In a standard transaction, your buyer’s agent delivers the offer to the seller’s listing agent, who then presents it to the seller. The listing agent is the seller’s designated point of contact and has a professional duty to pass every offer along. If no agent is involved on either side, the question of who delivers the offer to the seller answers itself: you do, directly to the owner or to whoever the owner has named to receive paperwork.
The delivery method matters. It starts the clock on the seller’s decision window and creates the record both sides may need later if a dispute arises over timing or receipt.
How Your Buyer’s Agent Submits It
Your agent prepares the written offer, confirms your signatures are in place, attaches the required disclosures, and transmits the complete package to the listing agent. The offer does not go directly to the seller. That agent-to-agent handoff is standard because the listing agent is the one obligated to present offers and to advise the seller on them.
Before any of this happens, you’ll need a signed buyer representation agreement with your agent. Since August 17, 2024, agents participating in MLS systems have been required to have that agreement in place before working with a buyer, and it must state the agent’s compensation as a specific amount rather than a range.1NAR.realtor. Consumer Guide to Written Buyer Agreements
Your agent also keeps the paper trail. Delivery confirmations, read receipts from e-signature platforms, and timestamps all serve as proof the offer reached the listing agent on time. Those records matter if a question later comes up about whether your offer beat a competing one or whether a deadline was met.
The Listing Agent’s Duty to Present Your Offer
Once the listing agent has your offer, they must present it to the seller. That duty applies regardless of the price you offered, the terms you proposed, or what the agent personally thinks the seller will do with it. Standard of Practice 1-6 of the National Association of REALTORS Code of Ethics directs agents to “submit offers and counter-offers objectively and as quickly as possible.”2NAR.realtor. 2026 Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice
The listing agent usually schedules a review with the seller to walk through the terms, explain the buyer’s financial qualifications, and lay out the consequences of accepting, countering, or rejecting. The obligation to keep presenting offers continues until the property closes or the listing agreement ends. Agents who sit on an offer risk discipline from their state licensing board, including fines or suspension.
If several offers arrive at once, the listing agent presents all of them. The decision on how to respond belongs to the seller.3NAR.realtor. Part 4, Appendix IX – Presenting and Negotiating Multiple Offers
When a Listing Agent Can Stop Forwarding Offers
There is one narrow exception. Under Standard of Practice 1-7, once a property is under contract, the listing agent may stop presenting new offers, but only if the seller has agreed to that waiver in writing.2NAR.realtor. 2026 Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice Without that signed waiver, every new offer still has to be delivered to the seller, even after a contract is signed.
How Offers Actually Reach the Seller
Most offers travel electronically. Platforms such as DocuSign and Dotloop let agents send, sign, and return documents in minutes while generating an audit trail that records when each document was sent, opened, and signed. Electronic signatures carry the same legal weight as ink signatures under the federal Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, which provides that a contract or signature cannot be denied legal effect solely because it is in electronic form.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 7001 – General Rule of Validity
Most states have also adopted the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, which mirrors the federal rule. Email often serves as a backup for scanned documents or supplemental paperwork, and MLS internal portals let agents exchange documents directly within the listing system.
Physical delivery still happens. Printed contracts can be hand-delivered or faxed, but these methods require the recipient to manually confirm receipt, usually by signing an acknowledgment, before response deadlines start to run. Whatever the format, the point is the same: a clean record of when the offer was delivered and received.
Delivery Is Not the Same as a Contract
Getting the offer in front of the seller does not create a binding agreement. Three steps have to happen: you make a written offer, the seller signs it without changes, and the signed acceptance is delivered back to you or your agent. Until that return trip is complete, either side can generally walk away. If the seller changes their mind after signing but before the acceptance is communicated back, there may be no contract at all.
Electronic platforms can blur the line. If an e-signature system automatically notifies you that the seller has signed, a court could treat that notification as delivery of acceptance. A text from the listing agent showing the seller signing, with a note about dropping the document off shortly, could be read the same way. The safer approach is to treat acceptance as final only when the fully signed document is formally transmitted back through the same channel used to submit the offer.
How Long the Seller Has to Respond
No law gives the seller a set number of days to respond. The response window is a deadline you write into the offer. Purchase agreements commonly give the seller 24 to 72 hours, after which the offer automatically expires if nothing has come back. If you don’t include a deadline, the seller can take as long as they want and is under no legal obligation to answer at all.
Setting that window is a judgment call. A 24-hour deadline signals urgency and may force a quick decision, though it can feel like pressure. A 48 to 72 hour window gives the seller room to think but also gives competing buyers more time to come in with their own offers. Your agent can help you weigh what fits the local market.
Delivering an Offer Yourself in an FSBO Sale
When the home is for sale by owner, there are no agents in the middle. The buyer is responsible for getting the purchase agreement into the seller’s hands, usually through personal email or by hand-delivering a printed contract.
Proving delivery is the hard part. Without the audit trails agents rely on, you need to build your own documentation. USPS Certified Mail with Return Receipt is one reliable option. The return receipt provides proof of delivery that includes the recipient’s signature, the delivery address, and the date, and it can come back as a physical green card or an electronic receipt by email.5USPS. Return Receipt – The Basics
Without professional guidance, both sides are on their own for understanding deadlines, response rules, and the steps needed to form a binding contract. You should also verify the seller’s identity against the property records before handing over a signed offer, so you know you’re dealing with the actual owner.
If an Offer Is Mishandled
When an agent fails to deliver an offer on time or botches the transmission, the fallout can be serious. A buyer may lose the property to a competing offer. A seller may miss favorable terms they never got to see. The agent responsible faces potential malpractice claims and, depending on the state, possible license suspension or revocation for failing to disclose the mistake.
Most agents carry errors and omissions insurance, a form of professional liability coverage for mistakes, oversights, or negligence during a transaction. E&O policies typically cover legal defense and settlements up to the policy limit, and many states require agents to carry the coverage.6NAR.realtor. Errors and Omissions (E&O) Insurance
If you suspect your agent mishandled your offer, raise it right away. Waiting tends to make things harder, both for recovering any financial loss and for any later disciplinary or legal action. You can file a complaint with your state’s real estate licensing board, which has authority to investigate and impose penalties up to and including license revocation.