Its a good rule but not always true. It depends on what price is being negotiated, e.g. salary, car price, etc. If someone throws out a number that is clearly

Its a good rule but not always true. It depends on what price is being negotiated, e.g. salary, car price, etc. If someone throws out a number that is clearly too high (seller) or obviously too low (buyer) just to get the ball rolling there is no loss in negotiating strength from that, both parties know they are still far apart so nothing has changed. Also, vague numbers like "around $60K" are less committal, express common ground and more likely to be attempts to get the ball rolling. Another important rule is do not negotiate with your self. In other words, if you made an offer don't raise it until the other guy makes a counter offer. This is negotiation 101 but its very easy to get pressured to raise your offer without a counter offer. As for salary negotiations, I read an article once that a company's first solid offer (which is their low starting point) is somewhere around %20 below what the company is actually willing to pay you. So add 25% to the company's first offer and if that number is not near what you think you are worth you need to find someone else to work for or reevaluate the market value of your skills.