I never thought I would blog about buying eyeglasses but here I am. Thanks to my genes my vision is OK and I never had to buy eyeglasses for myself. However my love to bargain hunting has taken over and I just couldn’t resist commenting.
Ira from 3mew has done a research on the subject of buying eyeglasses online. It is a very informative and at times funny blog post which I recommend reading to everyone.
The markup on eyeglasses frames can routinely be 1000%!
This obviously makes it worth while looking for online alternatives. Ira ends up buying his glasses from Zenni Optical and Googles4u at a 6 times discount over what he would pay at LensCrafters or another B&M chain.
The blog post has produced a flurry of comments with one from an optician questioning practicality of online shopping. Some of the points sound pretty valid and some (like one below) — just hilarious.
Stores also have more overhead (salaries for qualified and experienced opticians, ulitity bills, etc) so you are paying for more than just the frame…you are paying for the overall service.
Don’t we usually go to an ophthalmologist when we want our eyes checked? Why pay for the service again at the store?
It’s no secret if you ask an optometrist friend — they get most their revenue from selling frames :O
Not to mention that you actually save more money by looking after your eyes
I moved the discussion over to http://glassyeyes.com when it became apparent that other people wanted to eat and pay their mortgages rather than pay exorbitant prices for eyeglasses.
I never imagined the stir this would cause — and I’m happy it did.
Thanks for the kind words.
to Ira: I liked this comment from a blog that linked to yours
“here in England I buy reading glasses in bulk - well six pairs at a time anyway - from what we call ‘Pound Shops’ where everything is (you guessed it) £1 - that’d be under $2 to you lot. I treat them as disposable and they are every bit as good as expensive prescription glasses”
This is exactly my attitude. Eyeglasses is an instrument to make you see better.
You can save an extra 5% on your entire purchase from www.Goggles4u.com when you enter the promo code “arcaro” at the checkout.
www.goggles4u.com is very good.....scount! )