• Take 30 seconds to register your free account to access deals, post topics, and view exclusive content!

    Register Today

    Join the largest Oakley Forum on the web!

How Much Do You Support Oakley?

I would say 90% of my stuff is bought from Oakley authorised dealers (because they are always less than the RRP direct from Oakley), 5% direct from Oakley (which was basically just the FMJ Holbrooks and Union Jack & Old Glory Frogskins), and 2.5% eBay (for stuff no longer available direct from Oakley/Oakley dealers), and 2.5% off the forum.

With all the fakes around I'd rather not risk not buying from an Oakley dealer or Oakley.
 
I would probably also go with 50/50. I have purchased plenty from numerous Vaults. With more and more fakes popping up I have scaled back on my EBay purchases (although fakes are not just on EBay) unless they are a reputable EBay seller. Most of the frames I am after these days can only be purchased via EBay or from other forum members.
 
hmmm, its an interesting subject. i have gone sick on ebay this year. your confidence level goes up when things go right for you. but sooner or later its going to bite you in the end. you will come across bad experiences. thats happened. you learn from that. you move on. as a result, you become more careful with who you deal with, and what you deal with. its a learning curve thats invaluable that comes with obstacles along the way. as long as you are prepared to accept those obstacles.

ive recently gone back to the O store. the level of service you receive, the human touch, you feel that all of a sudden when you spend alot of time online, because you forgot what that felt like. it was comforting to know that you wernt getting ripped off. you didnt have to worry about shipping, and the biggest thing, in what condition it was going to arrive in.

before online, i used to buy everything from stores. yes, ive paid top dollar for some things. on the other hand ive taken advantage of sales and other discounts. you become a regular at a store. and that comes with benefits. they take care of you. you get what you pay for. you can inspect it, try it, or if it wasnt right, you could always return it. no probs. but the biggest thing is you are dealing with real people.

I will continue to use online because not everything is available in stores, but if i can help it, and that means if my wallet can help it, i will go there everytime. if there is a limited edition of anything, grab it. dont wait for the scalpers and wait in the hope of finding it cheaper. oakley is pretty exclusive. that rarely happens. and you may miss out. vaults are the best when it comes to apparel. unless you know what you are buying online, i stick with the stores most of the time.
 
Everything I've ever bought is from Oakley! Something about the possibility of getting burned and end up with fakes gets to me when I snoop online. Except for some Jaws and a sweet Oakley banner I picked up on eBay last year, I tend to keep it in store.
 
out of my whole collection of 50 pairs, a whopping 2 were purchased retail (Juliet and a livestrong radar). in addition, 2 goggles, and 5 sport pairs were from the vault. Know that most of my collection are old models/vintage, and i have over 20 pairs that are Xmetal, as well as 3 vintage Zeros. THe others are oldies such as the original racing jacket (2), Scar, valve, unknown, Splice, fatcat. Ive also picked up quite a few misc sport pairs (Radars, Half J, and Mframe in hard-to-find colors) off here.

I would totally support oakley if they started making glasses like they used to. I want to see proper Zeros, Crazy wires, Things milled from block aluminium, cast titanium, CF, and just in-your-face designs.

i went into the Sydney O-store lately and besides the New racing Jackets (Jawbone), it looked like the selection from a RayBan catalogue. Frogskins (and similar frames.. basically just larger, or squarer. or shield lens versions of a frogskin), and some Cwires were all that were vaguely interesting. (C wires have some nice lens selections).

Oh and they had a display of watches, but it was behind the counter. and kinda out of sight from the main floor.

Staff were really friendly though. although, a few of them were more interested in what Blacklight Frogskins i had than the Xmetal JulieX i had on my head, which i found silly.
 
I'm the same as greenjersey have bought all my stuff from Oakley or authorized dealer as too paranoid about buying fakes
 
you touch on a good point. and i would like to see what others think about this. does buying online make you less loyal to the brand than if you had bought instore. the fact that they dont make them like they used to, means they are not listening to you as a customer. the fact you are seeking out their older stuff, that is brand loyalty.
 
Not much at all. I have little interest in their over-priced pieces of plastic unless I can get it for less than dealer cost. Back when there was a lifetime warranty the price made more sense. But now they want $300 for some polarized M Frames with only a one year defect warranty. Ha, no.

you touch on a good point. and i would like to see what others think about this. does buying online make you less loyal to the brand than if you had bought instore. the fact that they dont make them like they used to, means they are not listening to you as a customer. the fact you are seeking out their older stuff, that is brand loyalty.

Oakley USA wouldn't sell me a pair of earsocks for my one year old Half X sunglasses. That is a premium line and they wouldn't supply me with a wear item - akin to buying a Corvette and being unable to find replacement tires or brakes. Ridiculous. I have no loyalty to them.
 
Oakley USA wouldn't sell me a pair of earsocks for my one year old Half X sunglasses. That is a premium line and they wouldn't supply me with a wear item - akin to buying a Corvette and being unable to find replacement tires or brakes. Ridiculous. I have no loyalty to them.

I find this to be very annoying as well. The same goes for their watches. They don't want to sell you any replacement parts, like bands, without sending the watch then paying extra for them to work on it. I really don't agree with the way they do that to their customers. Maybe if they would do the work for free an only charge for the parts, but no, they want to gouge you with labor too.

I also think they should continue to support parts for the x metal line instead of discontinuing parts as soon as the frame is discontinued. I mean really, they can't keep a butt load of tiny rubber pieces in their warehouse???

For the reasons above, I don't see much value in buying directly from Oakley. There is little reason or incentive to spend the additional money. I just do my research and buy as carefully as I can. Thank goodness for PayPal!!
 

Latest Posts

Back
Top