I am wondering since I have been kind of shocked at the low ball locums offers I have seen and in talking to recruiters I get the sense that they profit off of us big time.
Everything is relative. You need to know the average market pay rate for your specialty to really judge what low is. The best way to do that is talk to your colleagues who've done the locum work in the state/region of your interest.
Average pay rate is essentially the reflection of the demand and supply. For example, in the hospitalist world, $150/hr may be Ok for the Southern CA metro area but would be extremely low for the rural northern CA.
So do your research and figure out what the average rate is which will help you to feel more confident negotiating if the offer is low.
If you are a hospitalist you can use
the locum tenens pay rate calculator to figure out what the reasonable numbers are.
I totally agree with the fact that you need to work with multiple agencies simultaneously when looking for locum work. This way you'll have a choice.
Other ways to get higher pay rate would be to look for the locum work in the Southern and Mid-Western states and rural areas. You will have more negotiating power due to lower physician supply there.
Also, do not forget about the taxation since some state's taxes are pretty high and you are taxed as 1099 even if you work there temporarily which will eat away at your income. That's why I prefer to work in the states with the low or zero state taxes, e.g. WA.