In West Los Angeles, a "standard" residential real estate commission is 5% split equally between the buyer's and seller's agents. Yet commissions are completely negotiable.  What is the average real estate commission actually paid?

Real Estate commissions are negotiable by Law, so yes, you can negotiate real estate  commission if you are buying or selling a property. http://itz-sold.com/homebuyers-rebate-in-greater-los-angeles-area/or rebate, and if you are selling, you may ask for reduced listing agents commission (the one who represents the seller).  It is impractical to reduce Buyers agents commission as there are risks that if commission is too low, the buyers agents will not show your property. I work for http://Itz-Sold.com a discount Real Estate Broker in Greater Los Angeles area, and our listing fee is only 3.5% and if you are buying, you get 1.25% of sales price for your closing costs. (Escrow, City/County/HOA transfer fees).

Commission rate depends on many factors including the price of your home, the condition, and the circumstance of the sale, also the realtor, the brokerage he/she is from, etc. Despite what others may tell you, you don't always get what you pay for. There are great realtors who are willing to lower he or her commission. Some realtors simply have a lower cost structures than others. Instead of calling agents and haggle with them, which may sour the relationship, you should give http://www.UpNest.com a try. You should get 4-5 personalized proposals from agents in your area within 48 hours. Then you can pick the most suitable agent for the best commission to interview. Because these agents know that they are competing against other top agents, they will try harder to earn your business and you will get the best deals from them.

Actually your information is not correct. All commissions are negotiable. There is no standard, but if there was it would be quite higher then you are stating. The "average" can't be given due to the many variables. Each listing is different and requires different tactics to sell. Some need major cleaning, painting and marketing, while others don't.

Thanks for the A2A.There is no valid answer to your question. The actual amount paid only shows on the final closing statements, and those documents are confidential to the parties in the transaction. Even the seller only knows his side and what he paid to the buy side, and does not know the arrangements made at closing between the buyer and the buyer’s agent.There is no central source for that information, and so there is no reliable answer to average real estate commission “actually” paid.Each individual brokerage could gather that information for their brokerage. Every Escrow Company could gather that information as to the closings done by their Company. If they all did that and posted the result you could average them. But given they are the only ones with access to the closing statements and they do not post that information publicly, there truly is no accurate answer to your question.Commission arrangements are negotiable…and those negotiations and details as to amounts paid are confidential between the agents and their clients.