Discount Calculator

How a percentage discount works

A discount of X% off means you hand over (100 − X)% of the price and keep the rest in your pocket. The calculator does it in two steps, the same steps you can do on paper: first the saving — price × percent off ÷ 100 — then the final price — the original price minus the saving. A $120 coat at 30% off saves 120 × 30 ÷ 100 = $36, so you pay $84. If you prefer one step, multiply by what remains: after 30% off you pay 70%, and 120 × 0.70 = $84 directly. Both routes always agree, and the second is the handy one for mental math in a store aisle: 10% off is × 0.9, 25% off is × 0.75, half price is × 0.5.

Adding sales tax — and when it applies

The price you pay at a US checkout is usually the discounted price plus sales tax, so this calculator has an optional tax field. Leave it blank for the pure discount figures; fill in your local rate to see the tax amount and the true final total. The tax is calculated on the discounted price, which is how most states handle a store's own sale or coupon: tax follows the amount actually charged for the item. (One exception worth knowing: in some states a manufacturer's coupon or a mail-in rebate is taxed on the pre-discount price, because the store is reimbursed the difference. Store discounts — the common case — are taxed after the discount, as done here.) On the example coat: $84 with 8% tax adds $6.72, for a final checkout total of $90.72. The honest comparison for any "sale" is always that final number against what rival stores charge in total.

Stacked discounts: why 20% + 10% is not 30%

"Extra 10% off sale prices" sounds like addition but works as multiplication. Each discount applies to the price left by the one before it. $100 with 20% off becomes $80; an extra 10% off $80 removes $8, leaving $72. Your total saving is $28 — a 28% effective discount, not 30%. The gap grows with the numbers: 50% off plus an extra 50% off is not free; it leaves 25% of the original price to pay. None of this makes stacked sales a bad deal — an extra 10% is still real money off — but when a store advertises two percentages, run them in sequence here before deciding how good the deal really is.

Working backwards: finding the original price

Sometimes the tag shows only the sale price and the percent off, and you want the original. Divide the sale price by the fraction you paid. Paid $75 at "25% off"? You paid 75% of the original, so the original was 75 ÷ 0.75 = $100. The same trick decodes "compare at" prices and outlet tags, and it exposes inflated reference prices: if a jacket is permanently "40% off $200", it is really a $120 jacket with a marketing department. Our Percentage Calculator covers the related questions — what percent one price is of another, and percent increase or decrease between two prices.

Discount traps worth a second look

• Shipping and fees sit outside the discount. A "40% off" item with $12 shipping can cost more than a 30% off item shipped free. Compare final totals, tax included.
• "Up to" percentages apply to a few items only. The rack's headline number is the best case, not the typical one.
• Raised reference prices. Some "was" prices were never charged. A discount is only meaningful against a price someone actually paid.
• Threshold games. "Spend $75 to save 20%" rewards adding items you did not want. The discount on what you needed is the only saving that counts.

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