EDMONTON – More than 70 percent of adults wear glasses or contacts, and many have been turning online to buy their eyewear. One major provider, Clearly Contacts, says it filled 2.3 million Internet orders worldwide last year.
Along with the easy return policies and free shipping, many people are finding it hard to ignore the lower prices offered online.
“The ones on my face right now, I think, cost me $29,” says Crystal Puim, who has been buying her glasses online for the past few years. “After you put on coatings and scratch resistant it can go up in price, but going locally to stores here I was spending four, five hundred dollars.”
Since she’s been saving money on her glasses, she’s also been buying more of them.
For those looking for just one main pair of glasses, though, Puim admits going to to get professionally fitted may be a better option.
“I’m not going to say these are as well built as some of the ones you can get locally here,” she says. “They can have a little bit of a wiggle to it.”
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When buying online, you enter your own prescription; which may pose a problem if the person makes a typo. Optometrists also about the accuracy of some online eyewear retailers only asking for one measurement.
“We measure each eye individually, so there’s at minimum two measurements that you need just because of the standard asymmetry that someone has in their face,” explains Dr. Aaron Patel.
The measurements becomes even more important when it comes to progressive lenses.
“We find that the success rate on that (online progressive lenses) is extremely low,” Patel says. He adds that more fine-tuning may sometimes be needed, and even a millimetre can make a big difference.
Patel also advises anyone buying glasses for children to avoid the online route.
“An error on a child’s prescription can result in more permanent damage,” he says, “and children don’t always report in a problem that’s occurring.”
“We by no means are looking to replace optical eyewear professionals,” says Geoff Henshaw from Clearly Contacts in Vancouver. “We just feel that as retailers, we have an important role to play by offering customers products at a price that’s much more affordable and accessible.”
Clearly Contacts also offers full reimbursement if you need to go get an adjustment done at an optical store.
“We feel that we’ve removed all barriers to returning product from a 366 day return policy, to paying for the postage to get it back to us.”
A 2010 study found that 44 percent of prescription eyewear ordered online in the US was incorrect or did not provide sufficient protection for the customer.
Would you consider buying eyewear online for your family?
With files from Julie Matthews, Global News
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