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Comment by tuckerpo | Hacker News Reader

Whoever gives a number first loses leverage.

I hear this all the time and it's overly simplistic. Maybe if I give you a single number that is my true desired value, yes. If I give you a range where the low-end is 25% higher than that true value, I've now anchored discussion at a much higher value and it will be hard for you to reset the anchor.

But you've now increased the probability of them stopping the conversation right-away. The higher anchor came at a cost. That's what loss of leverage is.

You want to know as much as you can about the other party, while revealing as little as possible about yourself.

This is exactly what employers are also doing.

That's good though, if an employer is unwilling to meet your anchor then you don't want to work there anyway so they save you time by pulling out early.

“But you've now increased the probability of them stopping the conversation right-away.”

Or you won’t be wasting time with them.

I am not so sure about this. I usually ask for a pretty high number and I feel it frames the discussion in my favor. I have never had a situation where the employer made a first offer surprised me positively. Usually it’s an attempt to lowball.

That maybe true. But many of us are contractors that sell our services and the entity doing the selling should quote their price. And if you don't feel slightly embarrassed about your quote probably doing it wrong.

First time I asked for an hourly contracting rate I was worried that I was going to get laughed down.

Counterpart was silent for a moment and then said that they should be able to do that.

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