What is a MLS entry-only Listing?

This is a new animal that was born of the necessity of people to Do-It-Yourself and save money.  Everybody likes to save money.  A seller probably wouldn’t perform surgery on himself, but now believe they CAN sell their own house.  That is, especially if they had a way to get the exposure of the Multiple Listing Service that Realtors use for exposure.
Until recently, the only way to get that exposure was to pledge a commission to a Realtor to sell their house.  We all know that it is expensive and time-consuming to get a real estate license and also to become a member of the Realtor’s Organization.  But some Brokers who are willing to place a house in the MLS without the concurrent activities of showing, open houses, negotiating and on and on.
If the seller is willing to perform those labor-intensive activities, he can obtain MLS exposure for a fraction of the price of a traditional listing.

What an MLS entry-only listing is NOT

By the same token, it is not the safety net of having your own Realtor to advise you and have the experience you may need from time to time.  You have to answer your own phone.  You have to let people in the house to look at it.  You have to host the open houses.  You have to negotiate the offer into a contract whether you know what you are doing or not.
Experience and knowledge are important when it comes to reviewing an offer and negotiating it.  The harsh thing is that you can’t have it both ways.  You can’t spend no money for a Realtor, but have one ready to help if you need him.

So What Am I Saying?

I would never ever suggest that it is a bad thing to be an independent homeseller.  I am just suggesting you think about it in the beginning.  Don’t start to build the tower before you count the cost.
As for me, a broker who does offer MLS entry-only listings, I do my best to make sellers aware that they are saving thousands of dollars, but at a cost.  We start out with an agreed agency relationship, agent to seller, and doing this would violate that original relationship.
So it breaks my heart when one of my customers asks me to review an offer they just received,  They are excited.  I feel awkward because they have forgotten or never heard when I explained these things.  Now everybody feels bad.  And my job is to make people feel good, not bad.