This Calculator Will Tell You If the “discount” Is Worth
Of course, it seems like everything is on sale all the time these days. But not all sales are created equal. This is especially important to be aware of during the holidays, when on holidays complex discount schemes are provided for purchases, which sometimes have no less complex restrictions.
If math in your head is not your forte, use the Black Friday calculator . “Many of these seemingly real sales are often mathematical traps,” said Hannah Pamula, Ph.D. a student from Poland who built it for the Omni Calculator project. It includes nine different discount scenarios — percent discount, buy one get one, and multiple discounts, just to name a few — to help you determine if the discount is worth your time and money.
Although the calculator is named for Black Friday, you can use it anytime you want to check the math of the estimated selling price.
To get rid of this calculator, I tested a simple “20% off everything” sale at DSW’s shoe store. I put in an initial price of $ 69.99 for a pair of sneakers, a 20% discount, and a 7% additional tax that I would pay. The calculator figured out a savings of $ 14.98 with a GIF of a dozing Garfield asking me if it was worth getting out of bed.
I could go through the steps of adding an item to the cart, entering shipping information to determine tax, and adding a promo code. But let’s face it: by then, I would probably have pressed two extra buttons to buy the shoes.
But it’s easy. Let’s try something more difficult. The calculator can calculate the following discount scenarios:
- % off
- % discount on the second or third item
- 2 for the price of 1
- 3 for the price of 2
- 4 out of 3
- Double or triple discount (for example: 50% discount + 30% discount)
- Multiple unit discount
How about buying and getting 50% off? I checked out the online sale at Shoe Carnival (I didn’t want to turn this into a battle of discount shoe stores, but we’re here) to check out the calculator’s BOGO feature. For the long Florida winter, I need snow boots, of course, and they’ll cost me $ 99.99. But if the second item is 50% off, maybe I’ll buy a pair of Doc Martens. is this a good deal?
The calculator tells me that I will save a little over $ 48. For two pairs, I will save 23.7% of what I would pay for both pairs at full price. Of course, the best way to save money is to buy only the pair that I really need. But if your shopping list includes more than your own products, math can help you maximize your budget. One thing to look out for when you start comparing holiday sales: beware of price inflation. We’ve written about this before: In the weeks leading up to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, retailers usually raise their prices a little, so any discount they offer later seems even better.
“Retailers will do anything to get your attention and make deals better than they really are,” Pamula said via email. Combine a little background research with some mathematical underpinning and you’re in a good position to spend wisely without being fooled by a bad deal.