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Business English vocabulary · Negotiations

Bargaining chip

Meaning in business english, with examples

nounCommon term

In business english, bargaining chip means: Something a party can offer or withhold to gain an advantage in negotiations.

In Turkish: pazarlık kozu

How it is used

Used when discussing leverage. A chip may be payment timing, access or an extra service; identify its value to the other side rather than assuming every offer is leverage.

Example sentences

  1. Early payment gave us a bargaining chip when we asked the supplier to reduce the delivery fee.

    A benefit the supplier values can be offered in exchange for a lower fee.

  2. We kept the additional training session as a bargaining chip for the final round of talks.

    The service has not yet been conceded; it remains available to help secure agreement.

Common collocations

  • use a bargaining chip
  • a valuable bargaining chip
  • concessionSomething that one side agrees to give up or allow during a negotiation in order to reach an agreement.
  • counterofferA new offer made in reply to an offer you have received, usually with a different price or different conditions.

More terms: Negotiations

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