How the Discount Calculator Works
Enter the original price of an item and your first discount — either as a percentage (like "25% off") or a fixed dollar amount (like "$15 off"). The calculator instantly shows the final price, the amount you saved, and the total savings percentage relative to the original sticker price. Everything is computed locally in your browser; no data is sent anywhere.
Multi-Tier Discounts: "Extra % Off Already-Reduced Price"
Retailers love stacking discounts — "Take an extra 20% off already-reduced clearance items", or "Buy one, get an additional 15% off at checkout". These are multiplicative discounts, not additive. A 30% off promotion followed by an extra 20% off does not equal 50% off — it equals 44% off, because the second discount applies to the price after the first discount. Click + Add Tier to add as many extra discount steps as you need; the calculator applies them in sequence and shows the running total so you can see exactly how the price drops tier by tier.
Formula for stacked percentage discounts: Final Price = Original × (1 − d₁) × (1 − d₂) × … × (1 − dₙ), where each d is a discount rate expressed as a decimal (20% = 0.20).
Sales Tax and Final Out-the-Door Price
Check Include Sales Tax and enter your local sales tax rate to see the final amount you'll actually pay at the register. Sales tax is applied to the discounted price, not the original price — which is one reason discounts feel even better than the sticker suggests. The combined state + average local sales tax rate in the United States ranges from about 4% (Oregon-style states with no state sales tax but local levies) up to over 9.5% in Tennessee, Arkansas, and Washington. Use the rate that applies where you live, or where you'll make the purchase if buying online from a retailer that charges tax based on ship-to address.
Common Discount Scenarios
- Black Friday / Cyber Monday: headline percent off plus a stacked "extra 20% off at checkout" promo code.
- Clearance sales: a base markdown followed by an additional weekly reduction until stock clears.
- Coupon stacking: a storewide percent-off code combined with a fixed-dollar manufacturer coupon (use a fixed-amount first tier, then a percent tier).
- Employee / member discounts: an extra 10–25% applied after other promotions.