Quote Originally Posted by drk View Post
If I were truly independent, I would certainly be free of "approved/non-approved" frames and lenses and labs and I would probably do something on the wholesale side, in order to keep my retail low. But that's not my world. :)
Agreed.

The largest driver of frame pricing is vision "insurance" plans that require markups to cover their "insurance" benefit to the member. I have several ALIBABA frames. They are of mid-safilo quality at lime green modern pricing. They are used as packaged price deals since they are not listed in frame data. I have started carrying them about a year ago and have only had 2 returned for defect. They are by far the largest value on my board. However, because of vision "insurance," and it's popularity, it is not feasible to have an entire optical of unlisted frames.

I agree with a lot of what Chris is driving at (why are you paying premium prices for much of your product, when you can get something similar without branding/big manufacture backing at MUCH less the price), but you are ignoring the biggest optical obstacle....vision "insurance."

Yes, several plans do not require frames from frames data, but the biggest networks do.