Discount & Sale Price Calculator
Find the sale price after one or more discounts, and check what a stacked offer is really worth.
Your details
For stacked offers such as an extra 20% off sale items
Extras
This calculator runs entirely on your device. Nothing you enter is uploaded, stored, or sold. How this works
You pay
$139.99
$110.00 off — an effective 44.0% discount
Includes your inputs, the full breakdown, and every row of the table.
Total saved
$110.00
Effective discount
44.0%
Price before tax
$139.99
- Original price
- $249.99
- Less 30%
- - $75.00
- Then less 20%
- - $35.00
- Subtotal
- $139.99
| Discount | You pay | You save |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | $224.99 | $25.00 |
| 20% | $199.99 | $50.00 |
| 25% | $187.49 | $62.50 |
| 30% | $174.99 | $75.00 |
| 40% | $149.99 | $100.00 |
| 50% | $125.00 | $125.00 |
| 60% | $100.00 | $149.99 |
| 70% | $75.00 | $174.99 |
What this means
- Stacked discounts do not add up. 30% then 20% is an effective 44.0%, not 50%, because the second applies to the already-reduced price.
- A discount is only a saving if you were going to buy the item anyway. Anchoring against an inflated original price is the oldest trick in retail.
How the discount & sale price calculation works
The arithmetic of a single discount is straightforward, but stacked offers are where retail advertising does its most effective work. Thirty percent off followed by a further twenty percent off is not fifty percent off — the second reduction applies to the already-reduced price, so the true saving is forty-four percent. The gap widens as the discounts grow, which is why layered offers are advertised as separate percentages rather than a single combined figure.
The order in which discounts are applied does not change the final price, since multiplication is commutative. What does change the outcome is a fixed-amount coupon, which is worth proportionally more when applied to a smaller balance — so applying percentage discounts first and the coupon afterwards is better for the retailer, and the reverse is better for you. Store policy usually dictates the order, and it is rarely in the customer's favour.
Frequently asked questions
Why is 30% off plus 20% off not 50% off?
Because the second discount is taken from the reduced price rather than the original. Thirty percent off $100 leaves $70, and twenty percent off that leaves $56 — a genuine saving of forty-four percent rather than fifty. The larger the discounts, the wider this gap becomes.
Does the order of discounts matter?
Not for percentages, since multiplying by 0.7 and then 0.8 gives the same result either way. It matters a great deal for fixed-amount coupons, which are worth more when applied to a smaller subtotal. If you have both, applying the coupon first gives you the better outcome.
How do I work out the original price from a sale price?
Divide rather than multiply. If an item is $56 after a 44% discount, divide $56 by 0.56 to recover the original $100. Multiplying the sale price by the discount percentage is the common mistake and always gives too low an answer.
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Disclaimer. This calculator is provided for general information and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, legal, medical, or engineering advice. Results are estimates based on the inputs you provide and the assumptions described above. Confirm any figure with a qualified professional before acting on it.