Every bet you see available on the screen is an unmatched bet - without them, a betting exchange could not operate.
Don't fall into the trap of placing a bet several times in order to get a price when you only wanted a single bet.
When a bet is return unmatched, the message on the betslip clearly states that your bet was unmatched at the moment that bet reached the Betfair server. It does not mean that your bet will never be matched. In a fast-moving market such as a horse race in-running, it is quite possible that your bet could be matched a split second later. The betslip on the right-hand side of the screen will NEVER change - it is like a piece of paper with a timestamp on it.
Always click on 'Go to My Bets' at the bottom of the page to see an update, and keep an eye on the P&L next to that selection in the actual market. Busy markets will match dozens of bets per second, so don't assume you haven't been matched.Markets constantly ebb and flow, often faster than the eye can see on the screen. Keep clicking the Refresh button as well for the latest information.
Many people will have had their bets matched two, three or more times because they haven't realised this. There have been horror stories of people trying again and again to get matched as prices move, without cancelling or adjusting their previous unmatched bet(s), and of course, those situations never go the right way with the result.Unmatched bets do not get cancelled unless you cancel them yourself, or the market is suspended. Always read what it says on the screen.
Leaving an unmatched bet on the site
Whenever a bet you ask for is not matched, it remains on the site as an umatched bet until you decide to cancel it or the market is suspended/closed. Sometimes it may take hours or days to get a bet matched on a particularly quiet market, or if you are waiting for a price to move significantly. Asking for a better price is important in the long run to improve your P&L, but you should be aware of when it's wise to leave offers on the site, and when it's not.
When you place a bet, you usually ask for a price according to the current conditions. When the conditions change, it's a 50/50 chance that you'll no longer want your bet matched - and if the market goes in your favour, it's probably going further away from your offer so you won't get matched anyway.
So if there's a key event on, such as a lead-up race for your horse or any of the main rivals, you will probably be better off taking down your unmatched offers. Alternatively, you could adjust the price you'd like to get matched at to much higher (backing) or much lower (laying) to catch any over-reactions in the market during the lead-up event.
Imagine if you were trading a position on a Grand Slam, say the Australian or US Open where matches are played overnight .You've backed a player early at big odds and he is still there after a few rounds. You want to trade out for a profit now that his price has dropped. He has the night off but the no.1 seed is on court. If the top seed is beaten, then market changes completely. Instead of trading at 85, your man is now into 20 when you wake up. If you had left your offer to trade out up overnight, you would have matched at a far higher price than you needed to, thus giving away significant profit.
How to get more bets matched in a fast-moving market
Do you constantly miss prices in-running because the market keeps moving? It's a common problem.
Here's a handy tip. Ask for a few ticks under the price you want (if backing). The exchange will always match you at the best price available at the instant your bet hits the server (at the end of the in-play delay), so instead being constantly frustrated, click on one of the white boxes rather than the blue one, or lower the price yourself. You'll have more chance of getting matched. In theory, you could put in the extreme price (1.01 for backing, 1000 for laying), but there's always that tiny chance that the market liquidity disappears at that split second and you get caught at that price.
So in a under/over 2.5 goals market where the under price continues to drop as the 90mins ticks away, ask for a couple of ticks under the current price (eg 1.73 instead of 1.75) to guarantee you get matched, or at least make it far more likely.