It is a trade-off, not a discount
An agency takes on process steps and, being licensed, offers something a purely informal arrangement does not: a licence you can verify and an official complaints channel if the service falls short. A more direct route can reduce one cost while adding effort and risk elsewhere.
Reading it as simply cheaper-versus-dearer misses the point. The useful comparison is effort, verification and recourse across the whole arrangement, not a single quoted figure.
Verification is non-negotiable on either route
Whichever way you go, the licence check is the same discipline: confirm any agency’s legal name and licence on the JTKSM public register before paying, and keep the written terms. A lower price from an unverifiable source is not a saving.
The agency guides cover the licence check and the comparison in detail; this read is about choosing the route on the full trade-off rather than the headline number.