Promotion economics
Discount Profit Calculator
See what a discount leaves after costs.
Compare full-price and sale orders. Find your cost-coverage discount ceiling and the sales volume needed to preserve contribution profit.
After the discount
Contribution per sale order
USD 17.30
Available toward overhead and profit after the costs entered. Contribution is not net profit.
- Price: regular → sale
- USD 100.00 → USD 80.00
- Percentage fee on sale
- USD 2.40
- Other entered costs / order
- USD 60.30
- Full-price contribution / order
- USD 36.70
- Sale contribution margin
- 21.63%
Orders to keep baseline contribution
213 orders
113 more than 100 full-price orders. Rounded up; this is a target, not predicted demand.
Maximum non-loss discount
37.84%
Covers entered costs only, in 0.01% steps with cent rounding. This ceiling is not a recommended offer.
- Baseline total contribution
- USD 3,670.00
- Sale plan: 150 orders
- USD 2,595.00
- Change from baseline
- −USD 1,075.00
Compare discount levels with the same costs
A larger discount cuts selling price while most entered costs stay fixed per order. The percentage selling fee falls with the sale price. Compare contribution rather than revenue alone.
| Discount | Sale price | Contribution / order |
|---|---|---|
| 0.00% | USD 100.00 | USD 36.70 |
| 10.00% | USD 90.00 | USD 27.00 |
| 20.00%Your choice | USD 80.00 | USD 17.30 |
| 30.00% | USD 70.00 | USD 7.60 |
Use one consistent order and cost basis
Start with one product or a stable basket mix. Enter the normal order price before the promotion, excluding sales tax or VAT collected for remittance. The model assumes you receive the merchandise price and pay the entered fulfillment cost; it does not add a separate customer shipping charge.
Product and fulfillment
Use the cost of the goods in that order, plus delivery, packaging and handling you pay. If those are already included in product cost, do not count them again. Costs stay unchanged between the two price scenarios.
Selling fees and advertising
Enter the percentage fee charged on discounted merchandise revenue and any fixed fee per order separately. Include ads or other variable acquisition costs per order only once. This tool does not look up your platform fee schedule.
Baseline and planned orders
Baseline is the number of full-price orders you would otherwise sell in the same period. Planned sale orders is your own estimate. Compare equivalent product mixes and periods, and check whether the required volume is feasible.
Price must be greater than zero. Money amounts accept up to 1 billion, rates 0–100%, each with up to two decimals and no commas. Baseline orders accept 1–1,000,000; sale orders accept 0–1,000,000 or blank. Currency labels do not convert values. Fixed fee means an amount per order, not monthly overhead.
How discount profit is calculated
Let P be regular price, d the discount fraction, f the percentage selling fee fraction and C the sum of all other entered per-order costs.
- Sale price S = round(P × (1 − d), 2).
- Selling fee = round(S × f, 2).
- Contribution = S − selling fee − C.
- Required sale orders = ceiling(baseline contribution per order × baseline orders ÷ sale contribution per order). Both contributions must be positive.
Amounts ending in half a cent round upward. Each order is rounded first, then multiplied by order count. Margin divides contribution by selling price; it is not markup on cost. At a zero selling price, the margin percentage is undefined.
The non-loss ceiling tests discounts in 0.01 percentage-point steps with these same rounding rules. Ignoring rounding, its starting relationship is d ≤ 1 − C ÷ [P × (1 − f)] when the fee rate is below 100%. Cash rounding can change the last digit, so the displayed ceiling is verified using actual cent amounts.
Example: 20% off needs more than 50% more orders
At a regular price of USD 100, enter USD 50 product cost, 5 shipping, 5 ads and a 3% + 0.30 selling fee. Full-price contribution is 100 − 3 − 50 − 5 − 5 − 0.30 = USD 36.70.
A 20% discount makes the price USD 80 and the percentage fee USD 2.40. Sale contribution becomes USD 17.30. A baseline of 100 orders contributes USD 3,670. Selling 150 sale orders contributes USD 2,595, a USD 1,075 decrease.
The minimum is ceiling(3,670 ÷ 17.30) = 213 orders, or 113 more than the baseline. At 212 orders contribution is USD 3,667.60; at 213 it is USD 3,684.90. These are mathematical targets, not evidence that customers will order more.
The rounded non-loss ceiling is 37.84%: price 62.16 minus fee 1.86 minus other costs 60.30 leaves zero. At 37.85%, the price becomes 62.15 and contribution is −0.01 per order.
Before running the promotion
Check the required order count against inventory, fulfillment capacity and evidence from comparable promotions. If contribution per order is negative, increasing volume increases the modeled loss. Zero contribution cannot fund overhead. A positive contribution still leaves unentered business expenses to cover.
Run separate scenarios if a promotion changes product mix, shipping zones, acquisition cost or fee tiers. Returns, tax rules, subscription overhead and new campaign setup costs are not calculated automatically. The result is a comparison of entered costs, not final accounting profit or a discount recommendation.
For the underlying concepts, the SBA break-even guide explains the relationship between price, variable costs and contribution. Shopify’s pricing guidance describes costs to consider and reviewing prices as costs change. Our discount ceiling and example use the explicit cash-rounding model above. Sources checked October 28, 2026.
Check the rest of your promotion
About This Calculator
Compare profit before and after a discount, including product costs, shipping and fees. Find the sales volume needed to keep your contribution profit.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I calculate profit after a discount?
Apply the discount to your regular selling price, then subtract product cost, shipping and fulfillment, percentage selling fees, fixed per-order fees and other entered variable costs. The result is contribution per order, not net business profit. This calculator rounds the discounted price and percentage fee separately to cents.
How many more sales do I need to make up for a discount?
Multiply full-price contribution per order by baseline orders, divide by discounted contribution per order and round up to a whole order. Both contributions must be positive. With the example inputs, 100 full-price orders contribute 3,670; a 20% discount requires at least 213 orders at 17.30 contribution each to retain that amount.
What is the maximum discount I can offer without a loss?
The calculator finds the largest discount, in 0.01 percentage-point steps, that leaves nonnegative contribution after entered costs and cash rounding. It is a cost-coverage ceiling, not a recommended discount. It excludes unentered overhead and tax. If the full-price order already has zero or negative contribution, review costs and pricing first.
Does a 20% discount reduce my profit by 20%?
Usually not: many per-order costs stay the same while revenue falls. In the example, contribution falls from 36.70 to 17.30 with a 20% price discount. Increasing revenue or order count does not by itself show that a promotion preserved profit.
Can this predict Black Friday sales or my final store profit?
No. Planned order count is your scenario, not a demand forecast. The model holds product mix, per-order costs and fee rules constant. It does not calculate overhead, taxes, returns, inventory limits or customer response automatically. Currency selection changes labels only, without converting amounts.
The SuperCalc Editorial Team maintains calculator interfaces, formula notes, examples, and supporting explanations. Methods, assumptions, source links, and review depth vary by calculator and are documented on the relevant page where available.