The changing Optical Market in Australia

The industry "strangle hold" held by the Optical Industry has forced Australians, for far too long, to pay exorbitant and often ridiculous sums just to be able to see well enough to read.

Thanks solely to the Internet, Australians are finally, but slowly, coming to the realisation that prescription eyeglasses do not cost an arm and a leg.
For generations Australians have been paying exorbitant and ridiculous prices for prescription glasses because of the industry's legislative sanctioned "closed shop" but thankfully this is now changing.
With the repealing of the Optical Dispensing Laws in most states of Australia the Optical retail market has been opened up for direct competition to the Retail Chains that dominate the industry in Australia.
Obviously these laws were seen for what they were in that they fostered a closed shop mentality and produced an environment where the average Australian believed that a pair of standard, no frills prescription glasses was a very expensive item with a starting price in the many 100's of dollars.
With the introduction of web based optical stores the message is slowly filtering out about the true cost of the product.
The net savvy of course,  have been buying overseas for many years but this has never carried such things as the safe guards under the Trade Practices Act and Fair Trading regulations that Australia businesses are legally bound by. There are many sad stories to be told where satisfaction was by no means guaranteed.
As with any deregulation there will always be the cowboys and tricksters offering fake Brand Named Designer Glasses or so called Quality product at a super cheap price, long on promises and short on quality and delivery so it is important to do some homework and always buy from an Australia based site with a reputation.
It has not been an easy road to achieve an impeccable reputation such that online supplier www.AusSpecs.com.au now  enjoys for quality at a realistic price. Much hard work, subversion and threats from within the industry have been faced and overcome to bring the www.AusSpecs.comau site to the public. They  can now boast years of service to thousands of satisfied customers with genuine (as opposed to some sites fictitious) customer feedback to support the fact that the quality of our eyeglasses are second to none.
In defense of some of the operators in the optical industry it is unrealistic to castigate them all to the point of calling them rip-off merchants  as many have massive overheads that have to be met so as to be available when needed by their customers.
Still sympathy is in short supply when the vast majority of optical stores have the examination room "out the back" with the gauntlet of sales people between the client and the front door. A very effective strategy indeed.
There is still a long way to go to get the message to all Australians and obviously those that, due to socio-economic well being have no need for such a service, but there are millions that desperately do.
Spare a thought for those poor souls in  countries that maintain the archaic "Closed Shop" mentality to the determent of their citizens.