my beef with the commissioned agents is that paying them a commission does not actually influence them to work on your behalf; they still work on their own behalf. For example, keeping your house for sale on the market longer (by rejecting offers) tends to eventually bring a higher price. A study or two has shown that real estate agents keep their own houses on the market for longer than average.

But longer on the market is more work for the agent, while the small percentage increase in a higher price doesn't enhance their commission by nearly as much as it does the homeowner's, especially considering there is frequently a substantial mortgage on the house (meaning, the homeowner gets to collect the "bank's share" of any additional sale price)

but what will your realtor recommend? "list it at a low price to generate interest and start a bidding war", pretty much the opposite of what you should do.

In the grand scheme of things, a commission for making a large, complex selling process go smoothly is not a ridiculous notion, but when your agent is participating in plucking your feathers it's pretty annoying.