Ok_Price882's journey

I recently applied for a job through LinkedIn and received an email from the company asking me to complete a form as part of their hiring process. This was a first for me, but I went ahead and filled it out. One of the questions required me to provide my expected salary, so I gave them a figure that I felt was reasonable based on my experience and the role. To my surprise, they came back with an offer that was about 30–45% lower than what I had stated. They asked if I would be comfortable with this lower offer before moving forward. I'm left wondering if this is a typical part of the hiring process or if it raises any red flags. Is it common for companies to ask for salary expectations and then present a significantly lower offer? I'm curious if this indicates something unusual about their hiring practices.