So you’re in need of new contact lenses. That means it’s time to get into money saver mode and track down all the websites that offer cheap contact lenses online with free shipping. I’m going to help you do just that!
How Important is Free Shipping?
If you’re looking for rock bottom prices on contact lenses, the internet is hands down the place to be looking. But as we all know, the price is only the price.
If shipping and handing fees are not included, prices can be deceiving.
By the same token, don’t automatically discount websites that do charge for shipping. Sometimes, the prices on those websites are SO LOW that even with the shipping fee, you would still end up paying less than a different site with higher prices and free shipping.
In this article, I will make sense of all of this for you, and help you locate the website that will set you back the least for your specific brand of contact lenses.
Cheap Contact Lenses Online With Free Shipping
Coastal.com
Coastal.com’s website spells out 3 very clear promises.
1. Free Shipping – On glasses and contact lens orders
2. Free Returns – Contact us for the return label
3. We’ll always make it right – Call us at 1-866-333-6888
When I placed a mock order for 1 box of Dailies AquaComfort Plus, both shipping and handling fees were in fact waived.
Although Coastal.com does not charge you for shipping, their prices are a little bit higher compared to other websites.
For this reason, I recommend you locate the lowest price for your brand using Contacts Advice’s always up-to-date contact lens price comparison table.
You would be surprised how much lower prices can be across different sites.
1800contacts.com
Plastered to 1800contacts.com’s header are the 3 of the following commitments:
1. Fast, Free Shipping – On All Web Orders
2. Unbeatable Price Guarantee – We’ll Beat Any Price
3. Contact Lens Specialist – Live Chat Available 24/7
Placing a mock order for 1 box of Dailies AquaComfort Plus reveals that they indeed do not charge for shipping.
If you scroll up and down this page, you will see the difference in price between 1 box of Dailies AquaComfort Plus at 1800contacts.com and other sites. As I said earlier, the difference in price between sites can be quite shocking.
Many assume that 1800contacts.com must be the best place to purchase contact lenses online because they are so well known. In fact, their prices for every single brand can be beaten and I show you exactly where the lowest price for each brand can be found on my homepage.
ContactsDirect.com
ContactsDirect.com has a very simple policy when it comes to shipping. It’s free shipping on every order. Period.
However, before you get too excited about this website, it’s important to know that ContactsDirect.com prices are quite high.
For example, a single box of Dailies AquaComfort Plus at:
- ContactsDirect.com is $30.99
- Coastal.com is $18.00
- DiscountContactLenses.com is $19.99
For a complete list price comparisons, click here.
The good thing about ContactsDirect.com which not all sites have, is that you can use your vision insurance or your flexible spending account to buy your contact lenses online on this site. You can learn more about that here.
WalmartContacts.com
Much like its competitors, Walmartcontacts.com also has free shipping on all contact lens orders.
Below is an example of an order place from Walmartcontacts.com for 1 box of Dailies AquaComfort Plus contact lenses. As you can see, the shipping fee is waived.
Walmartcontacts.com’s prices are good and bad. For a few brands, they offer the lowest price of all sites, but for the majority of brands, their prices are quite high compared to other sites. Before buying contacts from Walmartcontacts.com, I would advise consulting Contacts Advice’s contact lens price comparison chart to see if you can find a better price.
Walgreens.com
Walgreens.com is a behemoth of a website, recently absorbing all traffic from Drugstore.com, Beauty.com, VisionDirect.com, LensMart.com and more.
On Walgreens.com, you get free standard shipping on all contact lens orders.
The downside of Walgreens.com is that their prices are high. Very high. Sometimes as high as double the lowest price found on other websites.
The reason I think their prices are so high is that Walgreens.com has a running coupon for 20% on all their contact lenses. This makes it appear as though you’re receiving a great deal, but my weekly price comparisons show that their prices are much higher than 20% of the prices found on other sites.
You can see how prices at Walgreens.com compares to all other websites on Contacts Advice’s homepage.
Cheap Contact Lenses Online Without Free Shipping
DiscountContactLenses.com
At DiscountContactLenses.com, for most people, there is going to be free shipping. They offer free shipping for orders over $99.
For most people, a 1 year supply of contact lenses is well over $100. For many people, even a 6-month supply brings them above the $100 mark. However, if your order doesn’t add up to $100, you will be charged $5.99 for shipping.
