Pros and Cons of charging for transactions

[*Champion* 0]

Our league is thinking about scratching charges for transactions fees. I know there are both pros and cons to doing this but need to think about both as being the commissioner I will need to map out both for everyone to decide.

 

My gut tells me that this is a bad idea but I could be wrong. Any thoughts?

[bno70_1 0]

Charging for transactions.... Let's see:

 

Cons: It's dumb

 

uh.....

 

I'm out

[GobbleDog 991]

Pro - keeps owners from picking and dumping players, just to put them on the waiver wire and screw another owner.

 

Pro - income can be used for toilet bowl winner or dispersed in other ways.

 

Pro - keeps owners from snatching up every little player on a whim, thus WW has more potential gems.

 

Pro - makes keep/drop player decisions more challenging.

 

Con - I can't think of any.

[darwin 0]

I've done both in my league and have settled on free transactions, with a limit of one per week. You could also make the limit 2, but I like 1, as it forces players to manage their team more carefully and plan for byes.

 

*It's nearly impossible to collect it all, and a real pain in the arse to keep track of which players owe you 1 or 2 dollars.

 

*With unlimited moves, the commisioner is bogged down with phone and email as players keep changing their mind, or make moves for the heck of it.

 

*The other problem I tried to avoid, is the whole first come first serve aspect of pickups. This is unfair to people who aren't computer friendly, or who work different hours, etc.

 

To solve this, I do a pickup drawing every week (others do last record - first priority).

[richgator 0]

cbs sportsline tracks the money for you...we do $1 per and it adds hundreds of dollars to the kitty every year.

[GobbleDog 991]

I've done both in my league and have settled on free transactions, with a limit of one per week. You could also make the limit 2, but I like 1, as it forces players to manage their team more carefully and plan for byes.

 

*It's nearly impossible to collect it all, and a real pain in the arse to keep track of which players owe you 1 or 2 dollars.

 

*With unlimited moves, the commisioner is bogged down with phone and email as players keep changing their mind, or make moves for the heck of it.

 

*The other problem I tried to avoid, is the whole first come first serve aspect of pickups. This is unfair to people who aren't computer friendly, or who work different hours, etc.

 

To solve this, I do a pickup drawing every week (others do last record - first priority).

 

The internet is on computers nowdays!

 

As for collecting the money… if you can’t trust your friends to pay upwards of $30 (at $1 per transaction), then they shouldn’t be in the league.

[Phurfur 70]

I've done both in my league and have settled on free transactions, with a limit of one per week. You could also make the limit 2, but I like 1, as it forces players to manage their team more carefully and plan for byes.

 

*It's nearly impossible to collect it all, and a real pain in the arse to keep track of which players owe you 1 or 2 dollars.

 

*With unlimited moves, the commisioner is bogged down with phone and email as players keep changing their mind, or make moves for the heck of it.

*The other problem I tried to avoid, is the whole first come first serve aspect of pickups. This is unfair to people who aren't computer friendly, or who work different hours, etc.

 

To solve this, I do a pickup drawing every week (others do last record - first priority).

 

 

I don't understand this one.

[cmh6476 1,023]

we do $5 per and just count it as another form of payout

 

we also have a limit of $30 before an owner's roster is locked and he can't change his lineup. That keeps em payin

 

[Chronic Husker 85]

Is darwin Mike FF Today?

[darwin 0]

"The internet is on the computers nowdays!"

Thanks Homer!

 

We have a couple of veteran players who don't use computers much. We have players who work on sundays and can't monitor games. This is not the stock market, it is neighborhood FANTASY football.

 

If a key RB gets hurt, I want everyone to get a shot at the backup, not whoever calls me first (or myself if I were real greedy).

I don't like the pay sites. They cost too much, limit your rules, and the sites go down. I like to do the stats myself (1 hour a week), so sue me!

 

"*With unlimited moves, the commisioner is bogged down with phone and email as players keep changing their mind, or make moves for the heck of it."

"I don't understand this one."

 

I don't understand what you don't understand. Unlimited free pickups leads to useless pickups and a waste of my time. If I'm in my deer stand on a sunday morning, I don't want 10 calls from the same guy, changing his mind over a bye week fill in kicker.

 

"if you can’t trust your friends to pay upwards of $30 (at $1 per transaction), then they shouldn’t be in the league."

Trust isn't the problem. A couple of players, I might only see a couple of times in the year. Are they supposed to mail me $1 checks?

 

Would Mike FF list his league website at the bottom? (Which also gives away my identity if you're bored and do a little digging).

[delusional247 0]

Pros:

1. Keeps owners from constantly grabbing people and dumping them to screw other owners

2. Money from transactions goes towards pot which equals a higher pot & lesser cost for entry fee

3. Overall pot may be high due to a lot of transactions

 

 

Cons:

1. Does limit the amount of transactions ( trades mainly ) through the year

2. Low static pot at end of year ( unless entry fee is raised )

3. Overall pot can be low due to few transactions

 

My league does $1 to add $1 to drop ( have to drop one to add one ) & $5 per player to trade. I personally wanted to drop the transaction cost before and just raise the team fee from $50 to $100. This would have a static pot at the end of the year but only problem with that is some owners said they don't make $50 worth of moves while others do and some years our transactions list was pretty high.

