Find a good agent who is prepared to do the hard work to find the right buyer for your property. TREAT THE HIRING OF AN AGENT LIKE A JOB APPLICATION. Ignore their Resume because you will rarely find a bad resume. Ignore their Name because good name does not necessarily mean good service and highest price for your property. Ignore number of year in business because there is no proof that an agent gets better result after being in business for 10 or 20 years. Ignore written references because you may only be shown the good ones. So how would you find which one is the right agent to handle the sale of your property?

You must discover if the agent is honest and competent. There are two ways to do this.

First, ask the agent for details of all their current home sellers whose properties hasn’t been sold yet. Call some of these people and see if they recommend the agent. Check if they are paying the same selling fee and if they paid (Lost) any money upfront prior to selling their property?

Secondly you should 'Mystery Shop' the agent as a buyer to make sure the agent is not going to say one thing to you and another thing to buyers. Call the agent's office and make enquiries about one or more of the homes they have for sale. Ask questions such as "Why is the home being sold?" and "What is the lowest price the owners will take for this home?" 'Mystery shopping' will tell you if this is the agent you want to handle the sale of your home.
 

If that agent is using different methods of sale (Auction, Private Treaty, Price-Range etc.) for different properties that means either that agent is incompetent by not knowing which is the best method of sale or is dishonest by stitching them with whatever trick works for that client on that day. Interview as many agents as required to find the one you feel comfortable dealing with. If you can’t find a good agent then seriously think about selling privately.