I've bought my last three pair from an online store. It has been great and my eye doctor even complimented me on my cute frames. I have astigmatism and wear no line bifocals. The prescription was perfect. The online cost is about 1/4 of buying from "mall" stores. For $100 I can afford a new pair each year.

Yep, just did it again last week. When I first decided to go this direction I was mostly a contact wearer and could not find glasses I even kind of liked at my eye doctor after that appointment. Even if I found ones I kind of liked I'd notice a stupid bedazzle on the arms or something that moved them to the no list.

Check out Zenni Optical for ordering. You can upload a photo of yourself and try glasses on. This was quite accurate believe it or not. You'll need your prescription and your pupilary distance (PD). Not all eye doctors are willing to hand over the PD measurements. You can easily do this yourself and Zenni gives you instructions on how. I paid $17.95 for glasses and $4 something shipping. I love my glasses so much (tortoiseshell) I hardly even wear my contacts and I ordered the exact same frames as before. There are plenty of lens options and they give their recommendations based off your prescription. You will have to fax a copy of your script over to them after ordering. Turn around time is very quick. For the cost, it certainly doesn't hurt. DH just ordered a pair too and is happy with his.

zenni

My friend likes to order from Warby Parker. I found they were more expensive and went with Zenni when I decided to tip my toe into the online glasses ordering pool.

warby

My husband and I have used Warby Parker several times. Quick and easy (they send you samples to try at home). We've been happy with the quality of the glasses and sunglasses we purchased.

Boy, the response here echos what my son says, that a lot of his friends order them. We don't have vision insurance, so I'm going to go see if I can find his prescription.

If you order online, where do you get your eye exam?

Sam's Club is where my DH got his.

I am wearing my Zenni progressives right now!

When you get your eye exam, make sure you ask for your PD (pupil distance). Sometimes they don't put it on the prescription. If you go to a place where the optometrist and the optical dept are related they may give you a hard time. Because they really, really want you to buy their expensive glasses.

I bought mine from warby parker but without the lenses...I took the frames to my optometrist who put the Rx in them.

I buy mine from eyebuydirect. Probably have 15 pair around the house. Love their BOGO sales. Key is finding the best size (found on the arm of a pair of glasses that fit you well/look good) for your face.

15 pair? Sounds like me andmy reading glasses. DS is looking at eyebuydirect, great sale right now he says. His last exam was in an office where the optometrist and optician are in the same space (the first leases space from the optician). He seems to think the PD is on his glasses, I think he sees something else. I thought that the PD was proprietary to the optician?

I have bought two pair online. Very easy and am happy with both. And I was going to give a warning as to what g_dw mentions - the PD. Make certain that it is on the prescription. The first time I ordered glasses I didn't but the company was very easy to deal with and we got it straightened out. Yes, you have to ask the optician for the PD, it's not written on the glasses.

I got my frames from Warby Parker and the lenses from Costco. My old optician who has been in business for about 45 years just closed his store and retired because he lost so much business to online stores.

My optician is worried about the new shopping center going in across the street. Even though it's not large, he says if it has a grocery store, it will also have a dry cleaner and an optician. I don't understand the onlines. My optician adjusts my glasses, makes sure they fit property, and readjusts later when I need it. How does that work with online glasses?

I love Zenni. I've been using them for five years or more.

@bpathome, Sadly I am nearsighted and don't yet require reading glasses. I read a lot. Everytime I do, I set down whatever pair of glasses I'm currently wearing and pick up another pair in the location from which I need to view something from afar. Very satisfied with eyebuydirect.com. When I received a pair that sat crooked on my face, they were promptly replaced. I've also bought from Warby Parker, but they were much more expensive. I did like trying on the frames first though.

A friend was just telling me how she ordered from Zenni and loved it. I couldn't find any frames I liked from Zenni. Thanks to above info I just ordered some frames from Warby Parker to try. I've looked at Costco but didn't care for their frames either but maybe I can do what dedtired does and just get my lenses there.

I go to a local optimistic. I do order my contacts through them. I didn't end up needing any adjustments for my zenni glasses. I've had glasses adjusted at other eye places. The one told me if they accidentally break they weren't responsible. Thankfully that didn't happen. A friend took her glasses (bought locally) to a different place and they adjusted hers too.

Yeah the pd won't be on the glasses. That's dimensions for the frame I believe- there's info about that on zenni too.

I had to ask for my prescription and for them to give me my pd. I could tell they weren't thrilled but they did it anyhow. The same place gave Dh a hard time about the pd. Well, front desk girl did. But like I said it's easy to find it out yourself.

PD

Another happy customer of Eyebuydirect. Reasonable cost, great glasses. They show you how to measure your own PD, worked for me.

Besides, I never could find frames I liked at my optician's. They were always the same with really no modern takes. Actually I've bought many of my frames at antique shops for $12 or less! The online stores have so many to choose from but I admit I pay much more than $12.

Never had a problem with having frames bought online tweaked at my optician's either. In fact I get lots of compliments on them from the people who work there.

I buy from Coastal.com.

I bought prescription sunglasses online, with progressive lenses. No problem getting my prescription from my optometrist, but they refused to give me my PD. I measured it myself according to the instructions on the website, but obviously it isn't as accurate as the measurement done in the office. I am satisfied with the sunglasses, but unless I could get an accurate PD wouldn't do everyday glasses. Your son should have no problem with single vision lenses.

I have bought online too as has DH but always require fitting at the optometrist(I have a small head). The prices are much better online than the eyeglass stores near me.

I use Zenni to buy spares of sunglasses, I have about 15 pairs now, one for every occasion. None of them have ever had a problem.

What actually is Pupil Distance? I get my eyes tested at Kaiser and they give me written prescriptions for both glasses and contacts. The last pair of glasses I got was not from Kaiser. Do the folks supplying the frames/lenses measure the PD onsite?

A friend of mine raves about Zenni. But I'm forever going in and having the fit adjusted.

Linelle - It's the distance between the puplis of the eye, center to center, in millimeters. I believe whoever makes the lenses needs to know if because of where to place the prescription.

I'll admit to feeling a little bad about buying my glasses online because it takes away from local business, but I'm not interested in spending hundreds of dollars for glasses I don't wear that often and find ugly. I don't want rhinestones or other little cute things on my glasses! Sadly, the optometrist does have a huge selection there.

After a couple of years of people recommending online purchase of frames/glasses and this current thread, I went to Zenni, looked at 100+ pages of frames, and selected a dozen. Weaned those down to 3 based on my PD/frame/lens measurements. Eeny-meany-miney-moe...chose one. Then found out they cannot provide the prism strength I need. Carp! Really, I have to spend $300+ vs <$75?