> I'm from the UK so perhaps I'm missing something here, but how would the recruiter benefit from putting you forward at a lower rate? Do they not take commissi

> I'm from the UK so perhaps I'm missing something here, but how would the recruiter benefit from putting you forward at a lower rate? Do they not take commission as a percentage of your rate? Usually, no. Some claim to be commission-based, but most just sell you for X to the customer comany, while paying you Y (Y < X). The customer company usually doesn't even know what the Y is, while you don't know what the X is. In extreme cases, the recruiter's profit margin can be over 50% (i.e. they make more money on your work than you do).