QKitBoxDiscount & markup calculator
Two everyday pricing problems: what a discount really costs you, and what price a markup actually produces.
Percent off a price
| Final price | – |
|---|---|
| Total discount | – |
| You pay % of list | – |
Cost + markup → price and margin
| Selling price | – |
|---|---|
| Profit margin (on price) | – |
| Profit per sale | – |
A 100% markup is a 50% margin — markup and margin are different numbers on purpose.
Notes
- Stacked discounts multiply: 20% off, then 10% off, is 28% off — not 30%.
- Before running a sale, check what it does to margin after platform fees (use the Fee & Profit Calculator for that).
How to use — step by step
Two everyday pricing questions in one place: what a discount really costs you, and what price a markup really produces.
- To price a sale: enter the list price and the discount percentage. Add a second, stacked discount if your promotion combines (a coupon on top of a sale price).
- Read the final price, the total discount in both money and percent, and how much of the list price you're actually collecting.
- To set a price from cost: enter the item cost and your markup percentage — how much you add on top of cost.
- Read the selling price, the profit per sale, and the margin as a share of the selling price.
- Cross-check anything consequential with the Fee & Profit Calculator, which subtracts platform fees and shipping from these numbers.
How it works
Stacked discounts multiply rather than add: 20% off followed by 10% off leaves you collecting 0.8 × 0.9 = 72% of list — a 28% total discount, not 30%. The calculator shows the true combined percentage so a 'small extra coupon' can't quietly erase your margin.
Markup and margin are different numbers by construction. Markup is profit divided by cost (what you add on top); margin is profit divided by price (what you keep of it). A 100% markup doubles your cost into the price, leaving 50% of the price as profit — a 50% margin. Sellers who set prices by 'I need a 60% margin' and then dial in '60% markup' are pricing 10 points below intent; this tool makes the gap visible in the same screen.
Remember the numbers here are pre-platform-fee. Etsy's 6.5% transaction fee plus payment processing comes out of the discounted price, which is why a promo that 'breaks even' on paper can lose money after fees.
Charm pricing ($28.80 rather than $29) survives every arithmetic on this page — just note that after platform fees and payment processing, a price ending in .80 nets a fraction less than .99. That's rounding dust per order; the place percentages hurt is stacking, which is why the stacked-discount math is the tool's headline feature.
The other strategic use is testing before you announce: enter the sale price with the Fee & Profit Calculator's outputs as your cost basis, and you'll know before publishing whether the promo pays or bleeds.
Frequently asked questions
Why isn't 20% + 10% = 30% off?
Because the second percentage applies to the already-reduced price. 40.00 → 32.00 → 28.80: the combined discount is 28%, not 30%.
What markup do I need for a 40% margin?
Markup = margin ÷ (1 − margin), so 40% margin needs a 66.7% markup. Enter costs and try values until the margin line reads 40%.
Does this include platform fees?
No — treat these as list-side numbers. For post-fee profit per sale, use the Fee & Profit Calculator with the discounted price.
Can I model a fixed-amount coupon?
Not directly — convert it: a $10 coupon on a $50 item is a 20% discount. Enter 20%.
Should I ever discount below cost?
Rarely and deliberately: clearance of dead stock, or loss-leader economics you've actually computed. The tool's job is to make the loss explicit, not to moralize it.
How do member or volume discounts stack?
They multiply like any other percentage — enter them as stacked discounts and read the true combined number.
Is a bigger discount always better for volume?
Only if the volume is elastic enough to pay for the margin give-up. Compute the break-even volume: units must grow by discount% ÷ (1 − discount%) ÷ margin% roughly, before the promo wins.