Survivor Buyback Pool Support

Survivor Buyback Pool Support

Survivor Buyback Pool Support Policy

Survivor buyback pools involve complex software logic due to numerous edge cases (e.g., leagues with more than two lives, future picks, variable buyback costs, exotic rule combinations, etc.). They represent only a small percentage of pools on our platform, yet consistently generate the majority of our support load. While we remain one of the very few sites that offers buyback leagues, we must pare down what we can actively support through the help desk.

Because of this, as of October 6th, 2025, we can no longer provide help-desk support for situations where a league’s buyback costs or totals do not match what the manager expected unless it can be clearly demonstrated that the software malfunctioned. This includes scenarios involving future picks, which are no longer supported due to the significant complexity around manager approvals and auto-approving buybacks. Please review the detailed history below for why these changes became necessary.

To give managers full control, we introduced the Manager Buybacks page, which allows you to directly update:

  • Buyback costs

  • Number of lives

  • Any corrections needed to reconcile the Total Pot

If the “Buyback” portion of the Total Pot pie chart on your Standings page does not match what you expect, it is now the manager’s responsibility to review and adjust values on the Buybacks page. This page provides complete control over every buyback-related value.


If you have thoroughly reviewed your entries and still cannot reconcile the total, please feel free to open a support ticket with a clear explanation of the issue and the specific player(s) involved.

Thanks for your understanding and continued support!
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– Fred, OfficePoolStop.com

Prior Announcements...

Survivor Buyback Announcement - 10/6/2025

We’ve rolled out a new Buybacks page that gives managers full control over player lives and buyback costs.

Going forward, the software will no longer attempt to handle buybacks automatically. This change was necessary, as managing the wide range of buyback league variations and edge cases (such as leagues with more than two lives) has proven to be a major support challenge over the years, both on the new and legacy platforms.

With this update, you as the manager have complete flexibility to manage all buyback scenarios directly from the Buybacks page. While this does place more responsibility on you to ensure costs and player lives are correct, it also means far fewer issues and full transparency in how buybacks are applied.

We’re proud to say that OfficePoolStop is likely the only platform offering this level of control and customization for buyback leagues. It’s a complex feature that serves a small but passionate group of pools, and we’ve designed this new approach to keep it sustainable while empowering managers like you to make it work for your unique setup.

Thanks for your understanding and continued support!

– Fred, OfficePoolStop.com

Survivor Buybacks – 10/3/2025 Update

Buyback logic has always been one of the most complicated features on our site. It must support numerous and sometimes exotic edge cases. On our legacy system, the buyback code was flimsy at best—barely held together with duct tape and hacks. We knew moving forward that a full redesign with better scaffolding was necessary.


Even so, buyback leagues (less than 10% of all survivor pools) consistently generate at least 30% of our support tickets, and probably over 50% of support time. The especially challenging “edge case” buyback setups, such as pools with 3+ lives and incrementing buyback costs, make up maybe 2% of leagues but consume hours of support time. This is simply no longer sustainable.

For context: on legacy, it took years of ongoing support to get buyback pools to about 90% functionality, and even then, they still generated constant tickets and questions.

What We’ll Continue to Support

  • Two Lives

  • Single buyback cost

  • Last buyback week

What We’ll No Longer Support

  • Exotic buyback configurations
    (Examples: 3+ lives, incrementing buyback cost, unusual combinations of options)

  • Allowing future picks

Instead of expanding the software to cover these rare cases, we will provide manager tools (such as editing standings, adjusting buyback amounts on the pie chart, etc.) so league managers can directly correct situations when needed.