Find the sale price, amount saved, and percentage off — instantly.
To calculate the sale price after a discount, multiply the original price by (1 minus the discount rate). For a 20% discount on a $100 item: $100 × (1 − 0.20) = $100 × 0.80 = $80 sale price. You save $20. Alternatively, calculate the discount amount first (original price × discount rate) and subtract it: $100 × 0.20 = $20 saved, so the sale price is $100 − $20 = $80.
To calculate the percentage discount from an original price and a sale price: % off = ((Original price − Sale price) ÷ Original price) × 100. If a jacket was originally $80 and is on sale for $60: ((80 − 60) ÷ 80) × 100 = (20 ÷ 80) × 100 = 25% off. This is useful when a store advertises a sale price but does not tell you the percentage discount.
When multiple discounts are applied, they do not simply add together. A 20% discount followed by another 10% discount is not the same as a 30% discount. After the first 20% discount on $100, you have $80. A 10% discount on $80 gives $72 — not $70. The combined discount is actually 28%, not 30%. This is important to understand when using multiple coupon codes or when a store advertises "take an extra 20% off already reduced prices."
Not every sale is as good as it appears. Retailers sometimes inflate the "original" price before a sale to make the discount look larger than it really is. Before buying something on sale, check the item's price history using browser extensions like Honey or CamelCamelCamel for Amazon products. The best genuine discounts are typically found at end-of-season sales when retailers genuinely need to clear inventory. Flash sales and limited-time offers create artificial urgency — always ask yourself if you would buy the item at full price before letting a discount pressure you into a purchase.
These three types of savings work differently. A discount reduces the price at the point of purchase — you pay less immediately. Cashback is a rebate you receive after the purchase, usually as a percentage returned to a card or account — you pay full price upfront and get money back later. A coupon is a voucher that reduces the price at checkout by a fixed amount or percentage, similar to a discount but requiring a code or physical coupon. Stacking all three — a sale price plus a coupon code plus cashback — can result in significantly lower effective prices on major purchases.