What's your answer to "What are your salary expectations?" ?

I've seen a lot of advice against revealing your current salary to prospective employers. Some even go further and suggest you avoid stating expectations altogether —just flip the question back on them and ask for their range.

The problem is that it doesn't work. I’ve tried it. They always dodge with BS excuses like, “I need to check” or “It depends on the candidate”, "We don't have a specific range". Sure. I believe you.

Then they flip it back on to me to name a number - and we're at stalemate.

I suppose I've never tried pushing back with “Come back when you have a range, and we can talk,”. I usually cave and give my expectations, and I tell them I'm flexible, and we can negotiate once I progress through the hiring stages and we get a better feel for my skills and the fit (all of these conversations happen in the initial HR interview).

Even that has backfired. At least one company explicitly told me I asked for too much, and I suspect I've lost others because of that as well.

So how do I handle this? I feel like I'm never asking for an unreasonable amount—just my current salary plus 10-20%, and it's always within the market range.

Right now, I've got an e-mail sitting in my inbox:

"Our team is reviewing your profile, but we need to clarify your expected starting compensation (USD gross) to ensure our budget aligns with your expectations."

I'm a bit lost now, I genuinely don’t know what to do anymore—I don’t want to lose another opportunity.

Really getting fed up with this ridiculous game and all these companies that just want to pay me as little as humanly possible.