Sourcing designer stock

[Russboy]

Hi everyone,

I run an online optician site here in the UK. Alot of the site over here sell designer glasses such as DKNY at ridiculous prices. Im guessing its old stock and they are buying from the States. Does any one know where we can get some of this old stock? We are really struggling to compete with these guys when we sell current styles at higher prices so would like to offer both options. Any idea on suppliers would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!!

[Framebender]

listed on the board as Iman777 sourcing stuff off the east coast. He probably won't appreciate me refering to him as old and I really know nothing about his chronalogical age. I've purchased some stuff from him a couple of times and its always been a good deal and as advertised.

Good luck to you!!

[Russboy]

Thanks Framebender. I might give him a try!

[ikon44]

Hi everyone,

I run an online optician site here in the UK. Alot of the site over here sell designer glasses such as DKNY at ridiculous prices. Im guessing its old stock and they are buying from the States. Does any one know where we can get some of this old stock? We are really struggling to compete with these guys when we sell current styles at higher prices so would like to offer both options. Any idea on suppliers would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!!

you may sell spectacles online imho it does not make you an optician.:finger:

[Russboy]

Thanks for that really useful reply! I dont know how you would decide weather I was an optician or an astronaut from the question that I posted. But thanks anyway for the abuse.

[For-Life]

Thanks for that really useful reply! I dont know how you would decide weather I was an optician or an astronaut from the question that I posted. But thanks anyway for the abuse.

Well if you sell glasses over the internet then that is clearly wrong. I do not think there is much grey area there.

[Russboy]

Big grey area!!! I guess you must also be against the selling of reading glasses in supermarkets that dont fit anyone's prescription? What can be wrong with glasses being properly dispensed to patient's prescription online? Besides to not start trading this way on the internet in future will mean missing out on a large part of the market place. But I guess its a big topic for conversation and Im sure many people have got many different views on the subject. Many opticians are doing just that.

[ikon44]

Big grey area!!! I guess you must also be against the selling of reading glasses in supermarkets that dont fit anyone's prescription? What can be wrong with glasses being properly dispensed to patient's prescription online? Besides to not start trading this way on the internet in future will mean missing out on a large part of the market place. But I guess its a big topic for conversation and Im sure many people have got many different views on the subject. Many opticians are doing just that.

if you are a qualified optician,then you know the reasons for not doing it.If you are not qualified then speak to some body that is,and they will explain why it is not a good idea.

If you think supplying spectacles is just ensuring that the rx matches the prescription as measured on a focimeter you are sadly mistaken.

[Johns]

ikon44

I think this guy is setting you up...

Do you really think someone that is in tht line of work would come to a professionals' site and ask for way to buy cheap frames so they could undercut you?

The whole thing sound like a fake to me.

[ikon44]

ikon44

I think this guy is setting you up...

Do you really think someone that is in tht line of work would come to a professionals' site and ask for way to buy cheap frames so they could undercut you?

The whole thing sound like a fake to me.

you could be correct, although this guy seems to be implying he is an optician

[Framebender]

His public profile says he's a director. Whatever that means. We haven't had alot of these online folks step to the plate. Heck, we've got frames direct here in the states. I don't think they're going to hurt any of us.

Just in case he really is a director. . .I am ready for my close up!!

:shiner:

[Russboy]

Hey guys,


Maybe some debate into the pros and cons of selling online would make for a great debate, but questioning someones qualifications seems to be a bit pointless.
Lets hear some more debate on the subject, because there is a lot of competition out there and a lot of it is online, especially over here.
Maybe some of you have got something worth saying on the subject?

[drk]

Actually, they should have been questioning your professional ethics, not your professional credentials.

[ikon44]

Hey guys,


Maybe some debate into the pros and cons of selling online would make for a great debate, but questioning someones qualifications seems to be a bit pointless.

i dont agree, i am happy to debate with you about online supply ( you cant call it dispensing ), however you said in your first post you were an online optician, so are you or are you not an optician . As you are from the UK you should know that the term optician is a protected title under GOC rules.

[Russboy]

now that would be more relevant!! But I still have not heard any useful debate!


Is this just a forum for knocking the s*** out of people?

[drk]

Seems so. You can imagine that this place has become a bastion of optical professionalism. Also, we are very bricks-and-mortar, here.

[For-Life]

Hey guys,


Maybe some debate into the pros and cons of selling online would make for a great debate, but questioning someones qualifications seems to be a bit pointless.
Lets hear some more debate on the subject, because there is a lot of competition out there and a lot of it is online, especially over here.
Maybe some of you have got something worth saying on the subject?

