I could give an absolute minimum, but that would be an anchor I don't want to be tied to.
Sounds like the process was working as intended?
> We were so close to a deal, but my recruiter didn't want to go that extra mile. So, they made $0 since no conversion.
I think you're assuming malice or laziness where the simpler explanation is that the company simply had a firm salary range for the position.
It's more likely that the recruiter simply kept searching to find the client what they ordered: Someone who fit within their explicit compensation budget.
There is a lot of good online job seeking and negotiating advice available these days, but I'm afraid that some of it has become a little too optimistic about how easy it is to squeeze more money out of every employer under the sun. There are many times where the budget is the budget, and the upper limit really is the upper limit.
This is common, the recruiter wants to be transparent, but they can't. You wish the negotiation was characterized by symmetry of information flow, but it isn't.
A recruiter is a lot like a real estate agent. Understanding how their business works and how they operate, leads to a good professional relationship with them that works for both of you.
In other words, there is no way to truly know the limit until you've reached the end of the funnel. Maybe the company's struggled with finding a candidate, and now has decided to shell out a premium upon request. You'll never have that context. But true cards will only played at the end, not the beginning, of the conversation.
As the process goes on, the company may decide you offer more value than they originally anticipated, hence are worth a higher limit.
They went so far, to only drop the ball at the very end. I understand third-party (kind I was working with) and in-house recruiters operate a little differently, but I still found this surprising.