I am a bit of a lowballer how should I go about starting trades?

[Easy Breesy]

I know myself and I often send offers that are too low and my goal is not for that trade to be accepted but instead to show interest in the other owners player. How can I improve at starting trade discussions. I have started messaging owners on a specific player and asking what kind of return they want back or which players on my team interest them. How can I improve my intro offers?
Thanks guys

[ArrylT]

if you are a premium DLF member you could use the trade finder tool and the ADP comparisions to see how far off your 'low offers' are compared to actual trades.

If not - a nice goal is to avoid having your trade offers being listed on the 'worst trade offers' thread.

Take a look over the past 2-3 years of the team you'd like to trade with and see if you can spot and trade tendencies, that could help you figure out if where you are starting is too low for that team based on the prices they charged in the past.

[jordanzs]

This is easy.

Instead of saying "I want Kamara, I want Kamara, I want Kamara" and blanketing the Kamara owner with offers that don't help him, approach trades a different way.

Say "I'm thin at RB but have an excess of WRs to spare, who could use a WR more than their RBs"? Then scan and maybe it's not the Kamara owner but it's the Dalvin Cook owner.

Then send a mutual beneficial offer to them. If it's a little bit of a lowball, that's ok, but I would say something like:

"I'm looking at your roster & see that you need receivers. Here's Tyreek Hill for Dalvin Cook. I recognize that Cook has a higher ADP right now, so let me know what it would take to balance this out".

Approach your offers like that and you will 100% be non-offensive and either you'll come to agreement or the other owner will politely refuse but keep you on speed dial for future trades.

That's how I like to get things done.

[briank]

I know myself and I often send offers that are too low and my goal is not for that trade to be accepted but instead to show interest in the other owners player. How can I improve at starting trade discussions. I have started messaging owners on a specific player and asking what kind of return they want back or which players on my team interest them. How can I improve my intro offers?
Thanks guys

Ask yourself if someone offered that trade to you would you accept it. If the answer is no, don't send it. Low ball offers don't get conversations going. They tell the owner that you are not serious about trading.

[Phaded]

Do not be afraid to lose a trade based on perceived value. Consensus can be used as a tool but it is not a guide. If you do not like a guy, do not be afraid to sell low for a guy you like or do not be afraid to pay a little more to buy a guy you like. Accept that someone else may not value your guy the way you do or the consensus does.

A lot of people are too afraid to lose a trade that they consistently low ball. Once you get over the fact that you WILL lose trades and you WILL win trades, you will get more comfortable offering.

[Cameron Giles]

There's nothing wrong with an initial lowball offer, as long as you know that you're going to improve the offer afterwards.

If all you're doing is sending lowballs, then you're never going to get anywhere regardless of how you communicate your deals. Send offers that actually help the other team while helping yourself. Do you want to win the trade? Absolutely, but you still have to give to get. I hate when people are trying to explain why their obviously crap offer is beneficial to me, and why I should give up insert stud here to do it.

[DynoScout]

Do not be afraid to lose a trade based on perceived value. Consensus can be used as a tool but it is not a guide. If you do not like a guy, do not be afraid to sell low for a guy you like or do not be afraid to pay a little more to buy a guy you like. Accept that someone else may not value your guy the way you do or the consensus does.

A lot of people are too afraid to lose a trade that they consistently low ball. Once you get over the fact that you WILL lose trades and you WILL win trades, you will get more comfortable offering.

Just came in here specifically to say this, but you said it even better.
To add value...I'll go even further and say be willing to "lose" a trade to get what you want.
In perfectly free markets, as dynasty leagues should be, every asset will wind up in the possession of the person who values it the most.
If you want something off someone else's roster (and are playing with competent competition) you have to be willing to be the highest guy in the room.

[Cameron Giles]

Do not be afraid to lose a trade based on perceived value. Consensus can be used as a tool but it is not a guide. If you do not like a guy, do not be afraid to sell low for a guy you like or do not be afraid to pay a little more to buy a guy you like. Accept that someone else may not value your guy the way you do or the consensus does.

A lot of people are too afraid to lose a trade that they consistently low ball. Once you get over the fact that you WILL lose trades and you WILL win trades, you will get more comfortable offering.

I agree with this. Too many people go into a deal thinking either:

A. "How can I get Player X by giving up as little as possible."
B. "How can I embarrass this owner by getting Player X?

Instead of "How can I get player X by helping this owner."

[Easy Breesy]

Allroght this is all good feed back thanks guys

[thebeast]

While I’m not an expert, I typically send an offer with a note. Let’s say I want OBJ and I offer Howard and the 1.03... I don’t expect the other owner to accept as it’s a low offer, but I am happy if he does. It doesn’t help me or him to just send crazy offers without knowing what the other person values.

So, I will send a note with my offer.

“Hi, I’m interested in OBJ, any interest in moving him? I’m not sure what you would be looking for, but hope to get a conversation started if your open to dealing him. Thanks!”

You’ve sent your offer, you’ve kind of noted that you are taking a shot in the dark and not really expecting the other owner to accept, yet you’ve made an offer that you would be pumped about if it got accepted. No need to bid against yourself right from the get go. While I don’t want to win trades, I also do t want to pay more than necessary as winning leagues is all about maximizing value, and you do that by having quality assets.

[turcorox911]

I personally don't like lowballers. Gotta send a competitive offer to let the other teams know you're serious. Otherwise you could offend or just severely annoy people.

[Dr.Graffin]

I've completed over 100 trades in the last 3 years in one of my dynasty leagues, so I love to trade and often will just trade to trade. All times of the year offer unique opportunities to trade. There is no right or wrong time to propose a trade in a year round dynasty league.

But in general, find a trade partner that has a need that matches with something you can offer. Using an app like Groupme is very helpful to get counters going back and forth, so you don't even have to send an official offer, but instead a message, "Are you willing to move X?...what do you think about players x and y for player z?...let me know what you're thinking." Using a trade calculator can be helpful in finding out whether or not your offer is in the ballpark (relatively speaking) of being fair. Ultimately, it's about getting a conversation going, not hitting a walk off homerun with the first offer. Don't worry about lowballing unless it's extreme. If someone gets "offended" over a fantasy trade offer they aren't worth dealing with. All they have to say is no thank you or here's what I want vs. what you sent. Need to get insight into how other people value their players vs. how you do.

[Tsunami]

There's no right answer, everyone feels differently. If you send a fair first offer there are some people who will never accept and will always up your price significantly in their counter. And because of that, a lot of people are hesitant to send the first offer -- and so I have found that if you ask what someone wants for Kamara they sometimes think you are trying to force them into a first offer so that then you can counter it. Personally I prefer just being asked, as I have no problem starting things out. It's hard for me to send you an offer if you keep your interests a closely-guarded secret.

[WhatWouldDitkaDo]

The trick is that the lowball needs to be close. For example, I sent an offer of Peyton Barber and a 2019 3rd to the Ronald Jones owner for Pierre Garcon. It's a light offer but not insulting and got trade talks going. On the other hand, I recently received an offer of Isaiah Crowell + Julian Edelman for Jordan Howard. That was so far off that I rejected and didn't feel like discussing counters unless he reaches back out.

Also, the initial offer should make sense based on team need. If someone already has Travis Kelce and needs RB help, it doesn't make any sense to offer them Evan Engram for Joe Mixon.

[Easy Breesy]

Yeah everything you guys are saying make sense. My strategy is asking the owner what type of return they want for a specific player and also throwing up a few players that I think may help them and kind of get the to send the 1st offer