Work out sale prices and real savings
Sales are designed to feel like bargains, but the actual dollars saved are not always obvious — especially when discounts stack. This calculator cuts through the marketing: enter the original price and the discount, and it shows exactly what you will pay and what you save.
How to use the discount calculator
Enter the original price and the discount percentage. The calculator returns the sale price and the amount you save, so you can compare deals at a glance.
The formula
Sale price = original × (1 − discount ÷ 100). A 30% discount on a $200 item is $200 × 0.70 = $140, saving you $60. To find the saving directly, multiply the price by the discount: $200 × 0.30 = $60.
The stacked-discount trap
Two 20% discounts are not 40% off. They apply one after the other: $200 × 0.80 × 0.80 = $128, which is really 36% off. Similarly, "buy one, get one 50% off" is only a 25% saving across the pair, not 50%. When comparing deals, work out the final per-unit price rather than trusting the headline percentage — that is the only fair way to tell which offer is genuinely cheaper.