Payne Glasses Review: What to Know Before You Buy

Payne Glasses is a budget glasses retailer that offers some of the best pricing we’ve seen from an online eyewear retailer. They also have a good reputation and decent middle-of-the-road shipping speeds. 

How Do They Work?

Payne Glasses is an online glasses retailer that organizes their listings into a few categories, including women, men, kids, sunglasses, and accessories. They allow customers to further narrow their search through subcategories. You can also just choose to view their entire store via a search bar option.

One of Payne Glasses’ biggest selling points is its pricing. Customers can get prescription glasses at surprisingly low prices.

What Do They Offer?

Payne Glasses sells eyeglasses and sunglasses aimed at men, women, and children, as well as glasses accessories like cases, grips, and mini screwdrivers. Like many online glasses retailers, they offer a variety of lens customization options, from standard prescription lenses to blue light blocking lenses to basic non-prescription lenses.

Pros & Cons

Payne Glasses seems like a strong budget retailer. It reviews well, has frames under $7 on top of currently offering a deal for free frames, and lets a customer get prescription glasses at some of the lowest prices we’ve seen on any storefront, assuming you’re willing to combine budget frames with only the basic prescription lens option. 

Information on how different lens options affect price is not easily viewed on the site, but you can still see how lenses affect your total as you select them. 

This is also a budget eyewear retailer. Frames cap out around $50, and you won’t see more unique options that other stores may be able to offer at higher prices.

Cost 

Payne Glasses sells a variety of frames, including a number of them sold for just under $6. They’re most expensive frames seemed to all be under $50. 

In 2023, they are offering select free frames that can be used twice per customer. The free frame includes 1.56 standard lenses, a hard case, and a cleaning cloth.

Standard prescription lenses, standard reading glasses, and non-prescription glasses don’t typically affect your total cost. In our research, it seems like blue light blocking glasses cost about $27.90 more than the listed price of just the frames one chooses. Progressive lenses seemed to add about $33.95 to the total cost. 

Insurance Coverage

As is standard, Payne Glasses can provide an invoice that can then be used to get reimbursed from your insurance company for the purchase, assuming it meets their requirements. Online glasses retailers are typically considered out-of-network providers. Make sure to read up on how the reimbursement process works and how to submit a claim with your provider. 

How Do They Compare Pricewise to Competitors?

Pricewise, Payne Glasses is excellent. Zeelool offers similarly low prices, but Payne Glasses seems to have a stronger online reputation. If all you want are prescription glasses and don’t care too much about your frames beyond them looking relatively nice and lasting a while, this is a retailer you should consider looking at. 

Shipping Information

Payne Glasses offers three shipping methods to its U.S. customers. Standard shipping is $4.95 and will generally take between 6 and 13 business days. The next step up is Priority Shipping, which costs $12.95 and will generally take between 5 and 10 business days. Finally, they offer Express shipping for $23.95, which will usually take between 4 and 8 business days.

How Does Ordering Work?

To start ordering from Payne Glasses, decide what type of frames you want. If you’re concerned about budget, take a look at their free frame deals and frames under $7, as standard prescription lenses still come free with these frames.

Once you have selected a pair of frames, choose the lens option you want. You will also have to put in your glasses prescription, assuming you want prescription lenses. 

Customers have 30 days from the date the order is received to initiate a return. They do not offer a full refund for prescription glasses unless a customer also purchased their Risk Free Warranty.

If you have a standard warranty, you can either return glasses you don’t want for a 50% refund or a one-time 100% exchange code (which doesn’t refund shipping). If you’re returning due to a manufacturing error on the manufacturer’s part, they will inspect the glasses and remake them at no charge, as long as you return them within the 30-day warranty period.

The Risk Free Warranty allows for a full refund for the cost of the glasses and shipping (but not the warranty), or it can be used to exchange your glasses up to two times in the 30-day warranty period. You can also get a one-time replacement pair within six months from delivery date if you can prove there are clear defects in the material and/or workmanship of your glasses.

Reviews & Brand Reputation

Payne Glasses has a very strong online reputation, rating 4.7 stars on Sitejabber, 4.5 stars on Trustpilot, and 4.7 stars on the Better Business Bureau’s site. This isn’t from a small sample size either. Sitejabber currently has over 46,000 reviews for Payne Glasses. 

Some common areas of praise among the positive reviews include the company selling affordable, interesting frames, having excellent customer service, and producing overall quality products. 

Is This Brand Worth It?

With its well-priced frames and lenses, combined with its strong reputation, Payne Glasses is definitely worth considering if you want eyeglasses on a budget. They have a decent selection, and most of their offerings don’t look cheap, even if they are.

Alternatives to Consider

Again, Zeelool is a budget eyewear retailer with a similar model to Payne Glasses. You can price compare between these sites to find which one offers the better deal for specific frames. 

Eyebuydirect and Warby Parker are two other alternatives we usually recommend, as they have some of the strongest reputations of any online eyewear retailers as of 2023 and a decent selection of both budget and more expensive options. You may have a hard time beating the best deals Payne Glasses can offer with these sites, but they definitely still have affordable options available.

References

Payne Glasses. Payne Glasses. 

FREE Frames. Payne Glasses.

Payments. Payne Glasses. 

Shipping & Returns. Payne Glasses.

Payne Glasses. Sitejabber.

Zeelool. Zeelool.

The Best Places to Buy Glasses Online of 2023. USA Today.