What is the real final cost of a purchase?
In short
The real final cost is the amount you actually pay for a purchase after every eligible discount, coupon and payment offer is applied in the correct order. Rewards that arrive later – points, miles or cashback – are a separate benefit, and paying later is not a discount.
The sticker price is only the start
A price tag tells you what a product costs before anything is applied. Most purchases can be affected by store promotions, coupon codes, bank or credit card campaigns, loyalty programs, installment plans and cashback. Each of these has its own conditions: minimum spend, eligible cards, channels, dates and caps.
The real final cost answers one question: if I complete this purchase today, under these conditions, how much money actually leaves my account?
Three numbers you should keep apart
Pay today: the amount charged at checkout after instant discounts and coupons.
Rewards later: points, miles or cashback that are credited after the purchase. They usually post days or weeks later and can expire.
Effective cost: the price after subtracting rewards you will realistically use. It is useful for comparison, but it is not money you saved at the till.
Why the order of offers matters
Percentage discounts multiply rather than add. A 20% store discount followed by a 10% card discount on 1,000 gives 1,000 × 0.8 × 0.9 = 720, which is 28% off – not 30%. A fixed coupon applied before or after a percentage discount also produces different results.
Many campaigns also define their base: some apply to the original price, others to the amount after previous discounts. The real final cost follows those rules instead of adding percentages together.
Installments and later payment are not discounts
Splitting a payment or paying later can help your cash flow, but it does not lower the price. AIPromo shows timing and price as separate results so a longer payment period is never mistaken for a saving.
How AIPromo calculates it
AIPromo reads the conditions of each relevant offer, checks which ones can be combined, applies them in the order they really stack, and shows a breakdown: what you pay today, which rewards follow, when they arrive and what is still unknown.
Questions and answers
Is cashback part of the real final cost?
No. Cashback reduces your effective cost after it is credited, but it does not change what you pay at checkout. AIPromo shows it separately.
Can two percentage discounts be added together?
Usually not. Consecutive percentage discounts multiply: 20% and then 10% is 28% in total.