Six percent! What !

Any real estate agent in the UK offering that would get laughed out if town - 2% is common, 1% is realistically negotiatable

Standard commission for residential real-estate is in the 6 percent ballpark, but it's negotiable. It's also split between buyer's agent and listing agent, unless the listing agent brings the buyer (which may be considered a conflict of interest in some areas, but I'm not sure how it gets worked out).

Sometimes a FSBO seller will offer to pay a buyer's agent 2.5% or so, unless they don't want to work with agents at all.

It's a waste of money IMHO, but some people like to have an agent involved. I've had far better luck selling property on my own than using agents though.

Technically it's illegal to set commission rates, but 6 percent was the norm. In the Bay Area however, it's the new norm to offer 2.5-2.0% to Selling agents (those bringing buyers to the deal). I'm not sure exactly what the Listing agents put as the commission fee, but I'd imagine they're likely splitting it 50/50.