Zip Eyewear

[kcount]

@kcount:
Albert, why have you been posing as Kevin? Are you ashamed of your name, and want to have a cool one like Kevin?

Albert is way cooler than kcount.
It was at this faux pas that kcount checked out.

[RKJ]

He's not kidding. I just received this PM from him:


Brother Johns,

If I am ever to do something as idiotic as to get involved with an online retailer, reseller, reteller, regurgitater, etc...please pull the plug on my ale cooler, which will begin my slow and painful demise."





Perhaps we should hook him up to life support now. Did you see that VSP is contracting with doctors to sell eyewear online, private pay now but with the intent of letting patients use their VSP benefits in the future.

I sure hope Brother Fezz works in a NO VSP ALLOWED establishment.

[Johns]

Perhaps we should hook him up to life support now. Did you see that VSP is contracting with doctors to sell eyewear online, private pay now but with the intent of letting patients use their VSP benefits in the future.

I sure hope Brother Fezz works in a NO VSP ALLOWED establishment.

If you look through the archives, you'll see that I called this back in 2009.

You have to understand that anything with the word "internet" or "online" is going to be met with a ton of skepticism until it can be proven that it is not just another person weasling their way into our wallets.

Also, as the posts show,you will notice that ODs are much more likely to jump on this bandwagon than opticians. Thanks to VSP, ODs have been conditioned to not keep their fees, but rather turn a large percentage of them over to a third, and in some cases a fourth party, as they must think they are not capable of marketing their services and or products effectively on their own. (Many are not)

Opticians, on the other hand, receive no revenue from exams, and must rely on the income from products only. Therefore, they are much more reluctant to give up a portion of the proceeds. Many of them are following the trail of the ODs though, and are getting used to not keeping what they earn.

Keep talking though....we'll listen all day to what you have to say, and if it is indeed something that will draw customers/patients to ECPs, I'll be at the front of the parade, waving your flag.

Speaking of Parades, I noticed a lot of Parade product on the website. Is this indicative of the type of products the site will be carrying?

-Johns

[MichaelNason]

Michael, have you considered asking the patient to data enter the name of their pick up location of choice? This would give you the opportunity to recruit member doctors.

Also, what do you think of member doctors charging a "limited dispensing fee" that includes dotting and aligning the lenses, reviewing that lens order information was data entered properly, professional inspection and verification to Ansi Standards, and 1 year of tune ups and adjustments - with no responsiblity for breakage or warranty.

What do you think of member doctors charging a "limited fitting fee" that includes advice regarding top tier lenses, providing pre-adjust and position of wear measures, essentially helping with the accurate order best for the patient...some sort of a shared responsibility pre-order service?

Hi Renee,

Zip Eyewear is in a tough position. Recruiting member doctors is not so easy when it comes to anything online. Online sales are cutting eye care professionals out of the picture. We are trying to be a solution to this problem, and to give control of online sales to our members.

Zip Eyewear only sells vouchers, our Providers see the patient and fullfil the eyewear. I encourage Providers to develop their own store policies regarding online orders. I see nothing wrong with a reasonable dispensing and/or fitting fee.

Michael, how do I access your provider information pages instead of the provider registration form?

I'm still struggling with the business model. You are saying the patient shops online and makes a frame purchase and instead of obtaining a frame, they receive a voucher to an office that carries that frame line? The office is notified regarding the patient's frame of choice and a fitting appointment is scheduled? The office then orders lenses from the office lab of choice? Is that right?

Yes, exactly.

You can find more information on the Provider program here: http://www.zipeyewear.com/LearnMore.aspx

Let me know if you have any questions.


-Michael

[MichaelNason]

That's an interesting analysis of the 'Internet' situation, Johns. What bothers me is the gravity of direct-to-consumer eyewear websites. How does anyone expect people to take their own measurements, order the right lenses, and then fit their own eyewear??? What is the purpose of the eye care profession if that's what the world is really coming to? And why are ECPs getting behind this model?

