What is Discount Calculator?
A discount calculator turns a sale into figures you can check: the price after the markdown, the money saved, and the percentage that saving really represents. This one also covers the parts that make a checkout total come out wrong when they are left out, namely a promo code applied on top of an existing discount, sales tax charged on the reduced price, and orders where the per-unit price matters more than the total. The reverse tab answers the other half of the question by recovering the original price from a sale price and a stated discount.
Best for
- Checking a price against a sale sign
- Applying a promo code on top of a markdown
- Adding sales tax or VAT to a basket total
- Comparing unit prices across multi-item orders
Privacy
Prices are never sent anywhere and nothing is kept once you close the tab. The currency choice changes the symbol and the decimals you see, but no amount is converted, so no exchange rate is fetched or displayed.
Quick tips
- The percentage on the savings badge is the real one. Two offers of 20% and 10% come to 28%, not 30%, and the badge is where that difference shows.
- Each step is rounded to cents, tax included. A till that rounds every line of a multi-item order can finish a cent or two away, so read the receipt rather than the estimate when the amount matters.
- Quantity multiplies the price before anything else, so the discount comes off the whole subtotal and the per-unit figure shown is the one that includes tax. Comparing unit prices is fairer than comparing totals when the items differ.
How to use this tool
- Enter the sticker price and the discount, or click a preset such as 20% or 50%.
- Set the quantity when you are buying more than one, then switch on a second coupon for a promo code, either a percentage or a fixed amount off.
- Switch on sales tax and enter your rate. It is charged on the price after the discounts, not on the original.
- Read the receipt panel for the amount due, the money saved and the effective percentage. Copy Receipt puts the whole breakdown on the clipboard as plain text.
- Open the reverse tab to recover the original price from a sale price and a stated discount, or to measure the discount between two prices.
Common questions
Does this calculator work out sales tax as well?
Yes, and it is charged after every discount, on the reduced subtotal. Turn on Include Sales Tax and pick a preset or type your own rate. The rate has to come from you: thresholds, exemptions and which goods are taxed differ by country and by product, so no calculator can pick the right one for you.
Why is 20% off plus an extra 10% coupon not 30% off?
Because the second offer applies to what is left, not to the original price. From 100, the first discount leaves 80, and the coupon takes 10% of 80, which is 8, so you pay 72. The real saving is 28%, and the Total Off badge reports that figure instead of the sum of the two offers.
How do I find the original price before a sale?
Divide the sale price by whatever is left of the original. For 75 after 25% off, 75 ÷ 0.75 = 100. Adding the percentage back onto the sale price does not work, because that discount was never taken from the figure you paid. Enter both numbers in the Find Original Price card on the reverse tab.
How do I work out the discount between two prices?
Subtract the sale price from the original, divide by the original, and multiply by 100. From 80 down to 60 that is (80 - 60) ÷ 80 × 100 = 25%. If the second price is higher, the same card reports a negative percentage, which is a markup rather than a saving.
Can I use currencies other than dollars?
You can display any of seven: USD, EUR, GBP, UAH, CAD, AUD and JPY. The symbol and the decimal handling change, with yen shown without decimals, but no figure is converted, so a price typed in euros will not tell you what it costs in dollars. Only the numbers you enter drive the result.
What happens if the discount is 100% or more?
The percentage stops at 100 and the amounts never fall below zero, so a full discount shows the item as free rather than a negative total. A fixed coupon larger than the discounted price is trimmed to what is left. On the reverse tab a discount of 100% or more cannot be worked backwards, and the card says so instead of returning a figure.