*** Note here that even with the $5.99 shipping fee on 1 box of Dailies AquaComfort Plus, you still end up paying less at DiscountContactLenses.com ($19.99) compared to 1800contacts.com ($30.99). That is why you need to look at more than just free shipping when you shop for contact lenses online. ***
As mentioned, if the cost of your order surpasses $99 at DiscountContactLenses.com, the shipping fee is waived.
Lens.com
When it comes to Lens.com, it is the website that unquestionably has the lowest prices for contact lenses overall.
HOWEVER…
Lens.com does not have free shipping, full stop. For every order, you will be charged $7.95 for shipping and a handling fee that depends on how large your order is.
The questions is, do Lens.com’s low prices make up for their shipping and handling fee?
The answer is that it depends on what brand you’re buying and how many of it you’re getting.
Lens.com could be the best website to buy contact lenses online, but you have to consider the following:
- First of all, if the price listed on Lens.com is the not the lowest among all other websites, then forget it, you’ll be able to save more money elsewhere.How do you find out if the price you’re looking at is the lowest among all contact lens websites? You simply look up your brand on Contacts Advice’s homepage. You’ll automatically be shown which website has the lowest price for your brand.
- Lens.com gives massive volume discounts. If you tend to purchase 1 year’s supply of contact lenses at a time, it’s very likely that the volume discount you get will far outweigh the shipping and handling fee.
On the other hand, if you’re only buying a single box, then you’ll have to price it out with the shipping and handling fee and compare it to the prices on other sites. Your best tool for doing is by consulting all the contact lens price comparison charts on Contacts Advice’s homepage.
ContactLensKing.com
ContactLensKing.com does not mention anything about shipping on their homepage. That’s because like Lens.com, they don’t offer free shipping on any orders.
ContactLensKing.com does have the lowest price on certain brands. If your brand is one of those, it’s worth seeing what the total would be with shipping and handling, and if it’s still lower than other websites with free shipping, then you’ve got great deal on your hands. Otherwise, better to move onto the next best site.
Again, the best way of finding which contact lens website has the lowest price, second lowest price, third, and so on, is checking out Contact’s Advice’s homepage. I post all of that information there and update it weekly so that prices are always accurate.
Reminder: ContactLensKing.com and ContactsDirect.com are two sites where you can order contact lenses online with you vision benefits such as you flexible spending account (FSA) or health savings account (HSA) funds. Click here to read more about using your vision benefits online.
ACLens.com
ACLens.com is similar to DiscountContactLenses.com in that standard shipping is free, but only for orders above $99.
The following is taken from ACLens.com:
Here’s how to save on standard shipping with AC Lens:
- Receive FREE standard shipping on orders over $99. Shipping is just $5.99 for orders less than $99 .
- Eye Care accessories like contact lens solution, eye drops, prescription swimming goggles, and other optical items receive FREE standard shipping on orders of $99 or more.
Side note: It seems that if you’re in Canada, ACLens.com offers free shipping with no minimum purchase required.
Purchase under $99 at ACLens.com:
Purchase above $99 at ACLens.com:
ACLens.com is a website that has the lowest price for many brands. Combined with free shipping if your order is over $99, this makes ACLens.com one of the best places to purchase contact lenses from. However, be sure to consult Contacts Advice’s price comparison chart to make sure that ACLens.com has the lowest price for your brand. If it doesn’t you might get an ever better deal elsewhere.
LensDirect.com
LensDirect.com practically offers free shipping on all orders, but I put it in this category because it technically doesn’t, at least that’s what their site says.
However, when I enter my mock order of 1 box of Dailies AquaComfort Plus which amounts to only $24.11, it still didn’t charge me for shipping.
As you an also see in the screenshot above, there is a small hidden processing fee of $.072. The higher your order is, the higher this processing fee will be. It amount to 3% of your total order.
So I’m not sure exactly what to make of this site. It explains that it charges shipping for orders below $49, but it did not charge for my order of $24.11. Go figure.
Summary
So there you are all the websites that offer cheap contact lenses online with free shipping, and without free shipping. Between these 10 websites, you are sure to find the absolute lowest price for you contact lenses on the internet.
Practical Guide For Selecting The Best Website
Here are some general guidelines for quickly locating the best site for your brand.
- Consult the Contact Lens Price Comparison Chart on Contacts Advice’s homepage.
- If the lowest price for your brand is at one of the sites with free shipping, that’s your best option.
- If the lowest price for your brand is at one of the sites without free shipping, then:
• Add up the total from the site with the lowest price + shipping
• Compare that with the total from the site with the second lowest price for your brand.
If you get your contact lenses from a website other than the ones mentioned above, please mention where in the comments below!
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