Why post a request for a seat?

[Curlarge]

It has become clear to me over the past few weeks that there seems little point in any of us posting a request for a seat at any of the live events this year because when a seat becomes available, the seller simply posts that fact on these pages and waits for someone to contact them, rather than contacting someone who has asked to be considered for a seat earlier on.

There are a number of people, me included on behalf of a new member, who have posted a seat request for Swansea seat, yet I am still to be asked by a potential seller if I want to take that seat. Instead these have been sold to other who have not posted this request on the seat exchange. this seems a little unfair, as it trusts to luck that you are looking at this page at just the right moment.

Therefore can I suggest that if you have  seat to sell, that you go to the bottom of this list and IM the next person in line and ask if the are still looking. This would seem to be the fairest way to ensure that those who asked first get first dibs. It"s just a thought!

[AMRN]

Perhaps we need a first come first served waiting list.....

[coprey]

I guess its because the seller does not want the bother of potentially contacting a long list of people in the interests of fairness. Your suggestion is fair, but just not very practical. An alternative solution would be to click the notify button within the seat exchange area and leave your mail application (MSN) logged in. Therefore when a new posting is made within the seat exchange area you will be notified by email and can quickly check to see if it is a seller and try to respond first. GL

[Curlarge]

Thanks guys, both very good idea, which was the reaction I had hoped for. Perhaps a change may occur soon.

[fraac]

Didn"t I sell you a seat?

[Jon MW]

Perhaps we need a first come first served waiting list.....

There is another reason apart from the practicality.

That is, £75 isn"t an insignificant amount of money and although there isn"t much scope for people being scammed over an APAT seat, I would imagine that there are still a fair number of people who still prefer to do business like this only with people they know rather than strangers.

[AMRN]

Perhaps we need a first come first served waiting list.....

There is another reason apart from the practicality.

That is, £75 isn"t an insignificant amount of money and although there isn"t much scope for people being scammed over an APAT seat, I would imagine that there are still a fair number of people who still prefer to do business like this only with people they know rather than strangers.

This only has meaning if we are talking about personal transfer of funds.  I"m pretty sure Betfair would be able to do something with the Holding Tank - ie releasing one player"s registration, but keep the Tank locked, and allow the next person on the waiting list to register.... and perhaps that person only has a certain timebound period of exclusivity, after which the next person on the list is allowed to register, and so on.

[Cyntaf]

Not so much an answer to your problem. Human nature being what it is, most people are going to offer their place to a friend first off. They will post and offer to first reply or able to pay there and then. I have come across situations on the seat exchange i haven"t been too fond of, but ultimately, it is their  seat to sell to whomever they wish, whether we agree  or not.
Another reason that they post/sell, may be that they want it sorting there and then, as they do not have the time to trawl through posts and await replies.
Suppose we have a first come first served list, and three seats become available. How long do we wait for replies from first three before going onto 4/5 or6 etc. Now suppose 2 replies but not 1/3, we allocate seat to 2? then find seats 1/3 are no longer available for whatever reason. Now 1 may kick off as he was first request. I can think of a lot of perms where this could falter.

Sell back to Apat? This would not work, as they want the seats sold(not bought) also like above, the time and confusion with re allocating seats etc.

So i think were stuck with what we have at the moment, and people requiring seats simply need to monitor the forum, and not put the owness onto the seller. After all it is a sellers market at the mo

[coprey]

I actually dont know why sellers dont simply unregister from the holding tank, instead of looking for a buyer. I assume it it possible to simply unregister and funds are automatically refunded. Im I missing something here?

[Cyntaf]

Sorry Curlage in short though, I agree with You. If i had a seat for sale and someone had asked, i would probably offer it to them. After any good friends, who may be after a seat also of course. As I"m sure if you couldn"t make it, you would have offered your friend(new member) yours.

Sorry still got no other means to solve this one.....yet?

Cheers Paul

[Cyntaf]

Not sure about this Colin. At the risk of sounding a bit like John Murray

Have You tried to unregister, and let us know the answer.

Just kidding, c u in Swansea

[Paulie_D]

Therefore can I suggest that if you have  seat to sell, that you go to the bottom of this list and IM the next person in line and ask if the are still looking. This would seem to be the fairest way to ensure that those who asked first get first dibs. It"s just a thought!

Nice idea but, without someone maintaining a list the threads/posts move up and down depending on replies.

So if someone just comments on a sale, it pushes it to the top..regardless of whether any sale is pending or not.

I would also mention that posting multiple requests (as I have seen some people do) wastes time and is, ultimately, ineffective, as the threads/posts get merged.

[Curlarge]

Well this has certainly given us something to discuss this afternoon. thanks to all for your comments, I agree with virtually everyone, I guess it"s a difficult thing to regulate and things will continue as they have.

[Geo]

Think Paul has it about right, anyone selling a seat for APAT events will always find a buyer and with the amount of requests to buy and the many "bumps" that some get it is difficult to determine who was first, apart from trawling all requests and checking date and time posted.

There was a post stuck up last night alerting that there had been an unreg and that gave someone the opportunity to then log into betfair and pick up the seat. Seemed fair to me, even tho I was at work and couldn"t take it up myself.

I was more surprised at a request to sell a seat for stars transfer only. This could have been done by agreeing to unreg and allow the person you had agreed to exchange with to reg and I would assume the method chosen required the input of a member of admin. This method also limits the chances of grimming.

For almost every event I have seen buy and sell requests appear and this can actually burden the admin staff with additional work they don"t need. Our link with betfair gives us the opportunity to sort these ourselves. The holding tank is a fantastic tool afforded to us that we didn"t have before so lets use it.

Suggestion:

I notice that when regging for a tourney on betfair that the list seems to remain in the order that people register. Would it therefore be feesible to have an additional holding tank for alternates in the future. This would list on a first come basis and if someone is selling a seat they can contact the next on the list and arrange a time for an unreg by the seller and a reg by the buyer.

Just my tuppence worth..................I await my PM  

Geo

[Noe]

.....An alternative solution would be to click the notify button within the seat exchange area and leave your mail application (MSN) logged in. Therefore when a new posting is made within the seat exchange area you will be notified by email and can quickly check to see if it is a seller and try to respond first. GL

That is a great idea, and thank you.    Might have helped, even if it meant I left the office and drove home quickly to respond!