General Betting
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25 Oct 12
15:31
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Date Joined:
17 Sep 02
As many of you will know, Betfair's old site is on its last legs and it's only a matter of time before it ceases to be. We have no choice but to either use the new site or venture into the world of application programming interfaces (API) such as Gruss and Geek's Toy.
Many will have tried the new site and encountered issues. I thought I'd start this thread so we can share these problems and hopefully offer solutions. I'd still recommend informing Betfair via the helpdesk and feedback option, but some of us on here may have work-arounds/solutions which Betfair haven't thought of.
Shirley Knot highlighted the first two issues on my other thread - Betfair markets taking an age (if at all) to load. Any advice please? - and I've added a third and fourth from my brief experience of the new site. Please add your issues and any solutions:
1. No auto refresh. (Yes I can get markets to auto refresh via a clever computer code but that's a pain)
2. Matched bets are not in market order, that makes checking where I stand on markets with many selections a right pain.
3. 'Favourites' cannot be sorted or grouped and are added in a 'backwards' order. When adding a favourite it automatically goes to the top of the list whether or not you already have other markets already added for the same event. With the old site's 'My Markets', any new entry would sit below the market it is part of. The order is also more sensible on 'My Markets' as the markets you add first will sit at the top of the list. Chances are the first things you add will be for the event which will be starting first. Then during the day you'll add more markets for events happening further into the future and so you want them further down the list. In short, it's a bit of a mess and makes finding your bets very time consuming, with the likelihood you'll miss markets for an event that you've had bets on.
4. Unmatched bets are not grouped by market order. This is the same problem as 2. A new bet will just go to the bottom of the list, so when trying to find all your bets on a certain outcome, it's a right pain trawling through all of your bets to find them.
Many will have tried the new site and encountered issues. I thought I'd start this thread so we can share these problems and hopefully offer solutions. I'd still recommend informing Betfair via the helpdesk and feedback option, but some of us on here may have work-arounds/solutions which Betfair haven't thought of.
Shirley Knot highlighted the first two issues on my other thread - Betfair markets taking an age (if at all) to load. Any advice please? - and I've added a third and fourth from my brief experience of the new site. Please add your issues and any solutions:
1. No auto refresh. (Yes I can get markets to auto refresh via a clever computer code but that's a pain)
2. Matched bets are not in market order, that makes checking where I stand on markets with many selections a right pain.
3. 'Favourites' cannot be sorted or grouped and are added in a 'backwards' order. When adding a favourite it automatically goes to the top of the list whether or not you already have other markets already added for the same event. With the old site's 'My Markets', any new entry would sit below the market it is part of. The order is also more sensible on 'My Markets' as the markets you add first will sit at the top of the list. Chances are the first things you add will be for the event which will be starting first. Then during the day you'll add more markets for events happening further into the future and so you want them further down the list. In short, it's a bit of a mess and makes finding your bets very time consuming, with the likelihood you'll miss markets for an event that you've had bets on.
4. Unmatched bets are not grouped by market order. This is the same problem as 2. A new bet will just go to the bottom of the list, so when trying to find all your bets on a certain outcome, it's a right pain trawling through all of your bets to find them.
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Bets are still going into the system with incorrect stakes - as I have mentioned a couple of times before. This renders the new site useless, especially for in-play trading. Betfair know about this, but it has not been fixed. Below is a screencast showing the problem occurring in one of today's markets. In this example, a £322 bet becomes a £32 bet and a £222 bet becomes a £22 bet. This is a fundamental issue, not just an annoying one.
http://screencast.com/t/DnYEFFeQiD4H |
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Interesting video Dan. What is bizarre is that the final digit is just ignored on your two bets ie the liability never increases for either bet after the first two digits. It does it for 32 but then gives up on your final 2. Exactly the same thing happens on the other bet. It's almost like you are typing too fast for the system to keep up.
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Does that happen all the time dan ? I've just tried the same thing on a cricket market and it seemed to be ok. I was astonished to see that.
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It happens roughly half of the time Bilbo, apparently at random.
TheVis - the idea that I'm typing too fast for the system is basically the conclusion that I've come to as well. I think there's a discrepancy between what the front-end interface shows and what the back-end system sees - ie the system is not communicating correctly (or not quickly enough)with the input boxes on the interface. It should be fixable, it just hasn't been fixed yet - it has been about 10 days since I spoke to Betfair. |
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I recently did thirty minutes of feedback on the site. After doing it, I realized that if you take "each piece" of the new site on its own, it 'works' and improvements are showing (though this seems to be quite a lengthy process).
