--- title: "Fixed-amount discount: definition and formula" description: "A set sum off the order, such as $10 off. It costs the same on every order, so it weighs far more on a small order than a large one." url: https://offersuite.io/glossary/fixed-amount-discount updated: 2026-10-13 --- # Fixed-amount discount A set sum off the order, such as $10 off. It costs the same on every order, so it weighs far more on a small order than a large one. ## In plain words A fixed-amount discount takes a set sum off the price or the order: $10 off, $5 off your first order. Customers often respond to it more than to the equivalent percentage, because the saving is concrete. Its cost in margin is nearly the same on every order, whatever the order's size. That makes it cheap on large orders and severe on small ones. The same $10 can be a tenth of one order's margin and most of another's. ## Formula - Margin after discount = margin before − discount × (1 − costs charged as a share of revenue) ## Worked example $10.00 off the single $40.00 bag takes its margin from $15.36 to $6.15. The same $10.00 off the three-bag order takes it from $48.06 to $38.85. Both orders lose the same $9.21. The single bag then needs 149.8% more buyers to break even, and the bundle 23.7%. ### The example order A $40.00 bag of coffee, shipped free, every cost counted Revenue $40.00 to contribution margin $15.36 (38.4%) Revenue $40.00 Cost of goods −$12.00 Pick and pack −$1.18 Packaging −$0.50 Shipping label −$7.50 Card fee per order −$0.30 Refunds −$2.00 Card processing −$1.16 Contribution margin $15.36 2 declared kinds cost nothing on this option Computed by the margin engine in Offer Suite's own code, in whole cents, from a $40.00 bag of coffee with a $12.00 unit cost. ## A fixed amount is not a percentage in disguise $10 off is 25% of a $40 order and under 10% of a $102 one. A percentage scales with the order and a fixed amount does not. If small orders can use the code, price the offer on them. ## Using it Pair a fixed-amount discount with a minimum order value, set where the order can afford it. Without a minimum, the smallest orders take the largest relative discount, and those are the orders with the least margin to give. ## Related - [Glossary **Glossary of offer economics** The terms behind offer profit, defined plainly with their formulas and a worked number: contribution margin, profit per visitor, break-even lift and more.](https://offersuite.io/glossary) - [Calculator **Offer option calculator: profit per visitor** Compare up to three offer options on profit per visitor, margin per order times conversion, and see the conversion lift each one needs to match the best.](https://offersuite.io/calculators/offer-option-profit-per-visitor) - [Calculator **Free shipping threshold calculator** Price a free-shipping threshold with the shipping you give away on orders that already reach it, and the share of smaller orders that must top up to pay for it.](https://offersuite.io/calculators/free-shipping-threshold) - [Glossary **Percentage discount: definition and formula** A share taken off the price. It comes off revenue in full while most costs stay put, so it removes a much larger share of the margin.](https://offersuite.io/glossary/percentage-discount) - [Glossary **Discount stacking: definition, formula and example** Two or more discounts applying to one order: a sale price, a subscription discount, a code. Each looked affordable alone; together they may not be.](https://offersuite.io/glossary/discount-stacking) - [Glossary **Discount allocation: definition and formula** How a discount on a whole order is divided among its lines. It decides each product's revenue, and so each product's margin.](https://offersuite.io/glossary/discount-allocation)