Discount Calculator
Work out the sale price and how much you save from a percentage off — and see what fraction of the original you are actually paying.
Runs entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded
You pay
60.00
20.00
You save
75.0%
Fraction of the original
Stacked discounts do not add up
An extra 20 per cent off an item already reduced by 30 is not 50 per cent off. It is 44: the second reduction applies to the already-lower price, not the original.
This works in the shop’s favour and is entirely legal, because both statements are true. To work out a stacked discount here, run the tool once and put the answer in as the new original price.
A discount is not a saving
Worth saying plainly. Money is only saved if the thing was going to be bought anyway at the higher price. Otherwise a 70 per cent discount is 30 per cent of the price spent, not 70 per cent kept.
Reference prices are also weakly policed in many places — the “was” figure may have applied for a short window, or in a different shop, or never.
Working backwards from the sale price
To find the original price from what you paid and the discount, divide rather than add the percentage back. An item bought for 60 at 25 per cent off was 80, because 60 is 75 per cent of the original — 60 ÷ 0.75.
Adding 25 per cent to 60 gives 75, which is wrong, and is the same trap as taking tax back out of a tax-inclusive price.
Nothing is sent anywhere
Every figure on this page is worked out in your own browser. No request is made, nothing is stored between visits, and the page keeps working with the connection switched off.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate 20 per cent off?
Multiply the price by 0.8, or work out 20 per cent and subtract it. Both give the same answer; the tool does the second so the saving is visible as its own figure.
How do I stack two discounts?
Apply them one after the other, not by adding them. 30 per cent then 20 per cent leaves 56 per cent of the original — a 44 per cent reduction, not 50. Run this tool twice, feeding the first answer in as the price.
What does 'up to 70 per cent off' mean?
That at least one item somewhere is reduced by 70 per cent. It says nothing about the item you are looking at, and it is the most common way a headline discount overstates what is on offer.
Is anything sent anywhere?
No. It is arithmetic done in this tab, with nothing transmitted and nothing stored.