Determining Fair Market Value of Donated Eyeglasses

SWAG: Since it's illegal to sell used eye glasses/lenses I would expect the FMV is zero,

I can tell you haven't bought frames for a while, if ever. But I agree with the SWAG for their value.

Phil Marti VITA/TCE Volunteer Clarksburg, MD

There are sites that sell used eyeglasses, but they sell the frames. Any fair market value would be limited to the frames, which likely would be negligible.

What is the law that makes such sale illegal? State? Federal? Is it the practice of optometry that is illegal rather than the selling of eyeglasses? Certainly there is some non medical use for the hardware.

Actually I've been buying for over 60 years.

Likely a matter of professional bias , an excess of concern for mechanical stress and the likelihood of failure I don't reuse my own frames much less consider buying used frames.

Even with that, and assuming they are not made primarily of gold (gold plate content is typically very low) I doubt there is much value there either.

I'd think anyone looking for a charitable deduction on used eyeglasses may well have taken a medical expense deduction at the time of purchase. I don't know if that would limit the charitable deduction, but it seems like it should. To me, dropping them in the Lions Club box where someone in need could get some use would be sufficient. That said, eBay currently lists over 9,000 used eyeglass items for sale. Monitoring and documenting some of those listings might help establish the willing buyer/willing seller standard.

Frames are very expensive. I've seen frames alone for $800. $300 to $500 is quite common. So there must be a good salvage values.

Most people don't get to use the medical expense deduction because of the 7.5% threshold. However, I know that many people pay for eyeglasses with VSP funds and then FSA (or maybe HSA). If you did manage to take a medical expense deduction for eyeglasses (after considering AMT where there is a 10% threshold) or used FSA/HSA then you have to recapture the deduction (on line 21 Other Income), then take a deduction on Schedule A (assuming it is indeed legal to sell used eyeglasses).

I wouldn't count on it. After people have been wearing a pair of glasses for a few years, the frames wear out. Screws and hinges wear, solder and glue joints get fatigued and eventually give way. Frame makers rarely sell the same frame for more than a few years, so spare parts aren't available.

A few years back I got very expensive new prescription lenses and thought I'd save money by putting them in my existing frames. What a mistake! A couple of years later the frames broke, and even though the lenses were still fine, I had to get a new set of glasses because there weren't any replacement frames with the same lens shape.

So overall, I concur with the opinion that used frames have little if any value.

By the way, when I look on ebay, I see very few pairs of used glasses, and the few I see are all under $10.

FYI - Donated prescription glasses at Pearle Vision go to poor countries where the glasses can be recut to work for individuals who could not otherwise afford prescription glasses. See OneSight.org for information.