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Looking for a well established online glasses store for your frames and lenses...

39DollarGlasses (definitely!)

In 2002: Kelly Clarkson won the 1st American Idol. Also in 2002: 39DollarGlasses became a BBB-accredited business.

39DollarGlasses has been online for 13 years and have an A+ BBB rating (and are accredited). They were one of the few in the "core" group of online glasses retailers even before the industry exploded.

If you search for complaints about each of the popular retailers you will normally find that 39DollarGlasses has fewer than most of the others even though they have been in business a long time.

They are considered to be one of the safest choices.

39DollarGlasses website

Goggles4u (strong contender)

Goggles4u made waves at the beginning of the online glasses boom in 2006. They shipped in strange cloth envelopes from Pakistan (sewn together and sealed with wax!), and when people complained to them with any problems Goggles4u would usually apologize and quickly ship the person any required replacement parts for free with no questions asked.

They grew in popularity quickly and then seemed to plateau a little as up-and-coming retailers entered the market. They really emit the feel of a small business trying to compete against heavyweights. And so far they have been surviving well and upholding their name.

Goggles4u has been around for 8 years and while they are not accredited with the BBB they have an A- rating which is very respectable for a company from Pakistan who ships in cloth envelopes.

Goggles4u website

Zenni Optical (definitely!)

Zenni has been around since 2003: almost as long as 39DollarGlasses.

They have had their ups and downs. Not long after the cheap online glasses industry exploded: Zenni started having severe delivery issues for a few months. It looked as though they had moved their manufacturing overseas and were having logistical problems. It is suspected that between the growth from the glasses boom and the increased competition in the market they decided to make an abrupt move to overseas manufacturing which didn't go as smoothly as planned. They paid a severe price in terms of complaints for that mishappening.

They did manage to recover though. If you look at them now they have an A+ rating with the BBB and are accredited. That is not to say that everyone is 100% happy 100% of the time; but they certainly seem to resolve any complaints that make their way to the BBB.

Zenni Optical website

EyeglassDirect (it's complicated....)

Here's the deal. EyeglassDirect has been around since 2003. They have an A- rating with the BBB. So why are things complicated?

Their focus really seems to be for their local New York store. You can buy from them online but the prices are hidden until after you have chosen your frames; and they are not super competitive price-wise. They are not terrible for price (still much cheaper than most local stores), but just not competitive.

It seems like over a decade ago they were some local store that put up a website back in 2003 to test the waters and then decided not to put a lot more effort into the online side. You can buy from them and there are not many complaints about them; but they are certainly not as popular as they perhaps could be.

EyeglassDirect website

GreatEyeglasses (not that old though...)

These guys have only been around since about 2008. Sure, that is 6 years old but it's still a little young for an online glasses store (the industry exploded a couple years earlier).

They have an A rating with the BBB though and seem to be keeping things together.

Not the most popular but it is probably better to be unpopular for the right reasons (few complaints) than it is to be popular for the wrong ones. On paper they are reputable so they can be worth checking out.

GreatEyeglasses website

If you are wondering where the others fall into place: the VAST MAJORITY of online glasses stores (for cheap frames and lenses) have F ratings with the BBB or are not even listed. But that does not mean they are rip-off joints or scam companies? No on the contrary: most of these places are legitimate companies with hard working individuals. Some of the reasons for bad BBB ratings are as follows:

So normally you should not worry TOOOOO much about the BBB rating. But it is nice if a company has a high rating because if you have a problem and complain to the BBB: chances are the company will resolve the issue. Of course that does not mean you will always win: if you made a mistake on your order and the company policy was clear that this is not considered for a refund you might be out of luck as far as the BBB is concerned.

Maybe the BBB rating or time in business isn't as important as you originally thought? Click the button below to choose something else if so!

<< These aren't the cheap glasses you're looking for *hand-wave* (take me back to other cheap glasses options)

Some data might be wrong on this site. Do not take it at face value. Do your own research to verify the claims here.