Get the entry fee up front before the auction or draft.

[elias]

Just a warning note: I welcomed an HQ subscriber into our league last season and the deadbeat stiffed us for his entry fee. Our members, new and old, had always paid -- if not up front, then eventually. I was clearly naive when I trusted someone who responded to this Forum. Now our league won't welcome ANYONE from this Forum.

[Tom_T]

Just a warning note: I welcomed an HQ subscriber into our league last season and the deadbeat stiffed us for his entry fee. Our members, new and old, had always paid -- if not up front, then eventually. I was clearly naive when I trusted someone who responded to this Forum. Now our league won't welcome ANYONE from this Forum.

That is terrible. I would say that the long-timers here are very trustworthy in general, but there are far more HQ subscribers than who actually post on the Forum.

But yes, I agree that getting money upfront is a good idea. Honestly, anyone who would complain about it is not someone I'd want in my league. Just pay your fee like you're supposed to, and everything will be smooth.

[bowi8son]

this happened one time in our league about 25 years ago and it still bothers me

[usualsuspects]

Back in the day, we once had a guy who had been in our league for a couple years. He maintained, and in fairness the league agreed, that instead of just having the league kitty in someone’s checking account we could easily add a couple hundred bucks by putting it into a mutual fund. We agreed to let him do that for us. Turned out that instead he blew it on cocaine and disappeared. That was a memorable season.

[bowi8son]

where are all the good vigilantes these days

[WillinTO]

Now our league won't welcome ANYONE from this Forum.

That individual is clearly a dead beat jerk. But, to therefore rule out ANYONE who is a BBHQ subscriber? Doesn't that seem a little harsh? I suspect the average BBHQ subscriber is a lot more like you than the dead beat.

[Tom_T]

Back in the day, we once had a guy who had been in our league for a couple years. He maintained, and in fairness the league agreed, that instead of just having the league kitty in someone’s checking account we could easily add a couple hundred bucks by putting it into a mutual fund. We agreed to let him do that for us. Turned out that instead he blew it on cocaine and disappeared. That was a memorable season.

That is a great story (in hindsight; I'm sure it was annoying at the time.)

[Dr Dave]

In our leagues, anyone whose balance is in arrears has his roster frozen until payment is made. We haven't had any problems.

[circle360]

Just a warning note: I welcomed an HQ subscriber into our league last season and the deadbeat stiffed us for his entry fee. Our members, new and old, had always paid -- if not up front, then eventually. I was clearly naive when I trusted someone who responded to this Forum. Now our league won't welcome ANYONE from this Forum.

Elias

First off. That sucks.

I've had that happen years ago by someone on the forum. I found out that he had done that to two other leagues as well after the fact. Since i kind of blasted him on here.

Then warned a few people after the fact. Since I saw him respond to league openings. ( i think he has gone from the forums as well. havent seen him post in like 3 or 4 months)

What ive learned since then

Do a post in the classified section.

If you don't know the person. Do a search on his name on the forum.

So, you can see if this person is a good fit for your league

Then PM the person and ask them a few questions.

That's what I have done with the couple of people that I didn't know

I Commish 2 leagues and co Commish 1 league. id say 80% of the people in the league are from HQ

Those leagues are great

So I wouldn't eliminate everyone from HQ.



Also, with league fees. Id use leaguesafe. We use that for all 3 of those leagues. Makes things easy for you and the site sends people reminders twice a week until they pay

[mbalut]

About 15 years ago, we had a guy arrested for vehicular homicide: drove drunk and killed a guy. (Turned out the guy he killed committed suicide but our league mate was still guilty of DUI and was in jail for a while. So we lost his $300 entry fee.) So ya get the money up front!

(Can't we post who the deadbeat is? Call his ass out?)

[Mike Rubin]

Over the years, I have had deadbeats from all walks of life, including guys I knew well, guys who paid without incident for years but suddenly stopped, and guys I found on HQ.

I haven’t had much luck demanding payment before the auction because it results in chaos when the auction is imminent and the league suddenly is in danger of drafting without several teams. Similarly, freezing moves doesn’t help because there’s a strong correlation between not paying fees and abandonment of teams by owners who won’t make moves, anyway.

The problem was particularly bad when we charged for transactions. I doubt my leagues collected 50% of that money.

These days, I just resign myself to having to push some guys hard and repeatedly, and reminding the league that there is some risk the pool will be reduced if turns out that someone insists on being an a-hole about fees.

[circle360]

Over the years, I have had deadbeats from all walks of life, including guys I knew well, guys who paid without incident for years but suddenly stopped, and guys I found on HQ.

I haven’t had much luck demanding payment before the auction because it results in chaos when the auction is imminent and the league suddenly is in danger of drafting without several teams. Similarly, freezing moves doesn’t help because there’s a strong correlation between not paying fees and abandonment of teams by owners who won’t make moves, anyway.

The problem was particularly bad when we charged for transactions. I doubt my leagues collected 50% of that money.

These days, I just resign myself to having to push some guys hard and repeatedly, and reminding the league that there is some risk the pool will be reduced if turns out that someone insists on being an a-hole about fees.

why dont you use league safe?

Leaguesafe sends the reminders twice a week to people until they pay

You get notified when someone pays

Also paying for transactions? Thats nuts to me. Thats like an ala carte league.

[Mike Rubin]

why dont you use league safe?

Leaguesafe sends the reminders twice a week to people until they pay

You get notified when someone pays

Also paying for transactions? Thats nuts to me. Thats like an ala carte league.

Transactions fees were part of the Book rules for the entire time they were in common use, so we assessed and tried to collect them. We haven’t bothered with them for decades, though, in part due to collectibility issues.

My understanding is that Leaguesafe charges owners. Our league entry fees are $25 or $50, plus under $10 a team for onroto.com. At that prize level, fees are a hard sell. I will look into it, though, if I have problems collecting from anyone this year. Thanks for the tip.

[Howie M]

I think transaction fees mainly would be an issue in a league where owners' annual income varies very widely.

if you have someone who would be loathe to spend $50 on moves while another would be comfortable spending $200, you'd have - wait, an amazing parallel to real-life spending in MLB!


but in general, you don't want to leave some owners sort of reaching into their general disposal income levels to compete. as long as that is in play, it's not a huge deal to me. we have always had fees (and many other rules for our league that we've had since the 1984 book came out), and rarely has it seemed like money was a big factor (though some owners are more manic about replacing inactive players immediately than others. but that just strikes me as personal preference - chasing the counting stats vs. preserving AVG/ERA/Ratio. either method can work).

[circle360]

Transactions fees were part of the Book rules for the entire time they were in common use, so we assessed and tried to collect them. We haven’t bothered with them for decades, though, in part due to collectibility issues.

My understanding is that Leaguesafe charges owners. Our league entry fees are $25 or $50, plus under $10 a team for onroto.com. At that prize level, fees are a hard sell. I will look into it, though, if I have problems collecting from anyone this year. Thanks for the tip.

Our league dues are $100 for the 3 leagues I commish

Leaguesafe charges $5 or in that range. Nothing too crazy