If you’ve spent any time exploring the ash-choked valleys of Borderlands 4’s new Ashfall Wastes zone, you’ve probably run into dozens of random, weird side quests that offer way better loot than the main story path early on. I almost skipped one of the most rewarding of these by accident during my first playthrough, because I thought the glitching Jakobs vending machine outside the abandoned logging outpost was just a broken environmental prop. That quest, of course, is the Borderlands 4 Vend on the Line quest, and it’s easily one of the most useful early-game side missions you can run for extra gold, rare gear, and a permanent discount at all Jakobs vending machines in the zone. This guide breaks down every step, hidden bonus, and bug fix you need to knock it out in 10 minutes or less.
How to Start the Borderlands 4 Vend on the Line Quest
Most players miss this quest entirely because it doesn’t pop up with a standard map marker until you trigger it manually. First, you’ll need to clear the small bandit camp that’s set up around the abandoned Jakobs logging outpost on the eastern edge of Ashfall Wastes. The camp only has six low-level bandits, so you can wipe them out in a minute even with early-game gear. Once the camp is clear, head to the red Jakobs vending machine sitting next to the outpost’s front door.
The first time you interact with it, it’ll yell at you for loitering and tell you to either buy something or get lost. Walk a few steps away, then turn around and interact with it a second time, and it’ll drop the tough guy act to ask for your help. Turns out bandits hacked its core code to jack up prices for local travelers, and it’ll cut you in on a share of its restored profits if you fix the issue. You have to interact with the vending machine twice to trigger the quest, so don’t give up if it doesn’t ask for help the first time you click on it.
You can pick up this quest as early as level 8, right after you complete the first main story mission in Ashfall Wastes, so you don’t have to wait until later in the game to get its rewards. I recommend running it as soon as you unlock the zone, since the permanent vending machine discount will save you thousands of gold over the course of your playthrough.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough for Every Quest Objective
Once you accept the quest, your first objective is to track down Jax “The Price Gouger”, the bandit leader who wrote the malicious code messing with the vending machines. He’s holed up in a locked bunker under the logging mill, half a mile west of the outpost. You won’t get a marker for the key to get in, so don’t waste time running around the mill looking for a way in right away.
First, head to the broken lumber truck parked 100 feet south of the mill’s front gate. There’s a dead Jakobs employee slumped against the front tire, and the bunker keycard is in his front pocket. The keycard doesn’t show up as a quest marker, so most players spend 20 minutes or more wandering around the mill trying to find an open entrance before they stumble on it. Grab the keycard, head to the bunker door on the west side of the mill, and head inside.
Jax is a level 10 boss with a fire-resistant shield, so come prepared with an incendiary shotgun or SMG to take him down fast. He also throws explosive “surge price” tags at you that do 70% of your health in damage if they hit, so stay behind cover when he starts yelling about price increases. Once you take him down, interact with the terminal on his desk to upload the fix patch the vending machine gave you.
Your next objective is to reset three other hacked Jakobs vending machines scattered across Ashfall Wastes. You can reset them in any order, but resetting them in the order below will unlock a hidden 20% gold bonus when you turn the quest in:
- The first is right inside the logging mill break room, behind a stack of cracked beer crates you have to melee out of the way. There are three bandits hiding in the break room, so have your weapon ready before you break the crates.
- The second is at the small bandit camp on the north edge of Ashfall Wastes, sitting next to a fuel tank you can shoot to take out half the camp at once. You don’t even have to get out of your vehicle to clear this one if you hit the tank from the road.
- The third is hidden in the cave behind the waterfall near the Ashfall Wastes fast travel station, you have to jump across three floating rock platforms to reach it. There are no enemies here, so you can grab the reset and go in 30 seconds flat.
Once you’ve reset all three vending machines, head back to the original vending machine at the logging outpost to turn in the quest. If you reset the vending machines in the order listed above, you’ll get a 20% extra gold reward because the AI’s system processes the fixes faster that way, a tiny hidden bonus most players never find out about.
All Exclusive Rewards for Completing Vend on the Line
The base rewards for completing the quest are solid on their own: 15,000 gold, 3,000 XP, and a random rare Jakobs weapon appropriate for your level. But there are three hidden rewards you can unlock if you meet specific requirements during the quest, and they’re all worth going out of your way for.
First, if you don’t kill any of the civilian NPCs that hang around the three vending machine locations, you’ll unlock the “Honest Vendor” rarity modifier for all Jakobs vending machines in Ashfall Wastes for the rest of your playthrough. This modifier makes Jakobs vending machines sell 30% more legendary items and charge 15% less for all gear, which is a huge help when you’re farming for endgame builds later on. The civilians usually run away when fights break out, so just don’t shoot them on purpose and you’ll get this bonus easily.
Second, if you grab the hidden data log on the shelf behind Jax’s terminal in the bunker, you’ll unlock a secret follow-up quest called “Price Matching” where you have to take out a group of COV merchants selling counterfeit Jakobs gear. The reward for that quest is the Price Cutter, a legendary Jakobs sniper rifle that does 2x damage to enemies with more than 50% health left. I used this sniper for the next three main story bosses, and it cut my fight time in half for every single one.
Third, if you’re playing co-op, every player in your group gets all the rewards, not just the host. That means you can run this quest once with three friends, and everyone gets the Honest Vendor modifier and a shot at the Price Cutter sniper. It’s one of the best early-game quests to run with a group to stock up on gold and gear before you move to the next zone.
Common Bugs and How to Fix Them Fast
Like a lot of Borderlands 4 side quests, Vend on the Line has a few small bugs that can make it feel impossible to complete if you don’t know the workarounds. None of these bugs require you to restart your game or reload an old save, and all of them take less than a minute to fix.
The most common bug is the vending machine not triggering the quest even after you’ve cleared the entire camp. If this happens, just fast travel to another zone, wait 30 seconds, then fast travel back to the Ashfall Wastes fast travel station. Clear the camp again (the bandits will have respawned) and interact with the vending machine twice, and it’ll trigger the quest like normal. I ran into this bug my first playthrough, and I was so frustrated I almost skipped the quest entirely until I tried this fix.
Another common bug is the bunker keycard not spawning next to the dead Jakobs employee. First, check your quest items tab to make sure you didn’t pick it up by accident without noticing. If it’s not there, fast travel away from the zone and come back, and the keycard will respawn right where it’s supposed to be. You don’t have to clear the camp again for this fix to work.
The last common bug is the quest not updating after you reset all three vending machines, so you don’t get a marker telling you to go back to the original vending machine to turn it in. You don’t need to restart your entire game to fix any of these bugs, just head back to the original vending machine at the logging outpost anyway, and it’ll let you turn in the quest and get all your rewards when you interact with it. The quest log will update to mark it complete as soon as you turn it in.
Even if you’re the type of player who skips side quests to rush through the main story, this is one mission you don’t want to pass up. The Borderlands 4 Vend on the Line quest takes less than 10 minutes to run when you know all the hidden steps, and the permanent vending machine discount and free legendary sniper will make the rest of your playthrough way easier. I’ve run this quest on three different Vault Hunter playthroughs now, and I still find little fun details every time, like the vending machine making a joke about Moxxi’s overpriced cocktails if you hang around it for a minute after turning in the quest. Give it a run the next time you’re exploring Ashfall Wastes, you won’t regret it.