1. You do not take your own measurements
2. You do not do the fitting yourself
3. You do not verify the measurements
4. You do not verify visual performance
5. You do not advise proper treatments

That itself if enough

[Framebender]

but you didn't answer Ikon's question. Are you an Optician or a poser?? Me, personally, I don't care where you sell glasses. People knock me for being a discounter and that's all good. I can't see how you can call online selling dispensing, but I'd be interested in hearing your take on it. I'd also be interested to hear whether you're really an Optician or just a retailer.

I give you credit for stepping to the plate, but you've got to produce something other than bs if you want to keep it. Maybe do a little research regarding online sales on this board. You won't find many friendly faces, but I'm willing to with hold judgement until I hear your side of it.

[For-Life]

Oh Russboy, so you know I have the resources and am affluent enough to sell online. I have even had several cases where I was asked to do so. I turned it down. Yes, I turned down the money. Why, because it was unethical and wrong.

Business has changed. Ethics are starting to matter and I believe that doing the right thing in life will guarantee rewards.

[ikon44]

well, a distinct lack of response from our mystery is he or is,nt he an optician russboy.
These online vompanies get me angry , pretending to give people massive savings, telling them bricks and mortar opticians are ripping them off, telling people they have the same designer ranges ( but not telling them it is 5 year old stock with no spare parts available).
:angry: :angry: :angry: :angry:

[High_Abbe]

I've called these online "opticians" just to mess with them. I asked one of them how they figure out the seg height, he said "we have a state of the art computer program that figures out the measurement for us....it's actually more accurate than an optician physically taking the measurement".....I dropped the phone I was laghing so hard.:hammer:

[ikon44]

I've called these online "opticians" just to mess with them. I asked one of them how they figure out the seg height, he said "we have a state of the art computer program that figures out the measurement for us....it's actually more accurate than an optician physically taking the measurement".....I dropped the phone I was laghing so hard.:hammer:

the thing is they are lying to the public, and they are not particularly cheap, i went onsite to a uk one, there i chose a frame and 1.6 mar coated lenses
the cost was £169.00... in my own practice i could put together a package for less than that, with the added bonus that i know they will fit

[Framebender]

Three people have come in our store looking for measurements. I asked them what they were going to do with them. "The online people said that you were going to be mean to me and that they were going to get me this really great deal." I asked them if we could go to this website together so I could see how great a deal they were getting. Hell, as a discounter you always want to know. Two of them actually let me. The other one paid for his PD and left. One was a SV -6.00 OU. For stock 1.60 in a cheap frame they wanted $185.00, no AR. We got him out the door 1.60 with AR for $175.00. The other one was this really nice lady, first bifocal, first progressive, about -1.00 OU with a +1.00 add. CR-39 with AR in a Natural with frame they wanted $325.00. I got her out the door for $250.00 and she's sent me 3 people.

At least they could just be honest. I guess it wouldn't be a very good sales pitch to tell the patient. . .it's a crapshoot if you're going to be able to see or not. .the AR has an out of the box warranty and oh yeah, your frame is discontinued so be careful with that. And if you have any problems go find a real Optician, but make sure they don't charge you.

:finger:

[Chris Ryser]

For starters in this discussion I would like to know how many of you on the optiboard do purchase and sell discontinued frames ?

If the general answer would be = none, then what is the importer and wholesaler going to do with those frames?

Before throwing them in the garbage..........they did cost some money to start with................the wholesaler tries to find a market for these older surplus frames. In the old days every wholesaler new some discount opticians that would buy discontinued frame at a fraction of the original price and then resell them at heavy discounts to the public.

Maybe this has all changed and the online outfits are now the so called outlets for discontinued frames and the wholesalers are all glad that they can get rid of the old stock somewhere.

[drk]

Maybe, Chris. But I think as a consumer the LAST place I'd go to buy a disco frame would be online. At least if you buy it from a real optical, they would be able to do SOMETHING for you if the disco frame broke too early. You'd get a real person. Imagine buying a disco frame and lens online and then having something break in three months. I'd be a nightmare getting that resolved, shipping the glasses back, etc. etc.

Online retailers know that their customers want to "break the rules" or they wouldn't be shopping online in the first place. So, in the case of 1-800, they get to order without a prescription. With these glasses places, you get "50% off" or whatever.

All they have to do is continue the fantasy that makes the online customers feel like they're getting away with something. The anonymity of the internet seems to bring out the "little devil" in a lot of us. Odd phenomenon.

I exhort the professional opticians of this site to not only NOT GIVE AWAY professional services, such as p.d. measurement, I exhort you to stop aiding this horrible development by PROVIDING ANY SERVICE WHATSOEVER to these online customers. Take a stand! No p.d's for any price. We're just slashing our throats for $5.00.

If someone comes in for a p.d., do what Framebender did: steal the customer that is in your optical right back.