicted by anything we found, but treat them as leads to check rather than settled facts.
- ATMs are typically placed in cash-preferring, high-foot-traffic locations such as bars, convenience stores, and tourist areas, because customers there often lack an easy alternative source of cash.
- ATM route businesses generally operate machines under placement agreements with the property owners where the machines sit, and these agreements are often cancellable on short notice.
- In ATM routes, transaction and surcharge revenue is often concentrated disproportionately in a small number of top-performing machine locations.
Run your own numbers
The deal analyzer models price, seller note, equity injection, and DSCR under current SBA terms, with every assumption adjustable.
Open the deal analyzerListing facts as stated by the listing on September 21, 2026, not independently verified. Structure, payment, DSCR, and injection figures are our own computation under the assumptions above, using the Prime rate as of September 28, 2026. Lender shortlist from the SBA 7(a) FOIA file, FY2025 to FY2026 Q3, as of June 30, 2026. Methodology. See an error? Email us and we will correct it.