Discount Calculator
Calculate sale prices, discount percentages, and actual savings. Handle stacked discounts and sales tax. See exactly what you'll pay and how much you're really saving.
How to Use This Discount Calculator
Pick your calculation mode depending on what information you've got. Got a "20% off" sale? Use the percentage mode. Coupon for "$15 off"? That's the dollar amount mode. Wondering what discount you're actually getting when something drops from $83 to $62? That's the find discount mode. And if you know the sale price and discount but need to figure out what it originally cost (comes up often), use find original price.
Stacking discounts? Add the second one in the "Additional Discount" field. The calculator will show you the real total discount because - and this trips people up - a 20% discount plus 10% discount does NOT equal 30% off. It's 28%. Each discount applies to what's left after the previous discount, not the original price.
Want to see the final checkout price including tax? Enter your sales tax rate. Buying multiple items? Pop the quantity in. The calculator updates as you type (give it half a second to catch up). Everything's calculated instantly so you can play around with different scenarios.
Understanding Discounts
A discount is money off the original price. Simple as that. You'll see it as either a percentage (25% off) or a dollar amount ($20 off). When you see "25% off," you're paying 75% of the original price. When you see "$20 off," you subtract $20 from the price.
The math for percentage discounts: multiply the original price by whatever's left after the discount. A $83 item at 25% off means you pay $83 times 0.75, which is $62.25. To find the dollar amount saved, just multiply $83 by 0.25 to get $20.75. For dollar discounts, it's even simpler - just subtract. $83 minus $20 equals $63.
Why Stacked Discounts Are Sneaky
This is where retailers get you. You see "20% off everything PLUS an extra 10% off with code." Your brain adds: 20 + 10 = 30% off. Nope.
What actually happens: That $83 item drops 20% to $66.40. Then the extra 10% comes off the $66.40, not the original $83. So you save $6.64 more, bringing it to $59.76 total. Your actual discount is $23.24 off the original $83, which works out to 28% off.
Each discount chips away at what's left, not what you started with. Stack three or four discounts and the gap between what you think you're getting and what you're actually getting gets even bigger. Retailers know this. That's why they love stacking promotions - it sounds more generous than it is.
Discount Strategies That Actually Work
Round to charm pricing after discounts. If 25% off a $99.99 item gives you $74.99, keep it at $74.99. Don't round to $75. That one cent can make a difference to some people.
Promote stacked discounts even when a single discount would do. "20% off plus extra 10% with code" feels more generous than "28% off" even though the end price is identical. Two promotions can feel like two opportunities to save.
Time limits force decisions. A "24-hour flash sale" converts way better than the same discount with no deadline. People procrastinate indefinitely when there's no urgency. Add a timer and people may be more likely to act.
Specific percentages (23% off, 37% off) feel more legitimate than round numbers (25% off, 40% off). Round numbers feel arbitrary, like you just picked them. Odd numbers suggest you calculated your margin and discounted the maximum possible amount. Weird but it can work.
Don't discount new products. Launch at full price. Discount later if you have to. Discounting a new product immediately tells customers the "real" price is lower, and they'll wait for sales on everything else you launch.
Try "Buy 2 Get 1 Free" instead of "33% off." The word "free" hits different. Mathematically identical, but psychologically can be more appealing.
Require a minimum purchase for discounts. "$15 off orders over $75" protects your margins while increasing average order value. Customers will add items just to hit that threshold.
Track what discounts do to your margins before you run them. A 30% discount on a product with 40% margin leaves you with only 10% margin. You need to sell three times as many units just to maintain the same profit. Do the math first.
When Should You Offer Discounts?
Good Reasons to Discount
Clearing old inventory: A 40% discount that moves it beats 0% discount on product that never sells.
Seasonal sales: Black Friday, Cyber Monday, end-of-season clearance - customers expect these. Not discounting means they shop elsewhere. Plan for it, build it into your margins, and compete.
Customer acquisition: Losing money on the first sale to gain a long-term customer can work. A "30% off first order" gets them in the door. Future purchases at full price make up for it. Measure lifetime value, not just first purchase.
Competitive response: When your competitor drops prices on the same product, you've got to respond or lose customers. Commodities and price-sensitive categories require competitive discounting whether you like it or not.
Bad Reasons to Discount
Habitual discounting: If you're always running a sale, you've just permanently lowered your prices without admitting it.
