And your next to last paragraph is the crux of the matter.

 Abstracting and examining was originally considered a service provided by professionals and priced accordingly.

Now, a search, especially a 'cookie-cutter' refinance transaction search, is considered a commodity. Commodity pricing is always standardized and pushed to the lowest price attainable.

It is important to emphasize the service aspect and downplay the commodity aspect to get the best pricing for your product.