Not always Dave
I have more than found P&E a useful site. it saved me from some scams because once I read that an agent was not recommended, I went and did research and made up my mind if I wanted to sub to that agent or not. I also often e-mailed Victoria and asked her about any agency I was not sure of.
Not everyone will do this, they will see not recommended and move on.
And i do see that you put that little $ next to agents who have made legit big sales, most of the time. In the cases where you skip that for whatever reason, and the agent does make good sales, a writer who doesn't do research would skip over that agency. And if they went to the agent's web site--and saw legit sales listed, say the agent claims to rep John DeLancie and Ed Greenwood, and lists many sales in the past year to big houses--I know I would have thought, Hey, but Dave at P&E says and therefore I would suspect the agent's claims.
The trouble with finding an agent is that there is a sea of them out there, and some do not take on unpublished writers AT ALL.
So if you don't do your research and make sure your listings are fair and accurate (as in the case of legit sales) you may be excluding an agent who indeed will take on unpublished writers.
Perhaps you should expand that little $ symbol to say legit sales, but So the writer can make a better assessment. And be sure that you have included the fact that an agent with fees or that sometimes gives the option of paying a fee is listed in the first place as having a good sales record.
After all, P & E is every writers (or should be), first stop on the agent highway.
Shawn