Panic mode: Sales are slow so you discount, hoping to fix it. But what if the problem isn't price? Could be bad product, poor marketing, wrong audience. Discounting masks the real issue while destroying your margins.
Racing to the bottom: Competing purely on price when you've got nothing else to differentiate yourself means everyone loses. The cheapest price wins until nobody's profitable. Build value instead.
Discount Psychology: What Actually Influences Buying Decisions
You've probably noticed that "$20 off" sometimes feels like a better deal than "20% off" even when the math is identical. There's actually a pattern to this. For cheaper items (under $100), show the dollar amount. For expensive items (over $100), show the percentage. Why? Usually because showing whichever number is bigger feels like a better deal.
Think about buying a $47 thing. "$12 off" feels substantial. "25% off" sounds fine but it's just a percentage. Now think about buying AirPods Pro for $249. "20% off" sounds solid. "$50 off" is the same discount but the number 50 doesn't feel as significant next to 249. Showing whichever number is larger may help with conversions.
Why Retailers Always Show the Original Price
Ever wonder why sale tags show both prices? "$83 $62" often works better than just "$62" by itself. Showing the original price anchors the value in your mind. You perceive you're getting $21 of value for free. That strikethrough original price isn't just design - it's selling you on the savings, not just the final price.
Urgency and Scarcity
"Sale ends Sunday" gets people to act. No deadline? No urgency. Customers procrastinate forever when there's always tomorrow. Same with "Only 3 left at this price" - scarcity creates fear of missing out. Whether there are actually only 3 left or it's marketing, the effect can work.
The Charm Pricing Thing
$99 versus $100 feels like a way bigger difference than $50 versus $51, even though it's the same one dollar gap. Your brain processes that left digit first. $99 registers as "ninety-something" while $100 registers as "over a hundred." After discounts, round to $99, $49, $199 - not $100, $50, $200.
How Discounts Affect Your Profit Margins
Discounts eat into margins fast. Say you've got a product that costs you $60 and you sell for $100. That's 40% margin and $40 profit per unit. Apply a 25% discount and you're selling at $75. Your new margin: ($75-$60)/$75 = 20% margin, $15 profit. The discount cut your profit by 62.5% while only reducing the price 25%.
Your maximum discount is your margin percentage. If an item costs $60 and sells for $100, you've got 40% margin, so you can discount up to 40%. Discount deeper than your margin and you're selling below cost.
Volume rarely makes up for it. That same product at 40% margin selling 100 units generates $4,000 profit. Discount it 25% and your margin drops to 20%, meaning $15 profit per unit. You'd need to sell 267 units to maintain that same $4,000 profit. That's a 167% increase in volume required. That's hard to achieve.
High-margin products can afford deep discounts. Software with 80% margins can go 50% off and still turn profit. Grocery stores with 15% margins can't discount more than 10% without bleeding money. Know your numbers before you promote.
Common Questions About Discounts
How do I calculate discount percentage?
Subtract the sale price from the original price, divide by the original, multiply by 100. Something was $83 and you paid $62? That's ($83-$62)/$83 = 25.3% off. Or just use this calculator.
How do stacked discounts work?
They multiply, not add. 20% off plus 10% off equals 28% total, not 30%. Each discount applies to what's left after the previous discount. Retailers love this because "20% + 10%" sounds better than "28%" even though it's the same price.
What's better: percentage off or dollar amount off?
For items under $100, show dollar amounts ("$15 off"). For items over $100, show percentages ("20% off"). Show whichever number is larger because it feels like a better deal.
When should I offer discounts?
Good times: clearing old inventory, seasonal sales everyone expects, getting new customers, matching competitor prices.
Bad times: new product launches (trains customers to wait), constant habitual sales (you've just lowered your real prices), panic discounting without diagnosing the actual problem.
How much can I safely discount?
Your maximum discount is your profit margin percentage. Product costs $60, sells for $100? That's 40% margin, so you can discount up to 40%. Discount deeper and you're selling at a loss.
Does sales tax apply before or after the discount?
After.
Why do retailers always show the original price crossed out?
Showing the original price makes you feel like you're getting $21 of value for free. It's called anchoring.
Can I combine multiple coupon codes?
Depends on the retailer. Most allow one code but it might stack with site-wide sales. Always try entering multiple codes - worst case they'll tell you no.