You see a box of contact lenses in a Google ad for a price that beats your eye doctor’s by a mile. You click, fill your cart and hit “Continue.”
What you might not see is the “Taxes & fees” line sitting below the bottom of your screen.
On Oct. 2, the Federal Trade Commission, joined by the attorneys general of Utah and Nevada, sued online seller Lens.com. Their complaint alleges that its hidden fees routinely double the advertised price of contact lenses, and that shoppers have lost hundreds of millions of dollars to them.
Those are allegations, and a federal court in Nevada will decide the case. But the FTC’s consumer protection chief, Christopher Mufarrige, didn’t mince words. Lens.com, he said, “advertised one price for contact lenses but charged a substantially higher price at checkout.”
About 45 million Americans wear contact lenses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If you’re one of them, you buy them over and over, which makes them a perfect target for this kind of trick.
Here are five ways to make sure you pay the real price, and as little of it as possible.
1. Judge the price on the last screen, not the ad
According to the FTC’s complaint announcement, Lens.com advertised low prices in sponsored Google search results and on its own site. Then it tucked the fee line below the visible part of the checkout screen while steering shoppers toward a big “Continue” button.
The defense is simple. Before you click anything that commits you, scroll all the way down. Compare sellers on the final total, shipping and fees included, not the eye-catching number in the ad.
And be skeptical of that “tax” label. The FTC says it misleadingly suggests state sales tax is part of the charge, when many states exempt contact lenses from sales tax or have no sales tax at all.
2. Get your prescription. It’s yours.
If you’ve always bought your lenses from your eye doctor, here’s news: You don’t have to.
Under federal rules, you’re entitled to a copy of your contact lens prescription once your fitting is complete, according to the FTC. Your eye doctor can’t charge you an extra fee for it, and can’t require you to buy your lenses there.
Your prescription generally has to last at least 12 months, unless your doctor has a medical reason to set a shorter limit. Any seller has to either get a copy from you or check it with your prescriber.
That piece of paper is your ticket to shop around. The same goes for glasses; here are 8 websites where you can find quality, affordable prescription glasses.
3. Question any ‘tax’ line
Depending on where you live, you may not owe sales tax on prescription contact lenses at all.
Washington, for example, exempts prescription lenses, including contact lenses, from sales tax as prosthetic devices. A long-standing Massachusetts tax ruling says prescription contacts aren’t subject to sales tax either.
Rules vary by state, so check your state revenue department’s website. If you’re being charged tax in a state that doesn’t tax them, or an amount that doesn’t match your state’s rate, ask why before you pay.
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4. Read the auto-refill fine print before you enroll
Auto-refill plans are convenient. They’re also how a bad price keeps hitting your card every few months without you noticing.
The complaint alleges Lens.com used the same low prices to sign people up for its AutoRefill program, without clearly disclosing the “Taxes & fees” charge before getting their billing information.
Before you sign up for any auto-ship plan, know exactly what you’ll be charged and how to cancel.
The FTC suggests putting a reminder on your calendar to cancel before a trial ends. If a company won’t let you cancel, the agency says, ask your card issuer to block the charges.
While you’re at it, look at what else is renewing on autopilot. Here are 11 subscriptions draining hundreds from your bank account every year.
5. Pay with pretax money
The IRS treats contacts you need for medical reasons as a medical expense, according to IRS Publication 502. So are the supplies you need to use them, like saline solution.
That matters because a health savings account can pay for medical care as the tax code defines it. If you have an HSA, or a flexible spending account at work, check whether you can use it for lenses and solution.
If you’re in the 22% federal tax bracket, paying with pretax dollars is like getting at least a 22% discount before you even start shopping. Add the savings from comparing honest prices, and your contact lenses could cost a lot less than you’re paying now.
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