Hi Stix,
This Laying caper feels like its doing ones nut in when one first starts looking at it, but becomes clearer after one works with it a few thousand times.

The easiest way to work with it is to use fractional odds in ones thinking.
e.g, 2/1 (3.00)
Laying $5 bet x 2/1 = $10 Liab
If Horse wins instead of loosing race for us = -$10
If Horse looses instead of winning race, we make money = +$5

The real art in Lay betting is selecting Lay horses to fall over at prices approx
3.5/1 ($4.50) & less.
Not easy.

Example No.2
Lay bet a 100/1 shot at $5 to fall over
If it falls over , you win +$5
If it wins race, you lose -$500

Betfair take the $500 out of your account when you make the Lay bet.
If successful , they place $505 into you A/C.

If one wishes to have a go at it , I feel its important to set a max price you are prepared to run with & not go over that max price.

I feel every punter should have a go at Lay betting because one really gets a true feeling of what the term value means in punting once you get used to it.

Bet .6% of Bank level stakes is a safe approach, up to Lay prices $9.80,
good for 19-28 outs depending on prices.

The best success will be had restricting volume of bets to making 2% profit a day, then STOP.
Stopping is the hard part for nearly all punters, its discipline thing.
Any more & you will find yourself giving it all back & some.

There is a book that Betfair recommends called ...
Lay Betting on Betfair for Dummies.
Well don't buy it.
Its written by a real dumb as s , with stupid anecdotes through nearly all of it, with only one page about lay betting & even that has a major error in it.

I rang Betfair about this major error & they still recommend that people buy the stupid thing.
Hello!
What does that tell you about them.

__________________
Cheers.