Quick Answer
This original price calculator works backwards from a sale price to the list price at https://practicalwebtools.com/finance/original-price-calculator. If you know the percent off, divide the sale price by (1 − percent off): 60 ÷ 0.75 = 60 plus 100. It shows the reverse-engineering formula with your numbers substituted in.
How It Works
Enter the sale price exactly as the tag, receipt, or checkout screen shows it
Pick what you know: the percent off, or the dollars saved
Read the original price together with the savings and the other missing figure
Follow the reverse-engineering formula worked through with your own numbers
Key Facts
- Two backward modes: sale price + percent off, or sale price + dollars saved
- Percent-off mode uses Original = Sale ÷ (1 − percent off), the algebra that undoes Sale = Original × (1 − d)
- Amount-saved mode is plain addition: Original = Sale + Saved
- The full derivation is shown with your numbers, not just the answer
- A 100% discount is caught and explained — a $0 sale price fits any original — while the amount-saved mode still works
- Results round half-up to the cent, and sale + saved always re-adds to the original exactly
- This runs backward, unlike percent-off and discount calculators, which start from the original price and go forward
- Runs entirely in this browser tab — you can watch the Network tab stay silent while you type
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find the original price from a sale price?
Divide the sale price by what is left of the price: Original = Sale ÷ (1 − percent off). An item marked 60 ÷ 0.75 = 80 × 0.75 = 60 with 100 item.
How is this different from a percent-off or discount calculator?
Direction. Percent-off and discount calculators go forward: you give them the original price and a discount, and they hand back the sale price. This calculator goes backward: you already have the sale price — on a tag, a receipt, or a checkout screen — and it recovers the original. The two formulas are algebraic mirrors of each other, which is why the derivation is shown with your numbers.
What happens if the discount was 100% off?
In percent-off mode it cannot be reversed: a 100% discount leaves a 0 ÷ 0 fits every original price equally, so the calculator explains this instead of guessing. The amount-saved mode still works — a free item that saved you 18 item — because adding the saved dollars back is plain addition.
Why is my hand calculation off by a cent?
Most reverse calculations do not divide evenly: 13.49 ÷ 0.75 = 17.99. Your receipt, spreadsheet, or mental math may round differently or round at a different step, so a one-cent difference is normal. The sale price plus the calculated savings always re-adds to the rounded original exactly.
Can this tell me if a "was" price was inflated?
No, and no calculator can — arithmetic only verifies that the sale price and the stated percent off are consistent with the claimed original. A fake high "was" price with a matching big percent off is still internally consistent math. Watching unit prices over time, not reverse arithmetic, is what exposes inflated reference prices.
Is this free, and where do my numbers go?
Free, no account, no limits. I built it to run entirely in this browser tab — the division happens in JavaScript on your device, and you can watch the Network tab stay silent while you type. Nothing about the prices you enter is uploaded or stored anywhere.