BUT, some fundamental flaws that any user of an exchange can see. i.e. order of bets as mentioned in pt 4 of the original post. Dan's problem....this is HUGE. The site is not taking orders properly. As mentioned, some sort of 'lag' between information 'captured and converted' for transmission. I mentioned this to a tech buddy of mine (will now send him video link) and he was perplexed (and he does maintenance on software for wall street!). the refresh: I find this really awful. It is the main reason I don't use the exchange. I don't use gruss, etc. I use the "old site" even for in-running with a refresh script. BUT without the script, I wouldn't use in-running. Make the 1 second option available. As mentioned, aware they are doing customer research BUT, Betfair, bring in the users who have been with the site for X years and get the sandwich trays out at Hammersmith. Sit with the traders on small/large screens. Let us fly around the site. Let us show you what was great on the last upgrade. Or give us a betfair lite that is bare bones. I haven't used the casino or the games. Give me more sports and links and I'll be happy. |
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Betfair lite.
I like that idea immensely. |
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I have had on a few occasions where when you press the odds it actually comes up with the previous odds which I have entered on the last bet.
This is worrying when you're wanting to lay at smaller odds than you have previously |
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666....I noticed this as well. I have not used the new site in months.
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"Betfair Lite" is a great idea and has been kicking around for years. If BF wants to keep the layers and traders working reasonably efficiently, it has to ne a site they can use too and the new one plainly isn't.
I'm not saying that there would be a mass exodus when the old site is switched off but if the very active users are placing 1 bet in the time that they used to place 3, then BF had better be prepared for larger spreads, thinner markets and the further demise of liquidity on the side markets and minority sports markets, as layers find it harder to manage multiple positions. |
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they dont want to make the successful traders better, they want to attract (new) mugs. thats why betfair wont listen to people who have used the site for nearly 10 years successfully. they want you to use the casino, multiples and the "cash out"-function. all things people with half a brain wouldnt even consider doing.
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https://lite.betfair.com/
I think you'll find it a bit too 'lite' though |
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jjjj is right,they are trying to kill the exchange off by making it totally unusable. its the only explanation that makes sense
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I don't think it's conspiracy, it's just incompetence.
I suspect that most of the knowledgable people have left the Betfair exchange department, and those left behind are just doing their best frantically trying to keep things going. Meanwhile the casino and games department carries on rolling out more crud. |
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not conspiracy, but purpose. they create a site that invites you to be a mug-gambler. for traders the new interface is unusable, they will have to get API.
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its so annoying having just paid another visit to the new site on the horse racing page..nearly half of the right hand side is taken up with casino ads, with the horse odds crammed into the other half
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Just had a look for the first time in ages, it's worse than ever. The place lays I have are merged with the jockeys name making them unreadable. Is it possible to get rid of the colours and jockeys? I can't see any options. Still no payout function on the betslip. I could never use this if it stays like this.
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I tried it once, found that it required (additional) scrolling to see all the runners and have been on old since. Wasn't there long enough to find some of the "extras" mentioned above. Betfair's city boys should stick to what they know best - fraud.
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Todays page frozen count - at least 20 in about 3 hours - what fun
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Just given the new site another 15 minutes of my time. I don't use bots and just place lots of bets manually.
I'm the opposite to a techno geek so there may be easy fixes to the issues I mention. 1- The size of the banner at the top is far too big and takes up unnecessary space. 2- How do you stop the fractional odds coming up every time you hover over a price? 3- Less options fit on the screen in multi-result markets eg - correct score / first goalscorer. 4- There is no % book at the bottom of the bets you input. (Essential to guard against mistakes when placing lots of bets.) 5- Unmatched bets aren't in order (eg - Different order from how they are listed in main market.) 6- Uncompleted selections are carried from one market to another. (eg if I select or part process a bet in one market. It will carry to the next one I select.) 7- When you click on a back/lay the odds box will not always be highlighted and ready to type in.(This means you have to manually select it with the cursor to highlight the odds box.) 8- I tried to place a bet at odds of 29. But it missed off the 2 and placed at 9. (Whether this was my error or I typed too fast i'm not sure.) The biggest issue for me is the potential to make errors in bet placement. And all this was after only 15 minutes on football markets. I'm sure if you only place a few bets the site is fine. But if you place lots of bets there are massive issues. On a positive note I didn't get - LOADING... Please wait while the market loads... |
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I backed 18 goals or more and it shows a green amount for 18 or more but is showing red for 20 goals or more, 22 goals or more and 24 goals or more when it should be green. The old site gave all the possible P&L scenarios if you placed bets on different lines this one doesn't. Also if you click on keep in play it doesn't work and gives an error message.
