I have no real argument with what you said.  I charge 50-60 for a current owner, and have no problem cutting it to 40-45 if it cancels.  On my commercial work, we charge a much larger fee, and have no problem cutting the fee if the job cancels.  I feel that a fair percentage of our charges are based on exposure.  I would be glad to spend all my time doing cancelled current owner searches at 40.  I've rarely had problems collecting when a job cancels, but I've always tried to work with the client when they have lost a deal.  Contract or no, we always try to do the best to insure that everyone is compensated for their time.  It may be that I am in a different situation from many of you, in that I don't work much with vendor management companies, and thus, don't understand the contracts you work under.  Doug