Calculate sale prices, savings, and get the best deal with our accurate discount calculator
Use our calculator to quickly determine discounted prices, savings, and get detailed breakdowns of your purchase.
| Original Price: | $0.00 |
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| Discount Percentage: | 0% |
| Discount Amount: | $0.00 |
| Price After Discount: | $0.00 |
| Tax Rate: | 0% |
| Tax Amount: | $0.00 |
| Total Price (with Tax): | $0.00 |
The human brain is naturally drawn to discounts. Research shows that even a small discount can trigger a pleasure response, sometimes leading to impulsive purchases. When shopping, always ask yourself if you would buy the item at full price to avoid the discount bias.
Understanding how discounts are calculated can help you verify sale prices and make better shopping decisions. Here are the key formulas used in discount calculations:
To find out how much money you'll save with a percentage discount:
For a $120 item with a 25% discount:
Discount Amount = $120 × (25 ÷ 100) = $120 × 0.25 = $30
To find the price you'll pay after a percentage discount is applied:
Or more directly:
For a $120 item with a 25% discount:
Final Price = $120 × (1 - 25 ÷ 100) = $120 × 0.75 = $90
If you know the original and final prices, you can calculate what percentage discount was applied:
If an item originally $80 is on sale for $60:
Discount Percentage = (($80 - $60) ÷ $80) × 100 = (20 ÷ 80) × 100 = 0.25 × 100 = 25%
To determine the total price after discount and tax:
For a $90 item (after discount) with 8% tax:
Total Price = $90 × (1 + 8 ÷ 100) = $90 × 1.08 = $97.20
Let's walk through some real-world scenarios where understanding discount calculations can save you money:
A clothing store is having a 40% off sale. You're interested in buying a jacket with an original price of $150.
Question: How much will you pay for the jacket, and how much will you save?
A store is offering a "Take an additional 20% off all sale items" promotion. You find a pair of shoes already marked down from $120 to $80.
Question: What is the final price after both discounts, and what is the total percentage discount?
A store is offering a "Buy One Get One 50% Off" deal on t-shirts that cost $30 each.
Question: What is the effective discount percentage if you buy two t-shirts?
You're buying an electronic device with an original price of $500. The store is offering a 30% discount, and your local sales tax is 8.25%.
Question: What is the final price you will pay including tax?
Understanding discounts is just the beginning. Here are practical tips to help you save more money when shopping:
Retailers use various psychological pricing tactics to encourage purchases. Be mindful of:
To calculate a discount percentage, subtract the discounted price from the original price, then divide by the original price, and multiply by 100. For example, if an item originally costs $100 and is on sale for $75, the discount percentage is: (100 - 75) ÷ 100 × 100 = 25%.
Formula: Discount Percentage = ((Original Price - Sale Price) ÷ Original Price) × 100
To calculate the final price after a discount, multiply the original price by the complement of the discount percentage (as a decimal). For example, for a 25% discount, multiply the original price by 0.75 (or 75%): $100 × 0.75 = $75. Alternatively, you can subtract the discount amount from the original price: $100 - ($100 × 0.25) = $75.
Formula: Final Price = Original Price × (1 - (Discount Percentage ÷ 100))
To calculate the amount saved, multiply the original price by the discount percentage (as a decimal). For example, for an item that originally costs $100 with a 25% discount, the amount saved is: $100 × 0.25 = $25. Alternatively, you can subtract the final price from the original price: $100 - $75 = $25.
Formula: Savings Amount = Original Price × (Discount Percentage ÷ 100)
To calculate tax on a discounted price, first determine the final price after the discount, then multiply that amount by the tax rate (as a decimal). For example, if an item costs $75 after a discount and the tax rate is 8%, the tax amount is: $75 × 0.08 = $6. The total price including tax would be $75 + $6 = $81.
Formula: Tax Amount = Discounted Price × (Tax Rate ÷ 100)
Formula: Total Price with Tax = Discounted Price + Tax Amount
A discount is an immediate reduction in price that you receive at the time of purchase. A rebate, on the other hand, requires you to pay the full price (or a partially discounted price) upfront and then receive money back later, usually by submitting a form or proof of purchase. Rebates can offer significant savings but have a lower redemption rate because they require additional effort from the consumer.
BOGO deals come in several forms:
To calculate the effective discount, add up what you would normally pay for all items, subtract what you actually pay, and divide the savings by the normal total price.
Stacked discounts are multiple discounts applied in sequence. They are not simply added together. For example, a 20% discount followed by an additional 10% discount is not a 30% total discount.
To calculate stacked discounts:
For example, a $100 item with a 20% discount becomes $80. An additional 10% off would be $80 × 0.10 = $8, making the final price $72. This is equivalent to a 28% total discount, not 30%.
Formula for total discount percentage with stacked discounts: Total Discount % = 100 - (100 - Discount1 %) × (100 - Discount2 %) ÷ 100
Whether a percentage discount or a fixed amount off is better depends on the price of the item:
To compare, calculate the actual dollar amount saved with each option and choose the one that saves you more money.