Do you pay due diligence/earnest money when you make the offer?

[Mahmoud Y. Elhalawany]

Hey there everyone. I am a new wholesaler. We typically do not do deals with agents, but opportunities arose. This agent is bringing me a listing from the MLS that we are considering putting under contract. We asked for a due diligence period. The agent told us that he wanted $500 due diligence deposit/earnest money. My question is do we pay that upfront as we offer? Or only if our offer is accepted and we move to signing a contract? We make a lot of offers and typically it is just between us and the seller. But I know the MLS works differently. Still we cannot simply give away $500 Everytime we make an offer.

thanks so much everyone!