Similar topic to this thread:

http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/502179

From my experience, I put my expected salary as non-negotiable. Most people say their salary is negotiable and that's exactly what the HR ppl try to do. I do give my payslip when requested but am still firm on the figure I want. So if I earn 10k, and want 13k I still won't accept 12.5k. I don't try to ask for 15k, hoping to get 13k (or even 15k). Happened to me once, and I said no. Company crawl back later and said will give me what I want, but told them I got another offer already, so expected salary is now revised upwards. I was prepared to lose the offer already, but didn't really care since they were trying to play hardball with me.

To me, I would accept the 'loss' if I manage to get what I want. I'll let the employers 'win' if I'm happy with the amount.

sad to say, i don't really have the time to attend many interviews these days and most of it will be wasting my time as i may be out of budget for most companies. so by putting a high expected salary, i only get genuine interest that are willing to pay good money for my services.

my leverage is that i will still say no if i don't get what i want, and i made it clear since day 1 what i wanted. they can have the payslips they want from me, but no means no. to me there isn't much negotiation here.. it's a simple yes or no only.

btw, i have managed to get an offers before that are higher than my expected salary because i told them i was also considering another offer.