Product review (4 stars): Easy fix for a common problem with many mini-fridges, wine centers and beverage coolers!
Fixed my Vinotemp VT-36S I got from Costco a few years ago.  I'd only had it a few years, and one day it started making this weird clicking noise every few minutes that sounded a little like someone thwapping the side of a propane tank.  Once this started happening, it would no longer cool, and the compressor would get quite warm.  I assumed the compressor had gone bad, and had resigned myself to finding a new fridge, but it seems the vast majority of small fridges like this get bad reviews, or else cost an astronomical sum, so I hesitated.  One day, I decided to do some more research on repairing the VT-36S and found that the clicking was symptomatic of a bad starter relay/sensor like this one.  Apparently, the compressor has 2 coils, one to start it up, and one used to keep it running.  This relay sits on the side of the compressor and has a ceramic disc inside which has some thermo-electric properties that enable it to sense the temperature of the compressor and turn off the start coil as it gets warm.  In my fridge, the ceramic disc had shattered, which I hear they are prone to do after a while.  At that point, it no longer does its job, and the compressor just gets hot, and then turns off due to an over-temperature sensor that these fridges also tend to have.  So, the compressor can never do its job.  It was pretty easy to unplug the wires on the relay on my current fridge, pull it off the terminal on the compressor that it sits on, and then pop on the new one and reconnect the wires.  Then, I plugged in my fridge, and voila!  It started working again!  It took a while to get back down to the set temperature, but it's still working now months later.  I got a couple of extras just in case this part goes bad again.  Be sure to get the right resistance for your fridge.  This one is a QP2-4R7 or QP2-4.7, which is a 4.7 ohm type.