How I Found Great Glasses Online for Just $33

After considering several options, I chose these coral frames.

Katherine Roberts

Last fall I updated my glasses prescription for the first time in several years and bought a pair of translucent lilac glasses that I really like. But lately I’ve been thinking it’s time to buy some new, bolder glasses. Plus, I didn’t have a spare pair with the new prescription.

This is what I had in mind when I started searching:

• Bright and bold frames, perhaps in fiery red.
• Single vision lenses.
• Standard polycarbonate lenses or cheaper high index lenses. In general, I tried to match my prescription to the minimum lens index recommended by each dealer, which is the highest. (For more information on lens materials and coatings, see the “Learn More About Lens Materials and Coatings” section).
• Anti-reflective (AR), UV protection and scratch resistant (SR) coating.
• The frame size is similar to my current glasses to increase the chances of a proper fit. Since I know the dimensions of my current frames, I planned to check the dimensions of the ones I found online and discard the ones that were within a millimeter or two of my current dimensions.

I started at my local glasses store (the same place I bought my current glasses).

They don’t have a lot of fiery red frames, although I did find a couple of bright purple frames that I liked. But with my glasses they would cost me $399. And since I recently bought glasses, I didn’t have the option of using insurance to reduce the cost. So I decided to wait a few months until I could use my insurance again and looked online for alternatives.

Here’s what I found.

From store to store

Finding fiery red glasses was harder than I expected, even online. My favorite was the Tory Burch cat eye glasses I found on GlassesUSA.com. But the total price ($193) was still a little higher than what I wanted to pay for the glasses purchased online.

I loved a pair of two-tone frames I found at Target and even visited the Target optical store in person to try them on and make sure they fit me. But while the frames themselves were a reasonable $140, the minimum lens rating offered by online retailer Target would have cost me another $290. So I had to skip them too.

I looked on Eyebuydirect.com for a pair of cheap purple frames that were very similar to the ones I found at a local store, although I wasn’t sure if the purple color would be what I wanted when I saw them in person.

I was also intrigued by a pair of oddly shaped pink bubblegum glasses I found at Costco. But since I’m not a Costco member, I’ll have to pay another $60 to become a member.

Finally, I found some large, bright square red frames from Zenni for just $33. I initially thought about buying red frames, but they were also available in translucent coral and I couldn’t resist. I decided that $33 was the perfect price for replacing glasses that were a bit oddly colored, so I went with Zennis. I loved them when they arrived and have already received a ton of compliments on them.
And the best? I ended up paying less than a tenth of the cost of the lenses I was originally interested in. To learn more about the ratings of various online and brick-and-mortar eyewear retailers represented by CR members, check out our ratings.

Editor’s note: A version of this article also appeared in the October 2023 issue of Consumer Reports magazine.

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Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site. Consumer Reports is an independent nonprofit organization that works with consumers to create a fair, safe and healthy world. CR does not endorse products or services and does not accept advertising. © 2023 Consumer Reports, Inc.