Discount Calculator

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.

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.

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.

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.