Shop for Affordable Quality Glasses Online at Ottica

We all wear glasses in our family.  Thankfully we have really good insurance through my husband’s job, but even still with the kind of prescriptions we have and the upgrades to lenses… glasses are expensive y’all!  We all just got eye exams and new glasses at the end of July and our bill AFTER our co-pays was about $800 for the three of us.  Now granted some of that was the eye exams themselves and I had a contact lens fitting, but still, that’s a lot of moolah.

I need corrective lenses 100% of the time and I don’t wear my contact lenses all that often.  I honestly don’t like wearing the same pair of glasses every day.  It’s kind of like wearing the same pair of shoes every day or the same scarf.  I just like having more than one pair of glasses to switch between, mostly for style but of course having a back up pair in case of breakage is a good idea too.  But with the pricey options at our optometrist’s office and insurance only covering one pair of glasses a year, I have to look elsewhere if I want to have choices in my daily wearing.

Off to the internet it was!  If you are worried about purchasing a pair of prescription glasses online, let me waylay your fears and tell you how affordable and easy it is, especially at Ottica.com.  I’m going to tell you right now that Ottica is not the cheapest online eyeglasses retailer you’ll find.   Affordable doesn’t mean ‘cheap,’ because you still want quality.  There’s no ‘sticker shock’ with Ottica though, they’re reasonably priced for what you are receiving.  

So let’s start with frames, because really when choosing glasses that’s pretty much where everyone starts.

Ottica has a fairly good selection of frames that start at $68 regular price.  They do have a selection of designer frames with names like Burberry, Michael Kors and Coach to name a few.  The less expensive frames are by no means cast-offs and there are a lot of ones that are similar to the high end names without the price tag.  You can narrow your search down by gender, size, color, and shape if you already know the style you are looking for.  

But how can you know what those frames are going to look like on you?  That’s where Ottica’s handy dandy “Try On” feature comes in to play.  

Upload a photo of yourself and you can get a better idea of how the frames you’ve chosen look like on your face.  All the frames measurements are listed as well, so if you are already wear eyeglasses you can get an even better idea of frame size and height of the lenses based upon your current glasses.

I ended up choosing the Etta frames.  On sale they are one of the less expensive frames available on Ottica.com.  

When you purchase frames from Ottica the price also includes basic single vision lenses and anti-scratch coating, which is their Bronze package.   I specifically choose a lower cost frame because I have a fairly strong prescription and I wanted to spend a bit more on an upgraded lens package.    I chose the Platinum package which gives a 40% thinner lens than the standard lenses, and it also adds Premium UV400 coating and Anti-Glare coating to the lenses, plus I get a 15% discount off my next purchase.  That upgrade is $95.   

You can also get a Clear Lenses Upgrade which includes Digital Block lenses (highly recommended if you spend a lot of time in front of screens)  and/or you can add adaptive lenses (lenses that transition from outside to inside by darkening and lighting appropriately) for and additional charge as well.

For your prescription you can type in the values, fax or email it later or upload a copy of it.  I chose to upload a copy since I had just gone to the eye doctor and had it in hand.  

The grand total $170.65. <– Bargain.  For real!  My frames alone from the Optometrist had a price tag of $210.00 and that did not include the lenses or the upgrades.

So that gives you an outline of what it takes to order your new glasses from Ottica.  But the real question is.. what do I think of the glasses I ordered and received?

I chose 7-10 business day shipping since I didn’t need them expediently.  I ordered them on August 14th and they arrived at my home on August 25th.  So they were right on their delivery mark.  They also kept me up to date with emails where in the process they were, from receiving my order to producing the lenses and quality ensuring them.

They were shipped well and in a hard cover case, included in the case was a cleaning cloth and a copy of my prescription on a handy wallet sized card (nice perk!).

As for the glasses themselves – well they look just like the stock photo, which is great since that’s what I chose them from!

They are comfortable to wear, they fit my face well (the last pair of glasses I purchased online from a different retailer needed major adjusting at a local optician), and most importantly the prescription is correct (I can seamlessly take off my new glasses from the optometrist and put these on without my eyes needing to adjust).  

Let’s just say I’m very happy with them and would not hesitate to purchase a pair of glasses on Ottica.com again.

In this case I’ve countered the myth that paying more means better quality, because I received a great pair of glasses for about 70% less than the cost of the ones I just purchased at my eye doctors.  If you’re looking for new glasses head over to Ottica.com, with free shipping and returns and a 365 day warranty (see site for full details on the return and warranty policy) you really have nothing to lose.  Also as of the date of publishing this post they have an offer on their site where you can save 50% off your lenses on your first purchase!

Do you wear glasses?  Have you purchased glasses online? What has your experience been?