Free tools / Discount cost calculator
Free calculator · runs in your browserThat 20%-off sale needs 100% more orders.
A discount comes straight out of margin, so it cuts profit far faster than it cuts price. Enter your price, cost and discount to see the profit you give up and the extra volume you'd need just to break even.
Your numbers
SteepYou need to more than double orders just to stand still.
Extra orders needed to break even
+100%
Just to make the same total profit at 20% off
New margin
25.0%
was 40.0%
Profit drop / order
50.0%
A$40.00 → A$20.00
| Discount | Extra orders to break even |
|---|---|
| 10% off | +33% |
| 15% off | +60% |
| 20% off | +100% |
| 25% off | +167% |
| 30% off | +300% |
| 40% off | impossible |
Discounts hit profit faster than they look: the cost comes straight out of margin, so a 20% price cut can mean a 50%+ profit cut. Revenue can rise while profit falls.
Want the real margin impact of every promo?
How this is calculated
new profit/order = price × (1 − discount %) − cost
extra orders to break even = (original profit ÷ new profit) − 1
= discount % ÷ (margin % − discount %)
extra orders to break even = (original profit ÷ new profit) − 1
= discount % ÷ (margin % − discount %)
The maths assumes you want the same total profit dollars after discounting. In advanced mode, enter your baseline volume and an expected lift to see projected revenue and profit changes side by side, the clearest way to catch a sale where revenue rises but profit falls.
Questions
Extra orders needed = original profit per order ÷ new profit per order − 1. Equivalently, discount % ÷ (margin % − discount %). At a 40% margin, a 20% discount needs 100% more orders just to make the same total profit.
The discount comes entirely out of your margin, not your cost. If you keep 40% and give away 20% of the price, you've handed over half your profit on every sale. The deeper the discount relative to margin, the more violently profit falls.
Yes, if it brings enough genuinely incremental volume, clears aging stock, or wins a customer who reorders at full price. This tool shows the break-even volume so you can judge whether the lift is realistic.
Then every discounted order sells below cost and no amount of volume recovers it. The calculator flags this as impossible rather than showing a number.
See which discounts actually pay off.Blufire measures the real margin impact of every promotion across your store, by product and cohort.