“You don’t expect the mohel to work w/o a payment, so why should a professional shadchan be any different? After all, you don’t HAVE to use their services if you don’t wish. “
FTR, a mohel is NOT allowed to charge a fee. He receives a monetary matana. I had one mohel tell me an amount for the usual “matana” and it much less than another mohel’s matana, and had another mohel refuse to take money from me at all. If you HIRE a shadchan to find a match, that is very different from someone you know redding a shidduch for you. There are many types of shadchanim, only a few act professionally in my opinion. And if the shadchan is trying to make shidduchim professionally, they should be paid a REASONABLE fee for their effort, whether or not it succeeds, if in fact they are really working on behalf of their client. A doctor is paid whether or not he cures the sick person. If a person puts in many hours to try to redd a genuine shidduch (as opposed to “here’s a boy, here’s a girl, it’s a match”), there should be some compensation financially for that work. If it goes through, a small gift should be given, too, not $1,000 from each side. Just my opinion, folks.