A vending machine system (the system) of the present invention includes a vending machine for selectively providing one or more items stored therein to a user, the vending machine includes a radio-frequency identification (RFID) antenna, a communication module, a memory, and a controller, wherein the controller is communicatively coupled by a data transfer bus with the memory, the communication module and the RFID antenna. The system includes a user computing device, an accounting server configured to perform inventory accounting for the one or more items in the vending machine. The system also includes a transaction server configured to facilitate a transaction between the accounting server and the user computing device.