 

 

 

Its a tough one.

[GobbleDog 991]

I might only see a couple of times in the year. Are they supposed to mail me $1 checks?

 

They will if they want to be in the league the following year.

 

I guess if ya had to, you could get a $10 deposit from owners and allow up to 10 transactions, before having to make another deposit. Any unused money would be returned at the end of the year.

[darwin 0]

This would have a static pot at the end of the year but only problem with that is some owners said they don't make $50 worth of moves while others do and some years our transactions list was pretty high.

Its a tough one.

 

Exactly what I found.

 

"I guess if ya had to, you could get a $10 deposit from owners and allow up to 10 transactions, before having to make another deposit. Any unused money would be returned at the end of the year. "

 

How is this different than just raising the entry fee $10 and allowing 10 free transactions?

[Guest _my_2_cents_]

My IDP league has $3 adds, $3 per player per trade fees.

 

My D/ST league had $5 adds, $5 per player per trade fees.

 

Pros:

boosts the kitty to 40-60% more than with entry fees alone.

lets everyone laugh at you when the guy you paid $5 for off the FA list goes out and puts up a 0 while the guy you benched for him puts up 20 points.

 

Cons: I got nothing.

 

 

 

One league member in the midst of an injury riddled season went on a rant about how transaction fees favor the better teams because guys who are struggling with injury add/drop more. I disagree about it favoring anyone but it is naturally more expensive for those who suffer more injuries...IMO there comes a time when you need to simply accept that you have no chance regardless of what you add off the WW. I remember one owner who was 3-6 after 9 weeks but not "mathmatically eliminated" yet...spent $50 keeping the titanic afloat.

 

While I respect that for the fact that he's putting up a fight against the teams remaining on the schedule, I am not sure it was a worthwhile investment...and he lost the remaining games anyway, so....

[pfunk12 0]

They will if they want to be in the league the following year.

 

I guess if ya had to, you could get a $10 deposit from owners and allow up to 10 transactions, before having to make another deposit. Any unused money would be returned at the end of the year.

 

 

This is what we do. It's not that complicated. At the beginning of the year everyone paid $5-15 extra to put into their finances for trading. Then, I allowed people to get to up to -$5 in their account since it can be a pain in the ass to mail checks out repeatedly for a buck or two(Sportsline keeps track of it all). We use transaction payments for the weekly payouts to the highest point scorer, and the leftover money at the end of the season gets paid out.

 

I think all of the pros are mentioned

[Phurfur 70]

"The internet is on the computers nowdays!"

Thanks Homer!

 

We have a couple of veteran players who don't use computers much. We have players who work on sundays and can't monitor games. This is not the stock market, it is neighborhood FANTASY football.

 

If a key RB gets hurt, I want everyone to get a shot at the backup, not whoever calls me first (or myself if I were real greedy).

I don't like the pay sites. They cost too much, limit your rules, and the sites go down. I like to do the stats myself (1 hour a week), so sue me!

"*With unlimited moves, the commisioner is bogged down with phone and email as players keep changing their mind, or make moves for the heck of it."

"I don't understand this one."

 

I don't understand what you don't understand. Unlimited free pickups leads to useless pickups and a waste of my time. If I'm in my deer stand on a sunday morning, I don't want 10 calls from the same guy, changing his mind over a bye week fill in kicker.

"if you can’t trust your friends to pay upwards of $30 (at $1 per transaction), then they shouldn’t be in the league."

Trust isn't the problem. A couple of players, I might only see a couple of times in the year. Are they supposed to mail me $1 checks?

 

Would Mike FF list his league website at the bottom? (Which also gives away my identity if you're bored and do a little digging).

 

 

I made a decision 7 years ago not to play in any leagues that were not online. It is just too time consuming. The cost is minimal (less that 5% of our purse), we can use all of our rules and our sites have never crashed. Does anyone else run their league by hand?

[mozzy84 0]

"The internet is on the computers nowdays!"

Thanks Homer!

 

We have a couple of veteran players who don't use computers much. We have players who work on sundays and can't monitor games. This is not the stock market, it is neighborhood FANTASY football.

 

If a key RB gets hurt, I want everyone to get a shot at the backup, not whoever calls me first (or myself if I were real greedy).

I don't like the pay sites. They cost too much, limit your rules, and the sites go down. I like to do the stats myself (1 hour a week), so sue me!

 

"*With unlimited moves, the commisioner is bogged down with phone and email as players keep changing their mind, or make moves for the heck of it."

"I don't understand this one."

