Saw It On Social: Eye Buy Direct

Do you wear glasses?  Get tired of the expensive pairs you buy at the optometrist?  Eye Buy Direct swears they can change all that.  But are their glasses actually as good as the pricey ones?

I’ve been wearing glasses since the 4th grade.  I switched to contacts in 9th, and never looked back.  But having a new baby meant being up at all hours, and the dry, red, tired eyes that come along with a 3-hour feeding schedule, so I ended up back in my glasses.  And having the same prescription since 2014, I was wearing the same worn out, scratched up pair of purple tortoise frames.

Naturally, I Googled “affordable eye glasses.”  And that’s when the ads hit.  Facebook, Instagram, every Google sidebar, all three of my Gmail accounts were flooded.  Okay, okay, I’ll buy a pair, which turned into two pairs of glasses and two pairs of blue-light specs for my screen addiction.  But we’ll come back to that.

Eye Buy Direct is an online glasses retailer where frames start at $6. They offer a lot of extras like a virtual try-on feature (these never work for me) and free two-day shipping on many styles.  Also, if you choose to donate when you order, they give a pair of glasses to someone in need.

Eye Buy also offer a significant number of sales, like the 30%-off Halloween sale that they’re running right now (code: SPOOKY30).  They claim that they can offer these prices because they sell direct to consumer, but lots of companies do that, and don’t offer frames and lenses for less than $100.  So I was skeptical.

I’m not going to bury the lede on this post.  I am no longer skeptical.

The first pair of glasses I ordered was a pair of blue light glasses in dark green.  I loved them, but they were too big for my face.  All the glasses are grouped by size.  So I learned that my face was a size S-M, not an L.  Got it.  Once I had that information, I was golden.

I went to the eye doctor to make sure my prescription was current; it was.  And then, I started shopping.  I bought two pairs: these white tortoise glasses and this clear pair that I keep in my car for emergencies, which cost under-$60 when all was said and done.

The one drawback of online shopping for glasses is that you don’t know how they will look on you.  I tried on 10-20 pair at my optometrist’s office to get a sense of what style worked for me.  I found a pair just like the tortoise ones I bought, but they would have been $490 even with insurance.  The pair I bought cost less than a third that price.

Eye Buy offers a number of guides to help you choose the style and get through the ordering process.  As for specialty needs, I have a strong prescription, but I don’t need special lenses, so your mileage may vary.  But the key to all of it is reading your prescription carefully and going through the process diligently.  I admit, I went to order a different pair a few weeks ago, and I selected the wrong type of lenses and got stuck with a pair of glasses I can’t use.  Luckily, a local charity took them from me to rework for someone else.

Bottom Line: I bought several pair of glasses, and aside from my one mess up, I got a great quality frame and great lenses for far less than I would have paid at the eye doctor’s office.  You can also submit a claim to your vision insurance, if you have it.  So of the two pairs I bought, my most expensive pair were free once the claim was granted.  I am extraordinarily happy with this service because I like having new glasses once a year and have never been able to afford the designer pairs at the optometrist on my $250 allotment.  So if you wear glasses, give Eye Buy Direct a try.

{this post contains affiliate links that may generate commission for the author.  as with all Saw it on Social posts, I spent my own money and neither solicited nor accepted a gift.  every product is reviewed by me and tested by me.  if I love it, I tell you, if I hate it, I tell you.}