What is earnest money?

The buyers earnest money is the money the buyers puts into escrow as a deposit. This is the money they are at risk if the contract states that the earnest money is the only money at risk. Most contracts are written this way. 

If the buyer removes all contingencies and decide not to move forward with a contract they could lose some or all of their earnest money.

Some buyers elect to release the earnest money to the seller upon mutual acceptance to make their offer stronger. This means the money is delivered to escrow then released to the seller so the seller has the money immediately. This is typically only done when the buyer has removed ALL contingencies with their offer.