 

I don't understand what you don't understand. Unlimited free pickups leads to useless pickups and a waste of my time. If I'm in my deer stand on a sunday morning, I don't want 10 calls from the same guy, changing his mind over a bye week fill in kicker.

 

"if you can’t trust your friends to pay upwards of $30 (at $1 per transaction), then they shouldn’t be in the league."

Trust isn't the problem. A couple of players, I might only see a couple of times in the year. Are they supposed to mail me $1 checks?

 

Would Mike FF list his league website at the bottom? (Which also gives away my identity if you're bored and do a little digging).

worst league ever

[darwin 0]

Our league IS online. Everything is done via email and posted by me.

Is there some rule I'm not aware of that you need to pay a website to host your league?

It literally takes me an hour a week to update scores to my website. Saves us a bunch of money.

Althought the cost IS coming down and the functionality is getting better, so it's getting more tempting to use one. But I would miss keeping my eye on the stats.

[Phurfur 70]

Our league IS online. Everything is done via email and posted by me.

Is there some rule I'm not aware of that you need to pay a website to host your league?

It literally takes me an hour a week to update scores to my website. Saves us a bunch of money.

Althought the cost IS coming down and the functionality is getting better, so it's getting more tempting to use one. But I would miss keeping my eye on the stats.

 

It takes an hour to update scores but you spend allot more time dealing with all the other stuff. Our leagues cost us between $10 and $15 each so it is not a bunch of money. I really suggest you use an online service to run your league, you will never look back. You can set our lineup and go hunting every Sunday. You could use "unlimited" transaction fee money to pay for it.

No offense intended but you sound like a control freak to me.

[Watchdog 0]

Another option is what our league does. Each owner has a $100 play money budget. Each week, owners can submit a bid on a free agent pickup - highest dollar amount gets him, and the amount gets deducted from your FA budget.

 

PROS: No additional owner fees.

 

Extra level of strategy during the season, much like an auction draft in preseason.

 

CONS: Extra bookkeeping by commissioner if not run by online league software.

 

Also, by using a league site, everyone including the commissioner (me) submits blind bids without knowing who/what the other owners have bid on. Assuming the rest of your league trusts you to not look at their bids until you've submitted yours, that's not a problem.

[dietz 0]

we give everyone 5 free transactions to start and after that it's $2 per - but trades are free because we want to encourage trading. it works really well for us - some people owe an extra $6 at the end of the year and some owe $40

[maddog3819 0]

There are 2 real cons that I can think of. 1) some people have more money than others and they don't mind spending alot to assure that get first shot at every FA that comes along...it may put alot of money in the pot but it seems to put some people off from wanting to play. 2) Collecting the money.

 

We do phony money. Everyone starts with $30 of phony money and we bid on FA pickups and it costs $1 per trade. When you're out of money...you can't make any more trades or FA pickups. I has worked extremely well.

[Phurfur 70]

I have found these cons when charging for transactions:

1) It penalizes owners who incur injuries

2) As a team falls farther out of the playoff picture they become hesitant to spend money on free agents. Kind of “why sweeten the pot for the other owners”. I found the league becomes less competitive as the year goes on.

[darwin 0]

Phurfur- 10-15$ is 25% of the entrance fee in our league. I'm sure we are on the cheaper end of leagues, but that's what everyone's agreed to, and doesn't make our league less competitive.

I've asked in the past and the owners would rather have that money go to the pot, rather than a website. They said if I wanted to quit dong the stats, they'd pony up an extra 15$ to do it, but they appreciate that I save them the money. For that, I guess, I am a control freak!

[Ziro 0]

but trades are free because we want to encourage trading. it works really well for us - some people owe an extra $6 at the end of the year and some owe $40

We charge for pick-ups only too. While trades are free. For the same reason as stated above. We want to encourage trades. We also do the worse record gets first pick for the week. This stops one person from hording ALL of the top free agents. but year after year it seems that the same couple of teams spend alot more then the others

[pimptastic69 0]

Another option is what our league does. Each owner has a $100 play money budget. Each week, owners can submit a bid on a free agent pickup - highest dollar amount gets him, and the amount gets deducted from your FA budget.

 

PROS: No additional owner fees.

 

Extra level of strategy during the season, much like an auction draft in preseason.

 

CONS: Extra bookkeeping by commissioner if not run by online league software.

 

Also, by using a league site, everyone including the commissioner (me) submits blind bids without knowing who/what the other owners have bid on. Assuming the rest of your league trusts you to not look at their bids until you've submitted yours, that's not a problem.

 

I've done something similar for the past 2 years on CBS. Teams start the season with 100 fake dollars that can be used to bid on WW free agents. There are various ways to earn more fake money (high weekly score, league pick'em, etc.) throughout the season to use in the bidding process. I've never used this for every day add/drops, but I'm sure it would be pretty simple. (We do a WW for half the week and a free for all the other half.)

 

The accounting part of being a commissioner is the absolute suck. Personally, there's no way I'd pile on transaction fees.