Fantasy Football Dynasty/Keeper Orphan Auction Guide

What is an Orphan?

It's simply a team in a multi-year league that has been abandoned by its owner. A sad state of affairs. These unwanted teams need new homes, and we help place them in homes to keep the leagues alive. For more about orphan sales, please see the page text on our Orphan Marketplace.

It's a chance to join a keeper or dynasty league, or any kind of multi-year league for that matter, for a cheap price. Instead of paying a deposit to join a new league, you can buy into an existing league by purchasing a dropped team at auction.

DataForce orphan auctions are blind bidding auctions. That means you place a maximum bid in dollars, which is kept secret until the bid deadline arrives. If you are the high bidder, we sell the team to you at that price.

How Much Should I Bid?

As a rule of thumb, bid half the deposit held. You become the new owner of the deposit if you buy the team, so half-price isn't bad! For teams that are particularly attractive, you'll want to bid as much as the deposit or even higher, and for teams with no redeeming features at all, you should bid the minimum allowed.

You may not bid less than each team's minimum bid during the auction phase, but if the team goes unsold, you'll have a chance later to pick it up, perhaps for as low a price as $1, on the marketplace page.

Can I Bid on Two Teams in the Same League?

Yes, but of course you can't own two teams in the same league. If you win more than one, you'll have to make a choice. That said, please do not bid on a team if you don't have every intention of buying it at that price!

It works like this: When the auction ends, we choose the high bidder for each team and contact him or her, asking for payment. They have 48 hours to pay for the team, and if they win more than one team in the same league, they must choose which one to buy.

If for any reason a bid is not or cannot be honored within 48 hours, our software selects the next highest bidder, and gives that person 48 hours to pay for the team. This process continues until there are no potential buyers left.

When all potential buyers are exhausted, the team is assigned a new price by us, and it lands on the Orphan Marketplace.

Orphan Auction Guide

How much should you bid on an orphan?

Orphans are handled differently at DataForce than at most fantasy sports sites. DataForce does not make money on their sale before or during the orphan auction. These teams are for-sale-by-owner, so they could be over- or under-priced.

Consequently, you're on your own to determine whether a purchase is worth the asking price.

So What's a Fair Price?

The bar for estimating a team's value is the deposit price you would have to pay in a start-up league. For example, if you join a new Copper dynasty league, the deposit will be $50; a new Bronze league will be $100; a Silver league will be $200, and so on. Compare your purchase first to this amount.

Think of buying an orphan as buying a team "used." A markdown for used goods is to be expected. The question to ask yourself is this: Will you be getting a better or worse team than what you can draft yourself in a start-up league?

If "better", you may be justified in paying the full price of $50 for a Copper team, $100 for a Bronze team, etc. or even more. We've seen teams sell for as much as three times the normal deposit! But most orphans are of lesser quality (or they perhaps wouldn't be for sale), so a more typical offer is half the deposit. $25 for a $50 team, and so on.

A team with little chance of winning this year or next should be acquired as a fun project for improvement, and you may be able to get the team for $1 by late May, or may even get paid to take the team!

Remember that you must also pay this year's entry fee when buying an orphan! For example, when buying a team in a Copper league, you'll also pay $50 plus a small regulatory fee to play this year with your new team.

There are a lot of teams here. How can I easily sort through them?

We've made it very easy to sort through orphans that you can bid on. In short, there are multiple ways to sort through teams:

Use the rectangle "toggle box" at the top of the page to view teams of certain price points and lineup types. You can choose any combination!
Select an option in the "Order Teams By:" drop-down menu to show teams that you've bid on ("My Bid"), most recent/newest orphans at the top ("Listing Date"), or by league name.
Use the "Find With" field to show all teams with your selected player or pick. You can even add a second player ("Add a player") to show teams with both or either player (select "and" or "or").

Our recommendation: place a preliminary bid on any teams you may be interested in. Then you can sort by "My Bid" or reload the Auction page to show all teams that you've bid on at the top. You can then edit or delete any bids accordingly throughout the week! Remember to click "SAVE BID" after any bidding additions or edits.

You can always email us at [email protected] with any questions or issues.

Other Considerations

There are a number of issues to be considered when purchasing or making an offer:

Of course, the quality and remaining usefulness of the players (click the ROST button).
Note the Deposit Held column, showing the deposit on the team. This is usually the same as the entry fee, but not always! This deposit amount is returned to the current owner if the league disbands, so it is always a bit risky to offer more than the deposit.
Be sure to check the draft picks available this year and next (click the PICKS button). Teams with early draft picks are worth more, and teams with missing draft picks (particularly in rounds one and two) are worth less).
You may want to view the league roster (click in the I.D. column on the league name button) to see the strength of teams you will be competing against.
Finally, double-check that the league parameters match exactly what you want. The HOST column is of particular importance.

Keeper/Dynasty Orphan Auction

Bidding for DataForce's orphan auction is closed.
We are awarding teams now, contacting winners.

If you placed any bids but did not win, you will be notified as the winning bidder pays for his/her team.

If they cannot or do not make payment within 48 hours of notification, their bid is bypassed and the team is passed to the next highest bidder. This process continues until all teams are sold.

The below chart shows bidders whose bids are still active (the high bidder has neither declined nor paid for the team). If you are still on the list for a team, it means the auction hasn't yet settled, and you may still be a winner!

Be sure also to check out the Orphan Marketplace page, as we'll be adding teams over the next few days.

Thanks for being patient while we get all teams disbursed, and thank you for participating!