I designed a product for the everyday home car washer. In looking at
different "Pantent Butchers" and their no fee up front yet no fee
showed, I don't want to get ripped-off.
So, what is the cost to get one product patented?  I'm paralyzed from
the shoulders down and don't have a lot of money to put out front,
that's why I'm asking.  Thank you. bruceswebsite.com

An official Google Answers researcher can probably come in with
specifics, but assuming you're located in the United States, there's
probably no better place to seek aswers than The United States Patent
and Trademark Office:
http://www.uspto.gov/main/patents.htm 

There are also probably any number of books on the subject such as THE
PATENT GUIDE by Carl W. Battle
(http://www.allworth.com/Catalog/BL091.htm ) worth seeking out at your
local bookstore, online bookseller, or neighborhood library.

Hi

Your first and most important question should be "Is it patentable?"
and then next "Do I really need a patent?"  You will probably find out
that the answer to both is NO.  Do not expect to make ANY money by
"selling" the patent to a Large Company.  Your only source of money
will be by making and selling the item yourself.  If you do not want
to form a company to make the item, then forget about the patent.

If you want to get some professional advice to the two questions, talk
with a REGISTERED patent attorney or agent.  The list is on the USPTO
web site and it can be search by city.  Many patent attorneys/agents
offer a free initial consultation.  Find one you trust.  No reputable
patent attorney/agent will "promote licensing/marketing of the patent"
or "seek a partial ownership" of the patent.  They are only concerned
with getting you, the inventor, the broadest protection by the patent.

Regardless of what country you are in Patenting can be an expensive
business. You also need to be prepared to protect you patent by taking
anyone else to court if they infringe it. Very roughly if you take the
UK as a reference, it will cost you about £300 ($500) to make the
initial registration. You then have 1 year to come up with more
detailed information and more extensice search data. Obviously you
need to pay for the extensive searches. So you should estimate on
about £2000 per country.
If you have something that is hard to copy, formulation etc, you may
want to consider forgetting the patent and just making it and selling
it before someone else does. Read the Dyson story, he almost went
broke trying to defend his patents before he even made an item  but
now he is well protected and worth millions.