-Hey Everyone - Notice the 10 point type on the reply...Jeez - 5 replys on the type size, 1 reply that offers useful criticism.  (I didn't realize it would look so large until I posted)

I see your point on the watermark vs the masking.  It is still in debate and testing.  I thought the waterwark would work, but like you mentioned, some vendors would just use it anyway.  But you are right, if my contact info was on it, maybe their customer would call us direct.  The key is the commitment to payment.  What ever way the end product is delivered to the client, once satisfactorily delivered, they are committed to payment.  My intention was not to offer the client a pig in a poke so to say, but to offer the method for them to check out the search, accept it or request correction or more info, then acceptance.  This gives the abstractor the reassurance that they will be paid for their work. 

As for the apple in the pasture anology.  Abstractors are in the same "field".  We are contacted by a company to do work, they look good, smell good, check out OK, complete a vendor agreement, etc.  And for a while they even pay great.  But some fateful day when you are into them for $2-$3000, the fax doesn't work, the phones go to voice mail, and all that shine they had in the beginning starts to look like the manure...

Thanks for your input.  By the way, which company do you work for?

Scott Aduddell