I hear that there are SEO companies/professionals who will charge their clients a markup for taking their site and submitting it to other submission directory services. For example, if a Submission Directory service costs $40 for 100 directory submission, the SEO will charge a fee above that amount. Do you think that this is ethical? I guess I am not too surprised because the SEO knows of the directories and I guess they should have a righ to charge a small amount. What are your thoughts on this?
Absolutely, it is ethical. In some way or another, most of us are in a service industry. We do things others either cannot or will not...for a fee
An automotive garage will charge you $300 to do some labor on your car 3-4 hrs later - The mechanic has $100 he didn't have before - The shop has $200 You are happy because your car is now operating properly and the mechanic is happy since he didn't have to go door to door looking for a car to fix. The shop is happy for obvious reasons. The best business is one where you collect money for putting togather a need with a solution provider. Thats just business.
I think this happens in every business out there, you simply may not be aware of it. Most products are marked up more than once before you get your hot little hands on them.
It's standard practice. If you don't want to pay them for their work or knowledge of where to go, you do it yourself. Even contractors who hire someone else to do the work add a percentage markup and pass it along.
Driven: that's absolutely OK and same is any other business. (Disclaimer: I work as subcontractor for some SEO professionals as well.) Example from other fileds: there are companies that do programming at US rates, but they started hiring in Asia. Do you think it is ethical they charge US prices but have Asian costs? But good thing is, you can always go to Asia yourself and find someone. It is up to you how far you can/will go. And btw., not speaking about directory submissions, I believe this has been the case with most link building services for a long time...
IMO that's just the world of business. There's middleman in every industry, this just being another. I dont really think its a question of ethics.
Buy anything, goods or services, and you will pay a markup. In this example, you are paying the company for their knowledge of the submission services.