The Federal Trade Commission, joined by the states of Nevada and Utah, sued contact lens retailer Lens.com Inc. on October 2, alleging the company advertises low prices for contact lenses in Google search ads and on its own website, then charges consumers a hidden, mandatory fee that the complaint says routinely doubles the price. The lawsuit is a civil complaint; nothing in it has been proven, and the FTC's own release notes "the case will be decided by the court."
What the complaint says the advertised price leaves out
According to the complaint, Lens.com advertises a price per box of lenses in Google search ads and on its own site, without the separate standard shipping charge shown at that stage. At checkout, the complaint alleges, Lens.com adds a mandatory line item labeled "Taxes & fees," placed on an order-summary screen below the part visible before a prominent red "Continue" button; consumers who click "Continue" without scrolling further never see it, the complaint says. The label is misleading, the complaint alleges, because the charge "does not include state sales taxes" — not "even in part," it says — while many states exempt contact lenses from sales tax and some, including Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon, levy none at all. Lens.com's own on-site explanation, quoted in the complaint, said "Taxes are tax recovery charges for tax obligations where applicable and the fees are compensation for servicing your order." Customer service representatives, the complaint says, told buyers who asked that the charge was "not a sales tax nor state tax."
The numbers the complaint cites
The complaint's worked example is dated February 24, 2026. Lens.com advertised Proclear 1 Day lenses at $18.29 a box — a price its own cart labels "after rebate" — or $146.32 for the eight-box, one-year supply. The checkout order summary instead showed a subtotal of $366.32, a "Taxes & fees" line of $273.44 and $9.95 standard shipping, for a total of $649.71. That, the complaint says, is "more than four times the advertised total of $146.32 ... plus $9.95 shipping." The same screen showed a "Proclear 1 Day Mail-in Rebate" of $220 and a "Total After Rebate" of $429.71 — still above the advertised price, and only through what the complaint calls a "purported mail-in rebate." The complaint says $649.71 is the amount charged at checkout. It also quotes buyers describing bills roughly double what was advertised.
AutoRefill and the laws cited
The complaint alleges Lens.com uses the same advertised prices to enroll consumers in "AutoRefill," a subscription that automatically ships and charges for more lenses, without clearly disclosing the "Taxes & fees" charge, the renewal date, the total cost, or how to cancel, before taking billing information. The complaint alleges violations of the FTC Act's ban on deceptive practices, the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act's rules for online subscriptions, a Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act provision against obtaining a customer's financial account information through false statements, Nevada's Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and two Utah laws, the Consumer Sales Practices Act and the Automatic Renewal Contracts Act. The complaint says the practices continued for more than four years and, it alleges, did not stop after Lens.com received an FTC Civil Investigative Demand in August 2025. Named defendants are Lens.com, its business-services affiliate Speed Commerce LLC, and Cary Samourkachian, named as sole owner of both.
What is sought, and what is not in the record
The FTC, Nevada's Bureau of Consumer Protection and the Utah Division of Consumer Protection — the named state plaintiffs — ask the court for a permanent injunction and monetary relief; Nevada separately seeks civil penalties, and Utah seeks fines, civil penalties and attorneys' fees, plus an order voiding AutoRefill's automatic-renewal terms. The case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada, case number 2:26-cv-03232, after a 2-0 Commission vote to authorize it. Lens.com's response, if any, is not in the documents this desk read.
Source links
- FTC press release, "FTC, States Sue Lens.com for Misrepresenting the Price of Contact Lenses in Search Ads and on Its Website," October 2, 2026
- Complaint for Permanent Injunction, Monetary Judgments, Civil Penalty Judgments, and Other Relief, FTC et al. v. Lens.com, Inc. et al., Case No. 2:26-cv-03232 (D. Nev., filed October 2, 2026) (PDF)