This is not valid

No fee listings are no fee to you. But instead the apartments management/landlord pays the broker. This usually gets the apartment better tenants.

From what I understood when I was using a broker to move here, you can use different brokers, but you can't use different brokers for the same place. I may be wrong here.

To not get ripped off, don't let them charge you any more than 1 month's rent. Unless they go way above and beyond helping you. Which is not likely going to happen.

Whenever I talked to brokers it was a certain % of the yearly rent, which sometimes is close to a monthly rent payment.

Brokers in NYC that you get in touch with off CL are pretty whorish - don't feel guilty about going to multiple ones. The whole NYC rental scene is fucking absurd.

I can give you a referral for a reliable broker that I worked with on multiple searches - they are pretty much all looking at the same database (unless it's a proprietary listing), so it's better to get a good one if you are going to pay a fee anyways. Shoot me a PM if interested.

I'm seeing fees like 10-15% of annual rent for a lease of 1+ years. Is that reasonable?

15% is about as high as you can get. Try to get one month's rent. Do some searching if you're going to sign up with a broker - some of them are the scum of the earth (like Metropolitan Property Group, Caliber, etc). There are a few decent ones out there. The best guys will have a good relationship with building owners and might be able to get you a discount just by virtue of them bringing you in.

Like everyone is saying, most of the brokers have access to similar listings, so who you pick is crucial. One thing you can do is reverse Google image search on a listing to find some of these buildings and try and bypass the brokers. But they monopolize listings so it's pretty tough if you're looking for non-luxury buildings.

Are fees negotiable and if so, what would be the most appropriate way to negotiate?

I've always had luck with management companies, but you really have to know what you want.

craigslist, you can find no-fee broker. Or you can completely bypass the broker and deal directly with the leasor, or sublet (great option) for someone trying to find their footing in a new city.

Thanks for all the advice guys. The scams I've heard about on CL are like "wire me the money and I'll mail you the keys." Also, I've heard that brokers in NY sometimes place "fake" listings that look like great deals to get their names out or something. If you ask to see the apartment, they say it just went off the market. Anyone ever deal with something like that?