Discount Calculator

1. Choose what you want to find: the sale price, the original price, the percent off, a fixed amount off or a multi-buy deal.
2. Enter the price and the discount. Add an extra discount if a coupon applies on top of a sale, and a sales tax rate if you want the checkout total.
3. Read the result, the amount you save, the total discount and the verdict band, which tells you how deep the discount really is.

Here is what each result means:

A discount is a reduction from an original price, stated either as a percent off (25% off) or as a fixed amount off ($30 off). The discount rate is the percent, the amount of discount is the dollars removed, and the sale price is what remains. OpenStax Prealgebra defines the amount of discount as the discount rate times the original price, and the sale price as the original price minus that discount.

The calculator helps shoppers comparing offers, students checking percent problems and sellers planning a promotion. It works on any currency, because a percent off does not depend on the currency. A discount is not the same as a price being a good deal: the saving is only real if the original price was a genuine price. It is also not the same as a profit margin, which measures what a seller keeps after cost.

Convert the percent to a decimal, subtract it from 1, and multiply by the original price. The saving is the original price minus the sale price. The same formula, rearranged, answers the other questions:

1. Write the discount as a decimal: 25% becomes 0.25.
2. Multiply the original price by (1 - 0.25), which is 0.75.
3. Subtract the sale price from the original to see the dollars saved; add tax last, on the reduced price.

For a slower walk through the mental-math shortcuts, see our guide on how to calculate a discount.

Percent Off

An item costs $80.00 with 25% off. The discount is $80.00 x 0.25 = $20.00, so the sale price is $80.00 - $20.00 = $60.00. With an 8% sales tax added after the discount, the checkout total is $60.00 x 1.08 = $64.80.

Stacked Discounts

A $100.00 jacket is 20% off, and a coupon takes a further 10% off at the till. The first discount leaves $80.00. The coupon then removes 10% of $80.00, which is $8.00, not $10. You pay $72.00, a total discount of 28%, not 30%.

Reverse: Find the Original Price

You paid $60.00 at 25% off. The sale price is 75% of the original, so the original is $60.00 / 0.75 = $80.00. Adding 25% to $60.00 gives $75.00, which is wrong.

Multi-buy

A 3 for 2 deal on $12.00 items costs $24.00 instead of $36.00. You save $12.00, which is 33.33% off the deal, or $8.00 per item.

Stacking Order and Method

Two percent discounts in a row multiply. The order does not matter: 10% then 20% on $100.00 also gives $72.00. What matters is whether the store takes each discount off the reduced price or adds the rates together. Most checkouts apply them one after another, which is what this tool assumes.

Sales Tax Timing

A store discount usually lowers the taxable price. The Texas Comptroller gives the example of a 10% cash discount on a $25.00 item: tax applies to the $22.50 discounted price. A mail-in manufacturer rebate is different, because tax is collected on the full price. On the $80.00 example with 8% tax, tax on the full price instead of the sale price would cost $1.60 more.

Coupon Type

States treat coupons differently. California CDTFA Publication 113 says retailer coupons are excluded from taxable sales, while manufacturer reimbursements for coupons are included. The calculator applies your tax rate to the discounted price, so check the rule where you shop.

Rounding at the Register

Stores round each line to the cent. The tool rounds the displayed money to two decimals, so a long basket can differ from a receipt by a few cents.

Different offer types can look similar but save different amounts. This comparison uses numbers worked out on this page.

A bigger percent is not always a bigger saving. 50% off a $10.00 item saves $5.00, while 10% off a $100.00 item saves $10.00. Multi-buy deals only save money when you need every item, and the per-item price is the fair way to compare them.

Checking a Sale Tag in a Store

Confirm the shelf price matches the advertised percent off, and see the total after tax before you reach the till.

Comparing Two Offers

Put a percent off, a dollar-off coupon and a multi-buy on the same scale using the total discount figure. For store credit offers, our article on gift card vs cash value covers the extra catch.

Planning a Promotion as a Seller

Work out the sale price for a planned percent off, then check what that cut does to profit. Where VAT rather than US sales tax applies, use the VAT calculator for the tax step.

1. Adding Stacked Discounts

20% plus 10% is not 30% off. The second discount applies to a smaller price, so the total is 28%. Two 50% discounts give 75% off, not a free item.

2. Reversing a Discount by Adding the Percent Back

Adding 25% to a $60.00 sale price gives $75.00, but the true original is $80.00. Divide by (1 - rate) instead. Our explainer on percentage difference vs percentage change shows why the base matters.

3. Taking Tax Off the Full Price

Tax normally applies after a store discount, so the total is lower than full-price tax plus the sale price.

4. Trusting the Was Price Without Checking

A big percent off an inflated former price is not a real saving. Federal pricing guides call such a bargain false.

5. Treating a Deeper Percent as a Bigger Saving

Compare dollars saved, not only the percent, when the items have different prices.

6. Buying Extra Items to Unlock a Multi-buy

A 3 for 2 deal saves nothing on an item you did not need.

The arithmetic is exact for the numbers you enter; the result can still differ from a real checkout because the store sets the rules for rounding, stacking and tax.

Multiply the price by 0.75. For an $80 item that is $60.00, so you save $20.00. Any percent works the same way: subtract it from 100 and multiply by the result as a decimal.

No. The second discount comes off the already reduced price, so the total is 28% off. On $100 you pay $72.00, not $70.00.

Divide the sale price by one minus the discount rate. A $60 item at 25% off came from $60 / 0.75 = $80.00.

Subtract the sale price from the original, divide by the original and multiply by 100. A price cut from $50 to $35 is 30% off.

Usually after. A store discount or store coupon lowers the price that is taxed, but a mail-in manufacturer rebate does not, and coupon rules vary by state.

No. 20% then 10% and 10% then 20% both leave $72.00 from $100, because multiplication gives the same result in any order.

It means the item is free: the sale price is zero. The reverse mode cannot work back from a zero price, so the calculator blocks it.

It saves 50% on the pair when both items cost the same. Buy one, get one half price saves 25%, and 3 for 2 saves one third.

No. The federal pricing guides say a former price should be the actual price offered to the public for a reasonably substantial period, not an inflated one.

Stores round each line and each tax step to the cent, and some apply tax per item. The calculator keeps full precision and rounds only the display.

• Solve sales tax, commission, and discount applications (OpenStax, Prealgebra 2e, section 6.3).
• 16 CFR 233.1 Former price comparisons (FTC Guides Against Deceptive Pricing, via Cornell Legal Information Institute).
• Grocery and convenience stores: discounts, coupons and rebates (Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts).
• Publication 113: Coupons, discounts, and rebates (California Department of Tax and Fee Administration).