BARNER Brand Review: What to Know Before You Buy
Barner is a company that specializes in producing stylish and sustainable eyewear, with a focus on blue light blocking lenses. Their pricing is kept fairly low, with all of their frames costing under $100.
How Do They Work?
BARNER aims its messaging around its blue light glasses, with the company offering blue light blocking lenses at fairly competitive pricing. They also have a greater variety of frame materials than many other companies, including options meant to be more environmentally sustainable.
What Does BARNER Offer?
BARNER focuses on selling blue light blocking glasses and sunglasses, as well as accessories like cases, straps, and cleaning cloths.
One of their more unique offerings are sustainable glasses, where the company reports almost half of the material in the glasses is based on a plant source, castor beans. The production process produces fewer CO2 emissions.
Pros & Cons
BARNER seems like an online retailer good for customers who want blue light blocking glasses at a reasonable price. We also appreciate that they have a greater focus on the material their frames are made out of compared to other retailers. They make it easy to search for frame options in these materials if you have a particular preference.
We would have liked to see more in terms of lens customization with the company. If you have specific features for lenses you want, you may not be able to get them through BARNER.
Cost & Insurance
BARNER’s frames start around $59, with some on sale for 20% off and thus currently priced at $48. Bio-based frames seemed to bottom out at a slightly higher price point of $69. Its frames seem to cap out at a reasonable $89, with no luxury-priced frames available.
Eyeglass lenses are blue light blocking by default, with no additional cost. Prescription lenses add $46 to the total. As far as we can tell, the company doesn’t offer much in the way of lens customization beyond this basic choice and being able to input one’s prescription.
Their sunglasses are priced about the same, with UVA and UVB protection coming standard. Like with eyeglasses, prescription lenses add $46 to one’s total.
This fairly low price point means you may be able to get most or all of your purchase cost covered through insurance, although BARBER will count as an out-of-network provider. This means you will have to submit your claim manually, a process that is usually pretty easy but can vary somewhat between providers.
How Do They Compare Pricewise to Competitors?
Pricewise, you can get blue light blocking prescription glasses from BARNER for around $95 before accounting for shipping or taxes. That’s a pretty good price, especially considering the variety of frames you can choose from, and even their pricier frames stay under $100.
While it may not be impossible to find a better deal elsewhere with the right sale or custom glasses configurations, BARNER’s pricing model doesn’t require any digging to find a good deal. They make it easy to get blue light blocking lenses at a competitive price.
Shipping Information
Standard shipping is free with an estimated delivery time between three and six days. BARNER also offers one other shipping option, DHL Express International Shipping with an estimated delivery time between two and four days. You’ll pay extra for this option.
How Does Ordering Work?
Ordering from BARNER is a standard process similar to most online purchases. First, you find the frames you want. Their store neatly organizes frames into various categories you can search through. They allow you to sort by price, alphabetical order, or the date the item was posted.
Selecting the lenses you want is pretty simple, as (for better or worse) the company doesn’t offer as many lens customization options as some other retailers. If you want prescription lenses, make sure to select that option and either upload your prescription or manually enter it. Once your order is all set up, select the shipping option that fits your needs and decide how you will pay.
Their return policy allows for the return or exchange of products within 30 days of receiving them, which doesn’t apply to prescription lenses as these are custom made. Returns must be “unused and in original condition” with a focus on returns being in a “resalable condition.” If you’ve worn your glasses and then decide you don’t like them, you’ll be out of luck.
Reviews & Brand Reputation
BARNER has a fairly good online reputation, rating 4.3 stars on Trustpilot from 204 reviews. Positive reviews seem to praise the company for good service and high-quality products.
We’ll note however that 16% of those currently 204 reviews are 1-star ratings, which is a significant enough sample that we want to highlight some issues customers have reported. The biggest issue customers seem to have is shipping problems, with some people reporting significant delays with their orders. Other people report problems with their glasses, such as feeling like the glasses seemed cheap or receiving a broken product.
Is This Brand Worth It?
If you want blue light blocking lenses, BARNER is worth considering. They have a fair variety of frames and their pricing is pretty good.
At the same time, they don’t offer much in terms of lens customization. Customers looking for a feature-rich pair of glasses or who don’t care about blue light blocking lenses and just want the cheapest pair of glasses possible may want to look elsewhere.
Alternatives to Consider
Eyebuydirect and Warby Parker are two options when making online glasses purchases. Firmoo, GlassesUSA, and Liingo are also well-reviewed options as of 2023 that you may want to check out.
The best store for you will depend on your priorities but Eyebuydirect has a fairly large selection of glasses, including designer frames, and Warby Parker has a user interface many customers find especially easy to use. All these alternatives offer blue light blocking options.
References
BARNER. BARNER.
Sustainable glasses. BARNER.
Terms of Sale & Return Policy. BARNER.
BARNER Brand. Trustpilot.
The Best Places to Buy Glasses Online of 2023. USA Today.