[psanford]

There is no incentive for companies to do that. Its a thing that could theoretically happen in rare cases but essentially never does in the industry. Read patio11's article on why.

I think its telling that you have to reach for a >10 year old article for evidence that this is an actual risk.

[llama_boy]

While generally I've had great success with negotiating salaries (in multiple cases more than 10%, in one case more than 20%), I have had a company rescind an offer when I indicated their offer was lower than the range I was hoping for. Ironically, I was going to take the job at their original offered rate as their cause was well aligned with my morals and values and I was excited to work for them, but they decided that because they couldn't hit the range I wanted, they assumed I was just going to leave.

It all felt off to me - it should be the candidates job to accept or not, rather than for the company to make that assumption.

Doing a lot of hiring now, I always offer as close to or above the top of the range the candidate is looking for if possible, and definitely have pushed that up outside our budget when we stumble across great candidates. I want to build a team that sticks around, not just have people hopping every 18 months.

[SilasX]

I didn't have to, that's just a prominent, citeable example that immediately came to mind. People get ghosted all the time for being too difficult, it just doesn't make the news. It can always make sense to end negotiations when you expect the other person to have unreasonable expectations and/or if you have a backlog of difficult alternatives you can pick.

If you're going to reply, please drop the absolutes -- you're asserting a confidence you can't possibly have here. "No incentive"? Of course there is, you just don't think it's big enough to worry about. So say that instead of asserting a model that can't be true.

"No downside"? Come on, reality rarely works like that.

[OkayPhysicist]

I'm struggling to imagine the conversation that would take place. Do they just hang up on you / immediately shut up and have you escorted from the premises? I don't think I've ever gotten a written offer before a verbal one.

[psanford]

I'm comfortable with what I said.

It is fascinating that some people are so afraid of negotiating that they make up excuses why they won't try, and then they try to convince everyone else that negotiating is too dangerous to attempt.

[SilasX]

I wasn't making up excuses: the danger is real. If you don't have enough leverage to withstand the party walking away, you don't have enough leverage to ask for more. I didn't say "don't negotiate", or "it's too scary"; I'm saying, be ready for the consequences, and don't falsely zero out real risks. That shouldn't be controversial.

It's kind of telling that you have to resort to pathologizing me instead of addressing the concern.