Betfair have introduced some new processing rules that (randomly) reject bets that generate a liability of less than 1p.
Whilst on the face of it this may seem sensible, it has a direct knock-on effect on people who are using below-minimum stakes for their lay bets.
To place a below-minimum lay bet, you first need to place a bet for the Betfair minimum stake plus the required amount at odds that are not going to be matched and then manipulate both the stake and the odds to leave the desired bet.
To do this, TBE will place the initial bet at odds of 1.01.
To take a worked example - if you wanted to place a bet for 10p at odds of 4.0, then TBE would take the following steps:
1. Place at bet for £2.10 at odds of 1.01
2. Cancel £2.00 from the bet (leaving 10p at odds of 1.01)
3. Adjust the odds to 4.0
Because of the changes made by Betfair, step 2 now results in a bet that has a liability of less than 1p and, therefore, the bet will be (randomly) rejected.
The net result is that you need to bet with a higher stake - a stake of at least £1.00 (or local currency equivalent) is required to generate the required liability.
A future release of TBE will allow you to adjust the odds that you use in step 2, which should enable lower stakes to be used once more (although practically you will not be able to go below 10p).