Discount calculator
Find the sale price, the percentage off or the original price, with VAT and price rounding.
Is your discount profitable? Discount break-even calculator
Enter the price, cost and discount, and the result shows up here.
Sales increase needed
Profit per unit before discount
Profit per unit after discount
Units to sell at the discounted price
Make the offer stop on time
The biggest risk to your profit is a discount nobody remembers to switch off. In PopAutomate every discount schedule has an end, and the original price comes back automatically after the offer.
How to tell if a discount is profitable
A discount cuts the profit on every unit, so you have to sell more units to keep your total profit the same. The right question before any offer is: how much do my sales need to grow to make up for what I give away?
- Profit per unit = price − cost − shipping you pay − payment fees
- Profit per unit after the discount = price × (1 − discount) − the same costs
- Sales increase needed = (profit per unit before ÷ profit per unit after − 1) × 100
- Without per-order costs this becomes: discount % ÷ (profit margin % − discount %)
Profit margin here = (price − cost) ÷ price. If the discount is equal to or bigger than your margin, every sale at the discounted price loses money, and no amount of extra sales will make the offer break even.
Sales increase needed, by margin and discount
Each cell shows how much your sales need to grow for your total profit to match what you make without the discount, with no extra shipping or fees.
| Margin ↓ / Discount → | 5% | 10% | 15% | 20% | 25% | 30% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20% | +33% | +100% | +300% | Loss | Loss | Loss |
| 30% | +20% | +50% | +100% | +200% | +500% | Loss |
| 40% | +14% | +33% | +60% | +100% | +167% | +300% |
| 50% | +11% | +25% | +43% | +67% | +100% | +150% |
| 60% | +9% | +20% | +33% | +50% | +71% | +100% |
When a discount can still be worth it
- Clearing stock: a slow seller that costs you storage or is near the end of its season is better sold at a lower profit than left on the shelf.
- Winning new customers: if customers come back and buy again at full price, the profit from those later orders counts too.
- Bigger baskets: a discount on one product that brings full-price products into the same order raises the profit of the whole order.
- A short season: demand is already higher in seasons like Black Friday or Saudi National Day, so the increase you need is easier to reach, as long as the offer stops on time.
Once you have picked a discount, use the discount calculator to get the sale price and round it.
How to use it in 3 steps
-
Enter the price and cost
The product's selling price before the discount and what it costs you. If you like, add the shipping you pay per order and your payment fee percentage.
-
Enter the discount
The discount you are thinking about, and how many units you usually sell in the same period if you want an exact unit target.
-
Read the verdict
You get your profit per unit before and after the discount, and the sales increase you need to keep your current total profit.
Worked examples
40% margin, 20% discount
A product at 200 that costs 120: the profit per unit is 80. After a 20% discount the price is 160 and the profit is 40. You need to double your sales: 20 ÷ (40 − 20) = +100%.
50% margin, 10% discount
A product at 100 that costs 50: the profit drops from 50 to 40. The increase needed is 10 ÷ (50 − 10) = +25%, so if you usually sell 100 units, you need 125.
Discount bigger than the margin
A product at 100 that costs 75 (a 25% margin) with a 30% discount: the price of 70 is below cost, so every sale loses 5.
With shipping and payment fees
A product at 200 that costs 120, with 20 shipping and a 2.5% payment fee: the profit is 55 before the discount and 16 after a 20% discount, so you need +244%. Fixed costs per order push the required increase up a lot.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if a discount is profitable?
Compare your total profit with and without the offer, not your profit per unit. A discount only raises your profit if sales grow enough to make up for what you give away on each unit. The calculator gives you the sales increase you need: if you expect more than that, the offer pays off; if you expect less, it costs you money.
What is the break-even point for a discount?
It is the number of units you need to sell at the discounted price to earn the same total profit as without the discount. The short formula: required sales increase = discount % ÷ (profit margin % − discount %). With a 40% margin and a 20% discount, you need to double your sales (+100%).
What discount can I afford with a 30% margin?
There is no single right number, but the limits are clear: with a 30% margin, a 10% discount needs 50% more sales, a 15% discount needs double the sales (+100%), a 20% discount needs three times the sales (+200%), and any discount of 30% or more loses money on every sale.
Is a price discount better than a discount code?
Every visitor sees a price discount on the product page, while only people who have a code can use it. A code reaches fewer shoppers, but it also cuts your margin on fewer orders. The break-even maths is the same: a 15% code needs the same sales increase as a 15% price cut, on the orders that use it.
How do I make sure a discount ends before it eats into my profit?
Give every offer an end date from the start. In PopAutomate every discount schedule has an end, and when it ends the original prices come back automatically, so no discount keeps running after the season by mistake.
More free tools
Bulk sale price file
Paste your product IDs or SKUs and prices, pick a discount, and download a CSV ready to schedule in PopAutomate.
Saudi sales season calendar
Countdowns to White Friday, Ramadan, Founding Day and National Day for stores selling in Saudi Arabia, and when to start preparing your offers.
The next season is close. Get its offers ready now
Install PopAutomate and let your offers run on time while you rest.
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