Empirical research on negotiation openings has primarily focused on first offers and their associated anchoring effects. However, in the field, we observe an additional tactic that is used at the start of negotiations—asking for the best price that the counterpart is willing to accept. Due to the powerful effects of asking questions, and the critical timepoint in the negotiation, we expected this tactic to influence the negotiation process and outcome. We investigated the impact of asking for the best price using an experiment where buyers and sellers of a smartphone negotiated synchronously via a text chat. The participants either made the first offer naturally or were instructed them to ask for the best price. We found that asking for the best price led to a first offer that was lower than what a seller would normally offer but higher than what a buyer would normally offer. Furthermore, when sellers received the question, they made smaller total concessions compared to other treatments. The difference in first offers translated to changes in negotiation outcomes and functioned as an anchor. The effect of the question was moderated by information availability since the availability of a list price reduced the impact of the question. Finally, the subjective value of the negotiators was not affected by the question. This study connects the topics of asking questions, ethics, deception, and anchoring and provides evidence supporting a negotiation opening strategy that is especially effective in situations with strong information asymmetry.