Originally Posted by
gauvins
Great! Then can you help me understand price differences (and/or the material differences of various transitional techs? For instance, I've purchased dirt cheap (25$) polychromatic glasses on AliExpress. Why do I get a quote for 300$ (above the cost of distance prescription) from other stores? Quality? Gouging? A bit of both?))
I can't answer the specifics in your example, but I can say that there is a huge difference in prescription lenses from one shop to another. Before I retired, I could purchase prescription safety sunglasses from a contractor through my employer's contract. (This was 14 years ago, so with inflation my numbers are no longer valid.) My employer paid $22 USD for trifocal lenses and if my recollection is correct the Transitions lenses that darkened in sunlight cost an extra $20. But I priced a pair of glasses at a local shop in a shopping mall, the trifocal lenses costs several hundred, and the Transitions added a lot more.
I also got a free pair every two years of regular safety glasses, but they could not have a tint according to employer policy (I won't get into why this policy existed, long story). So, a free pair of plain and an inexpensive pair of tinted at a great price every two years, it was a great deal. And the employer paid very little for the ones they provided.
I wish I could still buy under that contract, but can't. That safety glasses company only sells to employers under contract.
This past weekend I ordered another pair of prescription sunglasses with a tint that does not change with sunlight, single vision. If I spent $12 more, I was then eligible for a 25 percent off coupon, so I ordered a second pair with the cheapest frames and lenses that they had, and that second pair cost me less than zero after you factored in the coupon.
https://www.eyebuydirect.com
On both pair I will use the Optx stick on lenses to turn them into bifocals, I have used these stick on lenses for over a decade (initially on non-prescription sunglasses, later on prescription single vision glasses) and am happy with the performance.
I first used eyebuydirect.com a year ago, you have to be extremely careful to make sure your are getting glasses the size and shape that you want by measuring other glasses that you have to make sure that they would fit you well, but it is worth the savings.