Calculator
Bulk Discount Pricing Calculator
Set volume price breaks and see exactly what they do to your margin. Price an order in seconds, find the discount level that wrecks your profit, and stop discounting blind.
Your product
All-in landed cost: COGS, packaging, inbound shipping.
Your minimum acceptable gross margin. Tiers below this are flagged.
Volume tiers
Price an order
Calculations happen entirely in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
All tiers at a glance
| Quantity | Discount | Unit price | Margin / unit | Margin % |
|---|
Tip: every 10% off the list price doesn't just lose 10% margin — at a 60% gross margin, a 10% discount gives away ~17% of your profit. Discount with intent.
How bulk discount pricing works
Tiered pricing rewards larger orders with a lower per-unit price. Done well, it lifts average order value, builds loyalty with bigger buyers, and clears inventory faster. Done badly — with discounts that outpace your margin — it converts profitable customers into loss-leaders. The trick is pricing each tier so that contribution per order grows even as per-unit margin shrinks.
The mechanics
- Tier: a quantity threshold (e.g. 1, 10+, 50+, 100+).
- Tier price: the per-unit price applied at or above that quantity.
- Discount: shown vs the base price for context.
- Margin: tier price minus unit cost — must stay positive (and meaningful) at every level.
Worked example
Scenario: Product with £4 unit cost, base price £10 (60% margin).
Tier 1 (1-9 units): £10 each — margin £6 (60%)
Tier 2 (10-49): £9 each — margin £5 (56%)
Tier 3 (50-99): £8 each — margin £4 (50%)
Tier 4 (100+): £7 each — margin £3 (43%)
An order of 100 units = £700 revenue, £300 contribution. The same buyer at the base price of £10 would only ever order 10 units; tiered pricing has 10x'd both order size and contribution.
Frequently asked questions
How does volume tier pricing work?
You set quantity thresholds and a price per unit at each. A buyer ordering 50 units pays the 25-49 tier price; one ordering 100 pays the 100+ price. The discount rewards larger commitments and tends to lift average order value, even though the per-unit price drops.
How deep should each tier discount go?
Common patterns are 5-10% off at the first break, then another 5-10% per subsequent tier. The right depth depends on your margin: if your starting margin is 50% and the deepest tier is 25% off, you still keep 25% — workable. If you only have 30% margin, a 25% discount nearly wipes it out.
What's a sensible number of tiers?
Three to five. Fewer than three doesn't reward growing orders enough; more than five gets confusing and creates negotiation handles where there shouldn't be any. A clean 1, 10+, 25+, 100+, 500+ structure works for most B2B.
Should I lose money to win a big order?
Almost never. Big orders that lose money set a precedent the buyer will reference forever, and they crowd out higher-margin work. Walk away or make the discount conditional on annual volume commitments rather than a single bigger order.
How do I prevent buyers from gaming the tiers?
Some sellers use 'all units' pricing — once you hit 100, the whole order is at the 100+ price. Others use 'incremental' — units 1-99 at one price, units 100+ at the lower. Incremental is safer for margin; all-units is more attractive to buyers. Pick one and be consistent.
Should I publish my tiers or keep them on request?
Published tiers shorten sales cycles and remove negotiation friction. On-request gives you flexibility to price differently for different segments. Most modern B2B brands publish at least the structure (with custom quotes for the largest tier).