It is a very real problem, and Zip Eyewear offers an alternative: we handle online commerce in a way that brings new Patients to our members' stores. I think that's a good start. Hopefully an ECP parade is in our future.

Also, we do our best to list any frame lines our Providers ask for.

-Michael

[RKJ]

I want to send you a private message, but I'm new at this and don't see that option with reply or submit reply. Please reply privately, if you know how, or contact me through Practice Management Depot.

One day I'll make rank on this site and learn how to do these things.

R

[Fezz]

I want to send you a private message, but I'm new at this and don't see that option with reply or submit reply. Please reply privately, if you know how, or contact me through Practice Management Depot.

One day I'll make rank on this site and learn how to do these things.

R

I hope this helps=Taken fom the FAQs section of Optiboard

If the administrator has enabled the Private Messaging system, registered members may send each other private messages.

How do I send Private Messages?

Private messages work a little like email, but are limited to registered members of this forum. You may be able to include BB code, smilies and images in private messages that you send.

You may send a private message to a member of this forum by clicking the 'Send A Private Message' link in the private messaging section of your user control panel (more info), or by clicking the 'Send a Private Message' link in the drop down menu that appears in a member's posts when you click on their username.

When you send a message, you have the option to save a copy of it in your 'Sent Items' folder.

How do I work with Private Message Folders?

By default, you will have two folders in your private message area. These are the 'Inbox' and the 'Sent' Items folders.

The 'Inbox' folder contains any new messages you receive. It allows you to view all the messages you have received, along with the name of the person who sent it, and the date and time it was sent.

The 'Sent Items' folder contains a copy of any messages that you have sent, where you have specified that you wish to keep a copy for future reference.

You can create additional folders for your messages by clicking the 'Edit Folders' link.

Each folder has a set of message controls which allow you to select messages, then either move them to one of your custom folders, or delete them. Once you have selected your messages, you can choose the following options in the 'Selected Messages' box at the bottom of the list:

Move to Folder
Delete
Mark as Read
Mark as Unread
Download as XML
Download as CSV
Download as TEXT
You will need to periodically delete old messages, as the administrator has probably set a limit to the number of private messages you can have in your folders. If you exceed this number, you will not be able to send or receive new messages until you delete some old ones.

If you would like to keep a record of your messages before you delete them, you can use any of the 'Download as..' options listed above to take a copy and store them on your own computer.

Whenever you read a message, you will have the option to reply or forward it to another member of the forum. You may also have the ability to forward that message to multiple members of your contact list.

How do I track messages?

When you send a new private message, you may have the option to request a read-receipt. This lets you check whether or not a message has been read by its recipient. To do this, go to the 'Message Tracking' page.

This page is divided into two sections: unread and read messages.

The unread messages section shows all messages that you have sent with a read-receipt request, that have not yet been read by their recipient.

The read messages section shows all messages you have sent with a receipt request that have been read and acknowledged by their recipient. The time that the message was read is also shown.

You may choose to end the tracking on any message you choose by selecting it and clicking the 'End Tracking' button.

When you receive a message with a read-receipt request, you may have the option to read the message while denying the read-receipt request. To do this, simply click the 'Deny Receipt' link rather than the title of the message, if it appears.

[RKJ]

I hope this helps=Taken fom the FAQs section of Optiboard

If the administrator has enabled the Private Messaging system, registered members may send each other private messages.

Thanks Fezz. I think that's the problem. I probably don't have Private Messaging enabled. I'm not seeing it on my dashboard.

R

[Fezz]

Click the settings tab at the top of the page above the Vision-Ease section.

Scroll down the left side of your settings and you should see the email/private message option area.

[Java99]

Anyone know what happened to this site? Looks to be down.

[MichaelNason]

Hi Java,

Thanks for asking. We are offline working on a new and improved online solution. Expect big news from Zip Eyewear in the upcoming months!

-Michael Nason