Dear DC I just came across this whilst looking for contact details an thought I would give you an objective view. An estate agent is legally bound to put all offers forward up until exchange of contracts. This means that regardless of what stage you are at in the process if sales memos have gone out, solicitors instructed or even surveys done the agent has to put that offer forward, they would be breaking the law and leaving themselves open to prosecution. A few £1000 either way will make no difference to the agents fee so there is no way they would want to create stress and extra work so trust me they would rather these situations never came up. You could say that the person making the offer or the seller had questionable morals but not the agent. Personally I know that 1,2, £3,000 would make a huge difference to me and if I was selling a property and it was at an early enough stage that it wouldn't financially cost someone I would have to seriously think about what a difference to my life and my families life the extra money could make!! There is no doubt there are lots of agents out there who behave in a terrible way but you will find that that with the process you have described the agent has acted exactly as they should. In a slightly different way they have also ensured their client gets the very best price possible which is something that I know I would look for in an agent?