One large problem is that when you place a bet on any market and it is only partially matched it only shows the green and red profit and loss figures when you click cancel all unmatched or click continue rather than immediately like on the old site. This means it is not suitable for in play trading where markets are moving quickly. |
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Why no back all and lay all option?
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Never spotted that 1.
It gets worse |
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There is a back all and lay all option. You click on those red and blue down arrow at the top of the market.
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Cheers acc didn't know that was there.
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Good spot acc.
I'll take it back. |
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In addition to issues mentioned above,
Navigation around the markets takes time for people placing lots of bets. Event that have lots of markets like NFL take up more than a full screen on a standard laptop, but there is no scrolling menu on the left hand side which results in time consuming movement of the cursor all the way over to the right side of the screen on all the markets that do not fit on the screen. This is huge problem for me. Also as I have mentioned on Site feedback,why 3 positions when you use the Tab key to move through the Betslip? Again time consuming if you are placing lots of bets. |
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Rather depressing to see there are more issues than I'd realised from having a fairly brief look around. Most seem fairly easy to fix and see no reason why they wouldn't be.
sweetchildofmine, I don't see any ads but I've clicked on 'Hide the Instant Games Module' so maybe that's why? It's in the Options icon which looks like a cog. The_E_Dead_Group, that was a reason I wouldn't use it but it's a lot better now. Correct Score in football was one where it wouldn't fit on a page. It does now. Super Hans, you say Correct Score doesn't show all the outcomes but it does for me. Some really good points there though that I hadn't picked up on. acc, I agree with pressing Tab three times to get to the next line. Thought I might be the only one to have an issue with that! |
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I've only just seen this thread. I started (yet another) moan on the site feedback forum.
Does anyone know how to hide matched bets? I often have many thousands of matched bets by the time a race is run and I know from experience that they slow the page down enormously if visible. I use the old site where I can tick to hide them, but I can't see that option on the new site. All I get is a useless scrollbar that shrinks and grows with a mind of its own, and doesn't let me move it! |
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I shall return to it when you guys say it's fit for purpose. After 10 years I now have quite an apathy to giving BF feedback they don't act upon.
My instant turn off and bugbear is the right hand side arcade promos on every page I turn to. I don't want to know!!! Grrrr!!!  |
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I've tried using the new site a few times but it rapidly gets too annoying. It isn't just a 'fear of the new', the site really is broken. I've tried filling in their feedback form for all the issues, but as far as I can tell, my messages just vanish into a black hole. Key problems (like getting profit & loss figures wrong) just aren't being fixed.
Plus the site wants me to buy a new extra large monitor before it deigns to show me all the odds, or even all the runners, on one screen! Terrible, terrible design. |
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You're all lucky to be able to use the new site at all! Whenever I try it - even with nothing else running - it uses up all my laptop's RAM and I have to crash out. With the old site freezing all the time and due to close anyway, my days on Betfair seem numbered.
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I got his reply from Betfair about the Tab key. So they have no intention of doing anything about this, doesn't give much hope for them improving anything else.
Thank you for your query. On the new version of the website, we have made the option to cancel unplaced bet an actual link. Using the tab key will then cause this link to be selected in between switching through the odds/stake boxes. This was done when remodeling the site, so during the scripting being completely rewritten we have made the bet slip static when switching pages and the markets in the middle of the screen are now dynamic. In the bet slip being static, when you use the tab key it must switch to the next link in the bet slip... which is unfortunately the 'cancel bet' button (x). |
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Thanks, acc. I must admit the tab thing is something I can get used to, but as you say, their answer does indicate certain other issues won't be fixed.
I know nothing about programming, but if the bet slip is static and many of the issues are to do with the bet slip then we could have a major problem. It's been mentioned somewhere on here, but keeping the bet slip static when switching pages is crazy. I expect there will be plenty of bets misplaced because of it. |
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Viewing a page on the Mallorca v Real Madrid match and my unmatched bets from the Atl Madrid v Osasuna match were showing in the Mallorca v Real Madrid bet slip. I was also had error messages keep coming up for a cancelled bet which I had cancelled hours previously. This website is a shambles.
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- was.
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@Mully - killing the Arcade etc promos on the right is easy - hit the cogwheel icon at top right & tick 'hide the instant games module'
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