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When you are haggling with someone and they give you a high price, so you decide to leave them, not to really leave, but expecting them to call you back and knock off the price a bit. What do you call this trick in English?

Example sentence:

He said $200, so I __________ and he called me back saying $100.

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    Walked away, perhaps? I don't think that there's a commonly accepted term.
    – Mick
    Nov 11, 2017 at 6:01

2 Answers 2

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This technique is called 'the silent close'.

'. . . so I silently closed and he called me back'.

Whether selling or buying, there comes a point in the negotiation when nothing remains but to close the sale. Any further conversation will tend to open up topics that have already been covered and will result only in the other party having second thoughts.

The 'silent close' is when one party withdraws from further discussion and merely waits for the other party to accept the transaction.

It is as true of marketing (buying or selling) as it is of legal, court discussions that one can talk one's way into - and back out of - a successful argument.

'The Silent Close'

'Why Silence is Crucial to Sales Success'

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a bargaining counter idiom - freedictionary.com

English, British English: a bargain counter: a special advantage in negotiations, disputes, etc. which can be offered in exchange for something: "The proposed troop reductions were a useful bargaining counter in the disarmament talks".

Something used during a negotiation that provides one party leverage over another party. Primarily heard in UK. Joe's willingness to walk away from the deal proved to be an effective bargaining counter when it came to purchasing a new car.

As in:

He said $200, so I bargain countered and he called me back saying $100.

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