Earnest Money
Also called: good faith deposit, holding deposit, earnest money deposit
Earnest money is the deposit a buyer puts into escrow to show they're serious, typically 1–3% of the price, credited towards the purchase at closing. Whether you get it back if you walk depends entirely on your contingencies: within an inspection or financing contingency it's refundable, and outside one it usually isn't. Waiving contingencies to win a bidding war is putting that money genuinely at risk.