Glasses and contact lenses: your prescription, returns, and the real price

Every pair of glasses and every box of contact lenses starts with a prescription written by an eye professional after an exam. The seller only fills it. So the first question is whether your prescription is current, and the second is who fills it well, at a price you can see, with a return you can use.

The short answer. Get an eye exam on the schedule your eye professional sets, and ask for your prescription: US law says you are entitled to a copy at no extra charge. Then compare sellers on the price of a complete pair with lenses, how they check your prescription, and what they do when a pair arrives wrong. Online sellers post the lowest starting prices, and some chain stores bundle the exam with two pairs. Contact lenses, including coloured ones, need a prescription too.

Price in the live data, where a longer bar means a lower price. These are not like-for-like: some are a frame's starting price with lenses extra, some a complete pair, some a two-pair bundle, so read each note in the explorer:

Your prescription comes first

The American Optometric Association recommends an eye exam at least every two years for low-risk adults aged 18 to 64, every year from 65, and at least yearly for adults at risk (AOA). The National Eye Institute says people over 60, African Americans over 40, and anyone with a family history of glaucoma should get a dilated eye exam every one to two years, and most people with diabetes or high blood pressure at least once a year (NEI). Your own eye professional may set a different schedule for you, and theirs is the one to follow.

Between exams, if your sight has not changed, the glasses you already own are the cheapest option there is.

Your rights under the FTC's rules

The Federal Trade Commission's Eyeglass Rule and Contact Lens Rule give you a few plain rights (FTC):

• After an exam that includes a refraction, the prescriber must give you a copy of your glasses prescription immediately, before offering to sell you glasses.
• You are entitled to your contact lens prescription when the fitting is complete.
• The prescriber cannot charge you extra for the copy, or require you to buy from them.
• Contact lens prescriptions must be good for at least a year, unless there is a medical reason to make them shorter.

The rules are enforced. In June 2025 FTC staff sent 37 warning letters to contact lens prescribers, based on consumer complaints; the FTC says the letters are not formal findings of a violation, and that violations can bring civil penalties of up to $53,088 each (FTC). If a prescriber refuses you, report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

How sellers check the prescription

A contact lens seller may verify your prescription with your prescriber. If the prescriber does not answer within eight business hours, the FTC says the seller can fill the order (FTC). That makes it worth giving the seller a clear copy yourself.

The FDA says decorative and coloured contact lenses are medical devices, that you need a prescription for them, and that places selling them without one are breaking the law (FDA). A seller that skips the prescription step has told you something about itself.

For glasses, Costco says it will not start making a pair without a valid prescription and pupillary distance, and cancels the order if they are not uploaded within 5 days (Costco).

Price: find the complete-pair number

Headline prices measure different things.

America's Best says its exam costs $80 without the offer, that coatings, thinner lenses, bifocals and progressives cost extra, and that the offer cannot be combined with insurance. For contact lenses, GlassesUSA estimates that someone with a standard prescription pays between $250 and $550 a year (GlassesUSA).

Returns: read them before you order

Zenni gives 14 days from delivery for a refund and 30 days for store credit, does not refund shipping, and remakes glasses made in error at no charge within 30 days (Zenni). Payne advertises a 30-day return, Eyeconic free shipping and returns, and Costco says unsatisfactory glasses can be returned to a warehouse optical department for repair, replacement or refund. Costco requires a membership, and its website only takes single-vision and non-prescription lenses; bifocals and progressives are ordered in a warehouse.

If money is the barrier

New Eyes, a US nonprofit, says it has provided new prescription glasses to over 500,000 financially struggling children and adults, through an application and voucher (New Eyes).

If you care most about...

There is no single best place to buy. Match the seller to what you need.

What we are not telling you

We do not judge lens quality, frame fit or anyone's eyesight, and prices move with sales. Nothing here replaces an eye exam. If your eyes hurt, turn red or your vision changes, see an eye professional.

How we made this

We take no money from any seller. Every fact above comes from a page we opened in September 2026. Found something wrong? Corrections are welcome and get applied with their source. Compare every seller in the glasses and contact lenses explorer.

Sources

• FTC, Buying prescription glasses or contact lenses: your rights, checked 2026-09
• FTC, warning letters to contact lens prescribers, June 2025, checked 2026-09
• FDA, Colored and decorative contact lenses, checked 2026-09
• American Optometric Association, eye exams, checked 2026-09
• National Eye Institute, dilated eye exams, checked 2026-09
• Zenni, $6.95 frames, checked 2026-09
• Zenni, frame prices, checked 2026-09
• Zenni, return policy, checked 2026-09
• Payne Glasses, checked 2026-09
• Eyeconic, checked 2026-09
• MyEyeDr, checked 2026-09
• America's Best, two-pair offer, checked 2026-09
• Stanton Optical, checked 2026-09
• GlassesUSA, contact lenses, checked 2026-09
• Costco, online prescription eyeglasses FAQ, checked 2026-09
• New Eyes, checked 2026-09