Mark down (markdown), also known as discount, is the percentage of decrease in an item’s asking price, compared to the item’s original price. This popular retail concept is used to decrease an item’s price for various reasons such as: to shrink inventory, to make room for new product, to reduce surplus, or simply to provide consumers with an added incentive to make a purchase.

For example, let’s say you have a multiple lot eBay auction for sale with a Buy It Now price of $99.99. After watching your auction for 10 days with little to no activity, you decide to discount the product by 10% to offer an added incentive to buy and in hopes of clearing our excess inventory. Your new Buy It Now price would be lowered to $89.99, which is a $10 discount and a 10% mark down from your original advertised price. Our mark down calculator can be a valuable tool for both retailers and consumers alike.

For example, as a consumer, you can use this calculator to help determine the actual price a retailer paid for an item. For instance, let’s say you’re shopping for a new vehicle and you know the average mark up on the particular car in question is 11%. If the dealership asking price of the vehicle is $20,000, you can assume the dealership paid around $18,000 for the car. You can then use this information to help with negotiating your final purchase price to establish a baseline for what the dealership has invested.

On the other hand, as a retailer, you can use this markdown calculator to help price items in any type of storefront. For instance, if your craft store is having a Christmas sale and decides to discount all candles by 15%, this easy to use calculator will quickly help you calculate your promotional pricing for these products.