Discount Calculator: Sale Price & How Much You Save

A sign says "25% off". Great, but what will you actually pay? And is the deal as good as it sounds? A few seconds of math tells you.

Our Discount calculator gives you the sale price and how much you save. Here is how the math works, so you can check any deal on your own.

The Basic Formula

Savings = original price × discount percent ÷ 100 Sale price = original price − savings

Example: A $80 Jacket at 25% Off

• Savings: 80 × 0.25 = $20

• Sale price: 80 − 20 = $60

A faster way: if the discount is 25%, you pay 75%. So 80 × 0.75 = $60. You get the sale price in one step.

What About Two Discounts?

Many shops run offers like "20% off, plus an extra 10% off at checkout". It's tempting to add them to get 30%. That is wrong.

The second discount applies to the already reduced price. Start with $100:

• After 20% off: $80

• After another 10% off: 80 × 0.90 = $72

You saved $28, which is 28%, not 30%. It is a small difference here, but on big purchases it adds up.

Finding the Original Price

Sometimes you know the sale price and want to find what the item cost before. Say you paid $45 and the discount was 25%.

You paid 75% of the original price, so:

Original price = 45 ÷ 0.75 = $60

Don't take 25% of $45 and add it back. That gives you $56.25, which is wrong, because the 25% was taken from the bigger number.

Finding the Discount Percent

You see a coat that was $120 and is now $90. What was the discount?

• Savings: 120 − 90 = 30

• 30 ÷ 120 = 0.25

• Discount: 25%

Don't Forget Tax

In many places, sales tax is added after the discount. If the $60 jacket has 8% sales tax:

• Tax: 60 × 0.08 = $4.80

• You pay: 60 + 4.80 = $64.80

Tax rules differ by place, and some items are not taxed at all, so check the receipt.

Is the Deal Really a Deal?

Here are some things to keep in mind when shopping:

• Check the "original" price. Some stores raise the price before a sale. If you can, compare with other shops.

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• Think about whether you need it. A 50% discount on something you won't use is still money spent.

• Compare the final price, not the percent. A 30% discount on a 200item(140) is worse than a 15% discount on a 100item(85) only if you wanted the cheaper one. Look at the actual dollar amount.

• Watch for minimums. Some codes only work above a certain spend.

How to Use the Calculator

1. Enter the original price.

2. Enter the discount percent.

3. Read the sale price and the amount you save.

To check a stacked discount, run the Calculators twice. Use the result of the first as the starting price for the second.

Common Questions

How do I take 20% off a price quickly? Multiply by 0.80. So $65 becomes $52.

What is a 50% off sale? You pay half. Divide the price by 2.

Is "buy one get one half off" the same as 25% off? If you buy two items at the same price, you pay 1.5 times the price instead of 2 times. That is 25% off the pair.

More Tools

Check out our Advanced calculators home page for the rest. For more everyday money tools, visit our shopping calculators page.