I get some email regularly from people who are looking for deals on a particular name-brand frame. I typically tell them that this is not the point of the glassyeyes blog, but I could be more helpful. There are deals to be had on name-brand frames and one of the places that I know delivers the goods is FramesDirect.

I've had neighbors looking for non-prescription sunglasses and co-workers who just had to have that name brand embossed into the temple. FramesDirect worked for them.

The only reason I bring this up, is that they're having a 3 Day Sale using the aptly-named coupon code "3DaySale". This ends October 1.

The deal is, you get $50-off of frames WITH lens purchase over $109. That's not a tough bar to reach with them -- they're much more expensive than my favorites over to the left, BUT much less expensive than the place at the mall -- with an even larger selection.

The low-down is, you're going to spend $45 or so for basic plastic single vision lenses without UV. You're going to want UV protection for $15. Anti-reflective (AR) coating starts at $45.

If it were me, I'd get something classic, like these Shurons for $92.

Then I'd add the basic plastic lenses, skip the AR (as no one had AR back in the age of Mad Men) and add UV coating. With the $50-off you're looking at about $112 and much, much less than you'd pay elsewhere. I'm sure you can find frames for less as I didn't really want to spend too much time perusing brands I can't stand.

My guess is this will be useful to some of you.

Sales like these do one more thing for me -- they validate the fact that markups are HUGE in eyeglass frames and lenses.