I don't think agents should be sold back their leads for a referral fee on top of all the other fees a company may charge to be an independent contractor in that firm.

   Do Ad clicks and (the debatable) company scrubbing cost 30% of the sale price of a property?

    It can get a little pricey for the best placement of "pay per click" ads, but I am guessing most companies have thoroughly researched the best way to utilize "pay per clicks" by having them appear only at certain times of the day and where on the web.  (Have you noticed some real estate company ads, now you see them, now you don't)

   A momentum is established after driving customers to the company website and the company can then "budget" this marketing expense so that it is not as costly to get their website in front of Internet customers. 

    Gathering information on how many visitors, unique visitors and return visitors is very important information that is used to validate the "company's" presence, but agents are paying for this company marketing and then some.  

     Even as a small independent company I can afford ad clicks and feel there is some value. Lead generating websites are readily available, easy to create and are quite inexpensive to maintain. 

    What agents don't know can be quite costly to them in the long run.  Agents should research their options to maintain control of the leads they generate.