Once upon a time, I'd spend hours looking at prescription glasses frames, suffer over what to get and in the end, I'd buy the simplest, plainest frames there were because a) they were expensive and b) I had to wear them every day with everything and I didn't want to get something "out there" that would look odd when I wanted to dress up or dress down.

Kids are even worse! They go through glasses as if they were disposable- breaking them, losing them and generally costing a fortune to replace, but what can you do? They have to have them.

So, if you wear glasses, you can imagine my joy (and skepticism) to find Zenni Optical, a Hong Kong-based company that sells prescription glasses for as little as $8! And yes, they really mean $8.

I just purchased the 3 pair of glasses you see above... 2 of them were $8 and one of them (the blue ones) were $9.95. I paid $4.95 to get a dark grey tint on the zebra glasses and now I have super fun prescription sunglasses for just $12.95.

Would I have bought these styles at $89 or even $39? Nope. I would have picked out something safe and boring. But when you can get 5-6 pair of glasses for the price of one pair of "discount" glasses locally, why not go a little crazy?

I have rainbow frames, tortoiseshell frames, blue metal frames, even pink frames. My current favorites are a pair of green stripey plastic frames with dark green lenses; I've probably ordered 12-14 pair of glasses from Zenni in the past two years.

The Bad

OK, you are getting supercheap glasses. They don't come fast- it might take 3 weeks to arrive or it might take 3 months. They do eventually show up, but don't order from them thinking you'll have them next week. I did have one order take nearly 3 months... order some fun glasses then forget about it until they arrive.

Customer service? Not so much. They do have a phone number you can call to check on your order, but don't expect a lot of hand holding or warm fuzzies. If you need personal attention, get your glasses locally.

Upcharges... if you have a complicated prescription or more sophisticated needs than a single-vision prescription, it's going to cost a little more. It's still a much better price than you are probably used to, but it won't be $8.

The Fun

Go a little crazy. Order some animal print frames or something with sparkling crystals embedded in it. Try a color you love but wouldn't even think of buying in traditional glasses. Get the kids a few pair so that you are ready for any tragedy that might befall their current glasses!

Zenni Optical