if a property is on sale through 2 different estate agents and you view it through one estate agent and have offers rejected, if you then view the property again through the other agents and have a higher offer accepted, can the first estate agents have any claim over your purchase / or over the second estate agents or the vendors regarding the sale?
Don't worry about it - the vendor pays the estate agent(s). Which agent or agents get paid will depend upon the nature of the contract between the vendor and the agents. It's not your problem.
No its not, Weeal - its perfectly common in England. The agents split the fee - which will always be larger percentage than for a single agency.
Where problem can occur is if one agent has been engaged then disengaged and another agent gets the job. Then a buyer turns up later who was originally introduced by the first agent yonks ago.