Buying eyeglasses is a challenging task for most people and is always time consuming. It is very convenient and fulfilling to try on a pair of eyeglasses one by one at a optometrist clinic and decide if it looks good on you or not. A well trained optician is right there to answer all your questions and guide you through the various options and upgrades you can get on your eyeglasses. However, the cost for this is too high. You will be spending hundreds of dollars on a single frame. Buying eyeglasses online is becoming more popular than ever as there are huge bargains that can save you hundreds of dollars. Online eyeglass retailers have made it so easy and convenient that buying eyeglasses online is so simple and gives 100% satisfaction. The quality of the frames and the lenses are same or better than the brick and mortar stores while at a heavy discounted rate.

Why pay hundreds of dollars for a pair of eyeglasses when you can buy a similar one for a fraction of the cost? I only paid $40 for my last pair of eyeglasses which would have cost me more than $400 if bought at a optometrist clinic. It is a well known fact that Frames, which come in wide variety of styles and a wide range of prices, are often branded and have huge mark-ups (sometimes upto 200 to 500%).

1. Get prescription: Go to a local optometrist near you and have your vision checked. The optometrist will check your eyes and give you a prescription. Important: Ask your eye doctor to put the PD (Pupillary Distance) on the prescription. Do not buy your eyeglasses from the optometrist as they almost always have high mark-ups.

2. Choose your frames online: Go to the website of online retailer of eyeglasses. Some of them are www.unitedshades.com, www.eyeglassfactoryonline.com, googles4u, www.39dollarglasses.com, www.eyeglassdirect.com, etc.

They feature a catalog of frames that they offer in detail. You can view each frame, its color and read all about the frame's features such as what material they are made of, etc.

Their website has a tool that will allow you to upload a photo of yourself and you can use the flash program to try on the glasses and see how the frames fit your face.

3. Choose your lenses: Enter your prescription information or you may have to fax the prescription. Here comes the only tricky part in buying eyeglasses online. PD or Pupillary Distance is the distance between the center of two pupils which is very important to place the lens in the frames. You will need it to buy eyeglasses online as the eyeglasses lab needs to know this PD to place the lenses in the frame correctly. You should have proactively got it from the optometrist that checked your eyes.

Decide what lens material you want on the lens. For example, you can choose from polycarbonate or high index lenses or just plastic lenses. Plastic lenses are the least expensive ones.

Decide what coatings you want on the lens. Examples include ultraviolet coating to help shield your eyes from UV rays or anti-reflective coating so your eyeglasses will not produce reflection, tinted lenses, etc.

I will write a separate hub on the various coatings and how they help your vision.

4. Order your eyeglasses online for just $20 to $50 and wait for it to arrive.

5. Enjoy your new eyeglasses and show it off! Check out the cool Ray ban designer sunglasses at unitedshades.com.

Some mid-range brands that have great quality are Oliver Peoples, Paul smith, TAG Heuer, Booth and Bruce, Sama. Some of the more expensive brands are Lafont, Mykita, Alain Mikli, Philipe Stark, Oakley. I personally like Oakley brand a lot as they make some great quality glasses and frames.

Caveats with online shopping for eyeglasses:

While the huge benefits of buying eyeglasses online are price and convenience, watch out for some limitations.The final decision whether to buy eyeglasses online or not depends on the individual. Personally, I always buy eyeglasses online as it saves hundreds of dollars and with enough information, I had no problems with all the glasses I have bought so far.

• Return policy: You don't want to get stuck with a pair of glasses you are not happy with. Make sure to read the return policies that are posted on the internet site that sells eyeglasses online. Most of the online sellers have good return policies just like what is offered by a brick and mortar optical shop.
• Comparison shopping: As you will find great bargains on eyeglasses online, you should always do some comparison between different shops by visiting their websites and it is not uncommon to find huge differences in price, quality and customer feedback.

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