How to Save on Buying Eyeglasses
The following Best Savings Tip comes from reader, Rachel:
A great way to save on eye glasses is to purchase them on-line through Zennioptical. They have frames starting at $6.95! I just bought a cute pair of glasses and I paid $25.95 total – frames, lenses, and shipping! They work perfectly and look super cute.
All you need is your RX from your eye doctor. My doctor had no problem writing me out the scrip for glasses when I went in for my annual exam for contact lenses.
The cheapest frames I found in my eye doctor's office were $49, and that does not include the lenses and all the other “fees” when you get your glasses. And, truth be told, those frames were not attractive at all. The cheapest frames I actually liked were $109 – just for the frames. So, I saved over $100 by going through Zennioptical.
The only downside is that you cannot try the frames on to see how they will fit your face. I picked a pair that was similar to the pair I already had, so I was pretty sure they would look fine. Or, you could always go to the store and try on frames to see what fits you best, then look for that style when you go online.
I have friends who have been purchasing from Zennioptical for a couple years, and they have had no problems at all. This was my first experience and I will be going back anytime I need glasses!
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Great tip! We don't have vision insurance. If we do eventually need glasses, this will come in handy! We also did a comprehensive review of 39DollarGlasses.com which is another place to find affordable eyeglasses styles as well.
Does anyone else have experience with Zennioptical?
Please leave a comment!
Share your Best Savings Tip and be entered into the $50 Weekly Cash Drawing!
Your tip also enters you into the $500 Cash Grand Prize!
Catch up on all the Savings Tips shared to date.
Just a little warning from someone who works at an eye doctor’s office.. a lot of these cheap glasses do work great if you are in single vision. However, be careful if you have bifocals or progressives. A lot of these sites will ask you to do your own measurements to find the distance between your pupils and your nose. These measurements have to be exact or you may not be able to see out of progressives. Make sure you check out the return policy first if you need anything other than single vision lenses!
I ordered a pair of no line bifocals from Zennioptical.com in 2010. I paid around $50. They are just fine. With bifocals (progressive lenses), the accuracy has to be just right and Zenni did a pretty good job. You have to provide your pupillary distance, which the eye doctor should give you with your RX. I think I picked out a $12 frame – and it doesn’t look any different than the ones I’ve seen at Sam’s Club and other places from $47 on up. There is such a huge mark up on frames in the optical stores. And the lenses have to be marked up a lot as well. The prices are outrageous, even at Sam’s Club. I’m going to be ordering more glasses from Zenni. Next time I will pay a little more to get a higher (1.67) index lens.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE http://www.zennioptical.com. Currently I have 28 pair of glasses for myself (I like to match to outfits! but I wear contacts 80% of the time!), my 9 year old daugther is quickly approaching 20 pair and she wears only corrective glasses and my 15 year old stepson has 6 pair. Out of all the glasses I have ordered, only one pair that was incorrect. They offered to exchange for the cost of shipping ($4.95) a new pair but since it was only a $6.95 pair of glasses, I didn’t worry about it.
My six year old son has an eye appointment next week and I will be again placing an order for glasses!
My husband has bought many glasses with Zenni Optical. We have had no problems with measuring pupilary distance (which Zenni explains exactly how to do this). Zenni now has it where you can put in a plain picture of yourself (no glasses) and you are able to “try on” the glasses to get some idea of what they would look like on you. Now I will say I like the progressive bifocals and Zenni only sells the progressive lenses in large frames. I prefer the little bit smaller frames and Zenni has yet to be able to provide those. So at this point in time I am still paying the big bucks for glasses.