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Eyeglass Factory Outlet Strengths:
Introduction: Eyeglass Factory Outlet is located in the US (Florida). Pricing in USD. They sell single-vision and bi-focal/tri-focal/progressive lenses. They have a mailing address, fax, toll-free phone number, and contact form on the website. Payment methods include Visa, Mastercard, AmEx, Discover, and PayPal. The BBB has them listed with a "D" rating with 1 unanswered complaint. They have an eBay store where they carry a 99.6% Positive Feedback score, with approximately 10,000 feedbacks listed.
Impressions: The primary focus of Eyeglass Factory Outlet appears to be the eBay side of things, with the website looking like more of an after-thought. Those who prefer making their purchases/transactions through eBay will probably prefer to buy from Eyeglass Factory Outlet since they're pretty much "the only game in town" when it comes to an eBay presence/focus. On the other hand, those who prefer buying through a website will probably find the Eyeglass Factory Outlet website very lacking in many areas. A few notes about the eBay store, since the rest of the review focuses primarily on the website storefront. First, while it's possible to get frames/lenses for cheaper on the eBay store, not all frames listed there include lenses by default - most don't (it specifically states when it does). Next, it's difficult to tell if the selection offered is the same as on the website, as there's no level of sorting offered through the eBay front. Finally, the focus seems to be moreso on frames, although it may be possible to communicate with them over eBay and ask how much it would be to add a certain lens. The remainder of the review focuses on the website store. Frame selection is very reasonable, and most frames appear to be offered in more than one color. Metal, Plastic, and Semi-rimless frames are all the same price at $34.50 (including the lens), with Rimless being more. Only the 3 standard measurements are shown for frames (height is absent, and you must calculate the total width yourself), and they're displayed in amongst the lens options. Single-vision lenses come free with the frames which are typically $34.50. Bifocals are $49.50 and Progressives are $79.50. Polarized, Polycarbonate, Photochromic, and Tinted (5 colors, solid or gradient, 3 intensities) lenses are all available. A "high index" lens is available, but there is no indication as to what the index actually is. An AR coating adds a whopping $39.50 to the price - more than the cost of a single-vision pair of glasses, while a UV coating adds only $5. Website and Ordering: Sorting frames by a certain type on the website isn't intuitive. There are effectively 3 ways of sorting available along the right side, but each menu has a different appearance. Images of frames are often blurry - light colored and rimless frames are particularly bad in this area. There are no virtual "try on" features of any sort, and no dimensions are given until the lens selection page where it's shown as an option (despite not being changable). The ordering process is rather poor. Getting to the lens option page is easy enough, but once there things are a mess. Every single lens option (single vision, progressive, polycarbonate, photochromic, etc) is packed into the same list, and is largely unsorted/random. As an example, someone looking for single-vision lenses has to look through all 28 options to find the 9 options that apply to them which are scattered throughout. If comparing pricing of the options (or even pricing to other retailers), they'll probably have to write each of them down to keep a degree of organization. There's no information on each lens option, on PD, or anythign else anywhere on the site. When entering the prescription numbers, rather than a selection list coming up (like most retailers), the numbers must be typed in, and then a + or - must be chosen from the box before it. This design arguably lends very easily towards mistakes. All in all, a veteran-buyer will probably make it through fine, but the site is very new-user-unfriendly and I'd be inclined to suggest that people buying glasses for the first time either look elsewhere, or if determined to buy from Eyeglass Factory Outlet do research on things like lens-types and "PD" elsewhere, and then take their time making sure everything they've entered is perfectly accurate and that they understand everything they've entered.
Pricing and Value: $34.50 as the default price point for most frames/lenses puts Eyeglass Factory Outlet in the discount price-range. Shipping at $5 in the US ($9.95 internationally) is definitely reasonable, and a UV coating for $5 isn't terrible either. The larger concern is the AR coating - at $39.95 it more than doubles the cost of a basic pair of glasses. I've tried to organize the price chart to be a little more organized than the Eyeglass Factory Outlet website's, since their listings are very inconsistent.
A basic pair of single-vision lenses comes to $39.50 shipped in the US, and $44.45 shipped internationally.
Click here to go to the old Eyeglass Factory Outlet information page
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