Free tool · Negotiation
How to Read the Other Side’s Concessions in a Negotiation: A Concession Tracker
To read the other side’s concessions, write down each side’s offers in order and measure each move as the change from the previous offer in the direction of the other side. Moves that shrink steadily, for example 60,000, then 30,000, then 15,000, suggest a side that is nearing a limit or following a plan that shrinks. Moves of constant size say little about a limit. A retreat is rare and informative: ask what changed. If a side’s moves shrink by a steady ratio, adding the remaining total of the series to its last offer gives a projection of where it would stop if it kept to the pattern. That projection is a guess about behaviour, not a measurement of anyone’s real limit, since people plan their concessions, jump at deadlines and break patterns. Use it to prepare questions, plan your own concessions so that each step is smaller than the last and is linked to a condition, and beware of the midpoint trap, where splitting the difference depends on where the sides started.
Tool · Concession Tracker
If both sides keep moving as they have, a gap of about 100,000 remains. Something other than steady concessions will be needed.
Your moves
Concessions: 40,000, 20,000, 10,000
Each move compared with the last: 0.50
Concessions are shrinking steadily.
If the pattern continues, this side lands near 180,000.
Their moves
Concessions: 60,000, 30,000, 15,000
Each move compared with the last: 0.50
Concessions are shrinking steadily.
If the pattern continues, this side lands near 280,000.
- The opening gap was 300,000. The size of the first offers (the anchors) tends to pull later offers towards them.
- A projection from past moves is a guess about behaviour, not about the other side’s true limit. Sides that plan their concessions can mislead a model, and a last-minute jump is common.
- Use the projection to ask questions and prepare, not to decide. Do not sign something because a model says the other side will move.
Enter each side’s offers in the order they were made. The tool measures how big each move was, whether the moves are shrinking (a sign that a side is nearing its limit) and where each side would end up if its moves keep shrinking at the same rate. It treats the pattern as a guess about behaviour and not about the other side’s real limit: people plan their concessions, jump at the last minute and sometimes retreat. Use it to prepare questions. Runs in your browser; nothing is stored or sent.
How to use it
- Say whether you are the party who pays or the party who receives.
- Enter your offers and theirs in the order they were made.
- Read each side’s concessions, the ratio of each move to the last and the projected landing point.
- Read the notes about retreats, large early moves and the gap, and decide what to ask next.
Common questions
What does it mean if the moves shrink by half each time?
That the side is probably getting closer to its limit, or is following a plan that shrinks its moves. It is a pattern, not a promise.
Is the projection reliable?
No. It extends a pattern of behaviour, and a few offers can give a misleading ratio. Treat it as a prompt for questions, never as a reason to hold out or to sign.
What is the midpoint trap?
Accepting a split of the difference whose fairness depends entirely on where the sides started. If one side opened at an inflated figure, the midpoint is skewed in its favour.
Learn the law behind the tool
This tool is part of our Negotiation course, with lectures, concept maps, flashcards, interactive exercises and a capstone case. Negotiation Analytics: Concessions and Convergence.
More free law tools
General information, simplified, mainly on American law, not legal advice. States and countries differ, and real cases turn on facts that a tool cannot capture.