We use salary bands from these types of companies when hiring -- which isn't at all what's happening here. This would be more equivalent to Google + Amazon + F

We use salary bands from these types of companies when hiring -- which isn't at all what's happening here. This would be more equivalent to Google + Amazon + Facebook + Apple all hiring e.g. engineers with 5-years experience and then making them a "take it or leave it" offer at the same precise dollar amount as determined by PayScale. Paying market rate is much different than forming a pricing cartel with a loosely "3rd party" tool serving as your cover.