Yup...most of our VRBO (or HomeAway) rentals have been through owners but one was an agency. No biggie BUT if you rent through VRBO or HA, as mentioned, you will now pay a fee in addition to the rental cost. SO if you rent on VRBO from an agency you will most likely be paying the agency markup AND the VRBO fee.

If I saw it was an agency I would just contact them direct and eliminate one fee anyway (assuming they would answer the phone).

For repeat rentals I always try to do an owner direct rental and get away from the sometime cryptic and redacted HA/VRBO message system.