Discount Calculator
Find the sale price and saving from a percentage off, the real discount between two prices, or the original price before a markdown.
Calculation Type
Common Discount Percentages
Quick Examples
Smart Shopping Tips:
- •Stack discounts when possible (coupon + sale price)
- •Compare final prices, not just discount percentages
- •Check for additional fees (shipping, tax) before buying
- •Sign up for newsletters to get exclusive discount codes
- •Wait for major sale events (Black Friday, end of season)
Updated Formula covered by automated tests
A sale tag usually tells you the percentage and leaves the subtraction to you. The discount calculator works in three directions: from the original price and the percentage off to what you pay and what you save; from the original and the sale price to the real percentage; and from a sale price and a percentage back to the price the item had before the markdown.
The reverse modes are the useful ones in a store. A shelf label that says "now $45, 25% off" lets you recover the pre-sale price, and comparing a "was" price with a "now" price tells you whether a banner promising up to 60 percent off really applies to the item in your hand. Amounts are rounded to the cent the way a register would, and the saving is computed first so that the saving plus the sale price always adds back to the tag price.
The formula
- original price
- The regular or list price before the markdown, in dollars
- d
- The discount rate in percent (0 to 100)
- saving
- The dollar amount taken off, rounded to the nearest cent
- sale price
- What you pay before any sales tax
A percentage discount scales the price by the fraction you still pay: 25% off means you pay 75%, so the sale price is the original multiplied by 0.75. Working backward therefore means dividing by 0.75, not multiplying the sale price by 1.25. That second shortcut is a common mistake because 25% of the sale price is smaller than 25% of the original, so it always underestimates what the item used to cost.
Retailers typically compute the discount per item and round to the cent. When several items are discounted together the register may round the total once instead, which can make a one-cent difference compared with adding up individually rounded prices.
Worked example
Aisha finds a winter coat tagged $79.99 with a 35% off sticker. On the next rack a similar coat is labeled "$45 after 25% off" and she wants to compare the two regular prices.
- 1 Saving on the first coat: 79.99 × 35 ÷ 100 = 27.9965, which rounds to $28.00.
- 2 Sale price of the first coat: 79.99 − 28.00 = $51.99.
- 3 Regular price of the second coat: 45 ÷ (1 − 0.25) = 45 ÷ 0.75 = $60.00.
- 4 Check the second coat’s discount: (60 − 45) ÷ 60 × 100 = 25%.
Result: The first coat costs $51.99 (saving $28.00 on a $79.99 tag), and the second was a $60 coat now selling for $45, so the second is cheaper today even though its percentage off is smaller.
Before you rely on the result
- The calculator handles one percentage discount. A second percentage applied at checkout compounds with the first rather than adding to it; use the double percentage calculator for that case.
- It does not include sales tax, shipping, restocking fees or loyalty rewards, all of which change what a purchase really costs.
Frequently asked questions
How do I work out the price before a discount?
Divide the sale price by the fraction you paid. For 30% off, you paid 70%, so a $56 sale price came from 56 ÷ 0.70 = $80. Multiplying $56 by 1.30 gives $72.80, which is wrong because the 30% was taken from the larger original price.
Is a bigger percentage off always the better deal?
Only when the regular prices are the same. A 50% discount on a $120 item costs $60, while 25% off a $70 item costs $52.50. Compare the final prices, and for groceries or bulk goods compare the price per unit as well.
Does sales tax apply to the original price or the discounted price?
In US states with sales tax, a store discount generally lowers the taxable amount, so tax is charged on the sale price. Manufacturer coupons that the store is reimbursed for are treated differently in some states and may not reduce the taxable price. Check your state revenue department if the distinction matters for a large purchase.
Are "was" prices on sale tags always genuine?
Not necessarily. The Federal Trade Commission’s Guides Against Deceptive Pricing say a former price should be one at which the item was actually offered in good faith for a reasonable period. An inflated reference price makes a discount look larger than it is, so the sale price itself is the number to judge.