May I recommend Mr Johnson's Little Black Book from 3rd edition that covers this in great detail and goes into a wide variety of options.

Oh, I have it, I'm just curious to see how assorted playgroups do it. The array of answers are awesome, but there's pretty much one universal constant:

If teh Fxer gets handed a cut of the PC''s cash, that table's gettin' flipped. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Yeah. Generally speaking, players are not going to be happy if they get quoted a price to undertake felonious behavior, and then the Johnson tries to hand them a lesser sum - or the middleman steps up at the hand-off and demands his cut.

On the other hand, you could use this as a greedy trick by a scumbag Fixer, or a new one; he shows up at the hand-off and tries to claim that they owe him 10% or something, you know, trying to double-dip.

Don't do that with any Fixers that the players paid build points for, though, but maybe one of their own Fixers calls them up and says "Hey, I don't have any jobs for you right now, but I know a guy who knows a guy who's putting out the word he could use some talent for a client's job. He's kind of a douche, but he alleges he has paying work for a team at the moment, which is more than I can say for myself. I'm not sure if I'd talk to him if everything was going okay, but my rent's not due at the moment, I dunno about yours."

Have him try to claim his 10% at the end. If the players object, he can tell them that their fixer took his first cut as his finder's fee, and he expects something for having set this up. If they're smart, they'd call their Fixer (who will tell them he did no such thing,) or surmise that he's lying; if they just take him at face value, they'll be the butt of jokes in the Shadows for the next week when it gets out that they got suckered by a dickbag. On the other hand, if they pull guns at the meet, even if they aren't pointing them at Mr. Johnson, the Johnson's security will get itchy trigger fingers real quick...

It depends on the setup of the business.

Does the fixer have an understanding with the runners that he will be taking a cut off their pay for find them the job, that is if they get a job through this fixer he will get a cut?

Does the fixer charge the Johnson the finder's fee that is independent of the job success?

Does the fixer accept the job on the runners' behalf and the fixer selects from his stable of runners and pays them accordingly?

Or maybe the fixer sets the Johnson up with the runners for free in return they run their purchases through him? That is the fixer is not primarily about fixing people up with jobs but has an alternate avenue of income.

I honestly don't see many fixers trying to pull that sort of thing. Shadowrunners can fade into the shadows after a job; their fixer will usually have some way (or several ways) of contacting them, and that's it. Johnsons are similarly anonymous, and most of them cover their tracks, and/or use misdirection, as a matter of course, since part of their job is making sure that there is no way a shadowrun can be traced back to the Johnson's true employer.

A fixer, on the other hand, is fairly visible, and comparatively easy to find. Sure, they will have both high security and lots of connections. That's a given. But if it gets out he screwed over a team and stole from them, then a group that hits hard targets for a living will have a strong motivation to retaliate with a disproportionate amount of violence. Even if they can laugh off the loss of money, they will almost be obligated to do something, just to save face, and demonstrate that dicking them around like that is a bad move.

I've always played the fixer gets his cut from the Johnson.

A few points on Fixers IMHO,
Some just provide the introduction between the Johnson and the runners that can met his requirements. They take their fee and they are out. The only thing they know about the run is what skill sets the Johnson needed for the run and who the runners are (and they like it like that). At most they will provide an emergency line of communication between the runners and the Johnson and possibly help to dispose of any extra loot after the run.

The point of using runners is they are deniable assets. A good fixer can increase the deniability if the Johnson uses the fixer as a cut out. He could replace the Johnson as the contact to the runners and make the deal with the runners. He could then handle all the contact with the runner including payment or at the initial meet provide the runners an encrypted pocket secretary if they need to contact the Johnson.

Another way is when the Johnson contracts the fixer to support the runners. The fixer reputation relies on his ability to FIX a problem. A good fixer can be trusted to provide untraceable and reliable equipment and services with no fuss in a timely manner. That means any additional resources, transportation, or information that the runner need won't lead back to the Johnson. This is especially common if the runners are working internationally and don't have their own contacts locally.

Finally it is well to remember that the fixer is in the employ of the Johnson unless they have a preexisting arrangement with the runners. The runners are assets to the fixer, but runners come and go. A well funded Johnson builds a very profitable relationship with the fixer and his eventual replacement is likely to continue the relationship since while the faces do change, the corporation remains.

In our games the fixer gets his or her 10% from the runners for the hook up to the job and for each service or piece of gear. Better fixers may get more. The Johnson also pays a retainer to the Fixer but with any line of cred going back and forward, depends on results. Same for the runners as it is for the Fixer, in their Fixer/runner relationship.

I think I get away with this, as am of the opinion on pay, that runners can expect to upgrade cyber, foci etc without Johnson deals on a run. So cred heavy with fewer jobs and more overheads.

These run deals happen though. We've been playing a long time and like fluidity.

I have also stiffed the team with corp script. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
They may, say, get 150% MCT scrip on Nuyen price but the Johnson being a Koyobun knows its all coming back to his gumi as their the only ones on the street to deal/exchange it. For a price/mark up of course.

Who said life was fair?

The dysitopian punk theme, with the system grinding you down and everyone out for themselves, plays pretty heavy in our game.

One thing that's important to remember when you're thinking about having the Fixer be the only contact the Runners meet is that that simply is not how Shadowrun culture works - I mean the street culture. Sure, it might be safer for the Johnson, but the "Runners meet the Johnson" paradigm has been in play for so long that it's likely ingrained. If you try to use the Fixer as a cut-out, well, you're likely to find that only desperates and newbs are willing to take your jobs.

Same with Fixers who try to screw the talent coming and going (IE, taking a fee from the Johnson and a fee from the Runners, and charging them a mark-up on things they buy through the Fixer.) They're not likely to stay in business long.

I think some Fixers can work along the Fixer cut-out paradigm. For example, your Face is the guy that does most of the interfacing with the other street people. He has the most contacts. In my experience most of the time, the contact goes to the Face even if the group has him as a Contact, unless the character has the Contact at a higher Loyalty.

So in effect sometimes, our Face is our fixer. But the job doesn't really require his Social talents. So he takes a smaller cut, makes sure the Johnson isn't screwing us over or pulling a double cross, whatever.