In my own view the fairest structure would be an hourly wage plus commission based on the sale price.

That way even if the client backs out, at least the agent hasn't completely wasted their time, effort, and money for absolutely nothing.

I don't see why a commission should be limited, however. If you're great at your job and have a track record of selling homes home for more or buying homes for less than other agents can, why shouldn't you be allowed to charge more?

Even now, some agents (if they're desperate or just starting out in the field) will negotiate away part of their commission. So a lower commission is always an option too.

Commission is always limited in some absolute sense, but that's not what I was suggesting. I was suggesting structuring differently than on % of sale price ... after all that is affected by a lot of things out of the agents control and does not lead to incentives necessarily matched with the principal.

They already have options. You have 1% brokerages in every state now. There is even a guy in my town that will list your house on the mls for $500 until its sold. You bring him the pictures and an address. You do everything else yourself. He has an a la' carte real estate brokerage.

Getting lots more agents playing around with the options is a good way to find out what works, so that's good.

I'm not sure how either of those address what I was responding too, though. If you are (as an agent) doing all the legwork in the hopes of getting paid on close, it's risky. Some form of industry standard way for agents to get paid a bit for this work I thing would improve it for everyone, but ymmv.