Price Tracking ROI
See if waiting to catch a lower price is worth the time and effort.
About Price Tracking ROI
Price tracking pays off when the expected saving from a future drop exceeds the value of the time spent monitoring the price. The opportunity cost of your time matters, so a big percentage drop may still not be worth waiting for a small item.
Formula
Price Tracking ROI
Net benefit = expected savings - (hours x hourly value)
- time value
- What your monitoring time is worth
Worked example
With the default values below, Price Tracking ROI returns Expected Savings of $50.00. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.
Inputs used
- Current price
- 250
- Expected price dropaccepts 0–100 %
- 20 %
- Hours spent monitoringminimum 0
- 2
- Your time value per hourminimum 0
- 20
Results
- Expected Savings
- $50.00
- Time Cost
- $40.00
- Net Benefit of Waiting
- $10.00
- Is Waiting Worth It
- Waiting is worth it
Step by step
- 1Values used
- 2Price Tracking ROI
- 3Expected Savings= 50.00
- 4Time Cost= 40.00
- 5Net Benefit of Waiting= 10.00
- 6Is Waiting Worth It= Waiting is worth it
Assumptions and limits
- The result is derived only from the 4 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
- In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
- Figures are rounded for display to 2 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.
How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is Price Tracking ROI calculated?
Net benefit = expected savings - (hours x hourly value) Price tracking pays off when the expected saving from a future drop exceeds the value of the time spent monitoring the price.
Why does Price Tracking ROI matter?
The opportunity cost of your time matters, so a big percentage drop may still not be worth waiting for a small item.
What values do I need to enter?
This calculator takes 4 inputs: Current price, Expected price drop, Hours spent monitoring, Your time value per hour. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.