It's the secret that consumers seem to already know -- commissions are negotiable. All they have to do is open the newspaper, or log onto the internet and all kinds of messages hit them between the eyes, that they are paying too much in commission.

As traditional brokers wring their hands over how to compete with faster, leaner competitors who have figured out ways to jettison liability, time-consuming tasks, and unpredictable paydays like sandbags over the side of a hot air balloon, the stakes are rising all the time in the real estate industry.

Competition is at an all-time high, with more than a million people joining as members of the National Association of Realtors, a 25 percent increase over the last four years. MRIS just sent out a bulletin that their membership has reached record levels -- over 50,000 Realtors, appraisers, and inspectors are now members.

Brokers have transformed the industry many times before, with the development of the MLS, agent-centric business models that pay larger commissions, royalties, and benefits to agents, and buyer's agency which allows buyers to select agents aside from listing agents, among other innovations. All along, there have been "discounters," who were willing to do the work of agency without as much of a payday.

With the real estate industry concentrating on liability instead of service, gradually dumbing down the actions that are necessary to warrant a license, more challenges are coming from brokers who want to provide as little service as an MLS-listing-only for the consumer, with no other support. Some new business models are providing advertising services with no need for licensure at all.

Where once commissions were challenged feebly, today brokers and agents are in the position of defending commissions in earnest, as consumers demand to know what they're paying for besides the brand, a few ads, and a listing in the MLS, when they don't even get agency-level service anymore.

Here are some other reasons:

• Rapid price gains and a hot market in many areas are causing sellers to rethink the wisdom of paying the same percentage as others do who are selling much less expensive homes, especially when they see little difference in the service quality.

• Realtors tout the ability to put homes in the local MLS to reach other agents and their buyers, yet they do relatively little to reach buyers beyond the MLS, except to use the listings as personal ads for the franchise, broker and agent in local media. This creates the impression to sellers that the MLS is the most significant marketing tool and that as sellers, they should have the right to access the MLS for much less.

• Many listing agents do not take the time, effort, or expense to market listings properly. A majority of listings online still have no photos or definitive text, and many contain the same agent-to-agent data in public ads as in the MLS, leading many sellers to conclude that they are overpaying for marketing service that is so obviously unpersonalized and single-entry easy for the agent.

• Competitive business models have allowed agent-centric models to empower agents to do their own negotiating on commissions, making it more difficult for "full-service" agents making lower splits with their brokers to negotiate.

• Many agents, when pressed, can not come up with reasons that make sense to sellers why they are worth higher commissions than their neighbor who is selling for hundreds of thousands less. In a market where homes sell quickly, experience, negotiating ability, marketing tools, brand name, and other reasons simply don't count as much with sellers. They only see cost.

• With sellers turning homes every four to seven years, they are more experienced in buying and selling than previous generations. They believe that with basic information such as comparables, they can do about as well for a lot less money.

• The real estate industry, and in particular brokers, are doing little to raise the representation standards in the industry that would help protect higher commissions. Instead, the industry is moving toward business models and practices that limit liability, such as transactional brokerage, but also limit service.

• As long as brokers are paying other brokers out of their own commissions and offering compensation in the local MLS, sub-agency is still in effect, which means the seller assumes that both agents in the transaction should be working on his/her behalf. If they get too much "guff" from the buyer's agent, they are resentful and confused, wondering what they are paying an agent for who is giving them such a hard time.

• Agents who represent "full-service" brokers aren't being properly coached to respond to commission pressures.

• Only two out of three homes purchased in 2004 were homesteads, indicating the speculative nature of real estate in today's climate. As more consumers view real estate as an investment, they will logically look at all expenses related to holding and selling real estate, especially the largest line items such as commissions.

• Because of the amount of information that consumers can get about housing markets, they assume that they can do as well as professionals they observe who aren't that market knowledgeable or tech-savvy.

• Most professions are highly competitive, but more education is required to "get to the top" in many occupations. Everyone knows what an MBA is, yet few know what a CRS is. More confusing, designations and certifications can be awarded by real estate associations but also by a variety of entities which are unknown. The real estate profession does not have an easy-to-understand scale that consumers can use to judge the professionalism of agents.

• Consumers, with the help of third-parties, have successfully dismantled other business pricing including airline ticketing, clothing, electronics and stock brokerage services. Because real estate services are paid on a commission basis, consumers would like to see the transaction commoditized like an airline ticket, where it costs the same for the same level of service.

• Brokers contributed to the slide in commissions with affinity relationships, where consumers who got a deal couldn't resist telling others about it, even if they weren't part of the affinity group.

Since all commissions are negotiable, it's up to the broker to decide where to draw the line.

"Here is twenty-five years of experience talking to you," says broker-appraiser Thomas Stackhouse. "There are no such things as 'discounters;' there are, however, brokers who understand (1) listing fees are, by law, negotiable and (2) what needs to be done to be competitive and remain viable in their marketplace."