A commission renegotiated twice reveals the first number was fiction.

A seller who asks to lower the agent's commission at the offer stage, and then again just before transfer, is usually showing that the first figure was never really agreed. It was signed, which is a different thing.

Commission on a sale is set out in the mandate, and later it is written into the offer to purchase or a separate agreement so the conveyancer knows what to pay from the proceeds. A seller who signs the mandate without reading that clause properly, or who signs because the agent seemed pleasant, has not accepted the number. They have postponed the argument.

Then the offer comes in below the asking price and the seller does the sum for the first time. The commission now looks large next to a smaller amount in hand, so they ask for a discount, and the agent agrees to keep the deal alive. Weeks later the bond comes through with conditions, the buyer asks for a repair, and the seller asks again.

So the second renegotiation is less about greed than about a conversation that never happened. The commission could have been explained at the mandate as an amount in rand at the expected price, so the seller saw what they were agreeing to. When that step is skipped, the number stays open, and anything left open will be negotiated.