We've lost a couple of clients when we have convinced them that a flat fee will resolve ongoing disputes over copy costs, short-pay, etc.  Instead of $50 plus copy costs, our history supported $60, inclusive of copies.   They agreed. On the VMC's computer, however, we show up as being highly overpriced, compared to other abstractors, because all they see is $60 vs. $50.  Too bad these companies don't have a method for marking their computer databases to distinguish the flat fee from the "plus copies" fee.   So, as for the proposal for flat fees:  "Be careful what you ask for, you may get it."