This works out how much you save and the final price after a percentage discount. It's a fast way to double check a sale price, especially when you're comparing a few discounted items or checking that a store's advertised discount actually matches what you're charged.
How to use it
- Enter the original price.
- Enter the discount percentage.
- Read how much you save right below.
- Read the final price next to it.
- Adjust either value to compare different scenarios quickly.
When it helps
- Checking that a store's sale price actually matches the discount they're advertising.
- Comparing final prices across a few items with different discounts to find the best deal.
- Estimating total savings on a cart before checking out.
- Working out an item's original price when you only know the sale price and the percentage off.
- Planning a budget for a sale event by estimating costs ahead of time.
Good to know
- Stacked discounts, like 20 percent off then an extra 10 percent, aren't the same as 30 percent off overall. Each one applies to the already reduced price.
- Check whether a discount applies before or after tax, since that changes what you actually pay.
- Watch for was prices that were inflated before a sale, which can make a discount look bigger than it really is.
- During a big sale, calculate the final price for your specific items rather than trusting a headline percentage that might only apply to select items.
- When a store offers a dollar amount off rather than a percentage, convert it to a percentage of the original price first if you want to compare it against a separate percentage based deal.
Questions
How do I work out an original price from a discounted price and percentage?
Divide the discounted price by one minus the discount as a decimal. An $80 price after a 20 percent discount means dividing 80 by 0.8, giving an original price of $100.
Do two 10 percent discounts equal a 20 percent discount?
No. Because the second discount applies to the already reduced price, two successive 10 percent discounts actually total 19 percent off, not 20.
Can I use this for a markup instead of a discount?
This is set up specifically for percentage off. For a markup, you'd multiply the original price by one plus the markup percentage instead of subtracting.
How do I work out the discount percentage from the original and sale price?
Subtract the sale price from the original, divide by the original, then multiply by 100. Or use the percentage calculator's second section with the savings amount and original price.
Does this account for tax before or after the discount?
This calculates the discount on whatever price you enter. If tax applies after the discount, work out the discounted price here first, then add tax separately.
How do I compare a dollar amount discount to a percentage discount?
Divide the dollar amount by the original price and multiply by 100 to get an equivalent percentage, which you can then compare directly against another offer's stated percentage.