Snap wants to prove to investors in its upcoming IPO that Spectacles can earn money for its business, not just be a brand stunt. So today, Snap begins selling its video-recording sunglasses Spectacles openly online for $129.99 in the U.S. at Spectacles.com. Previously it only dispensed them from Snapbot vending machines in surprise locations and its NYC pop-up store for the last three months. 
 
 Snap has now closed that pop-up, and tells me “Snapbots will continue to land in surprising locations around the U.S. following a brief “nap” :) “. Buyers should expect to wait two to four weeks for their Spectacles to ship, and households are limited to 6 pairs. People can also now buy $49.99 charging cases and $9.99 charging cords from Snap, which will no longer be sold on Amazon. 
 
 As for why Snap is expanding Spectacles beyond its buzzy limited release strategy, a spokesperson explains: 
 
 “As Evan shared in his interview with the WSJ, when we launched, the idea was : ‘We’re going to take a slow approach to rolling them out,’ says Spiegel. ‘It’s about us figuring out if it fits into people’s lives and seeing how they like it.’ Response has been positive since November’s launch so we’re now happy to be able to make Spectacles more readily available — especially for those in the US who have not been able to make it to a Snapbot.” 
 
 Despite that positive response, Snap admitted in its IPO filing that “The launch of Spectacles . . . has not generated significant revenue for us,” and notes “We expect to experience production and operating costs related to Spectacles that will exceed the related revenue in the near future.” 
 
 There was that one charging case that melted… but in general, users have been quite pleased with the glasses that can record 10 to 30-seconds of video at a time. The circular, view-with-your-phone-in-any-orientation video format Snap pioneered also gives its Snapchat app something that its popular clone Instagram Stories can’t copy. 
 
 Still, Spectacles proved that face-worn computers could be cool if launched by the right brand and kept out of the hands of the geeks at first. Instead of giving developers first access, which created a socially awkward stigma around Google Glass, Snap let its biggest fans chase its Snapbots around the country. 
 
 Snap doesn’t necessarily need to make money directly from Spectacles if it can use them to get more people creating and watching Snaps. But showing it can earn real revenue from hardware could bolster confidence in its public offering. Now the question is what camera this “Camera Company” will release next. ||||| No more waiting in lines: Snap is making Spectacles available to buy online in the U.S. 
 
 
 
 The $130 glasses, which allow wearers to take circular videos and post them to their Snapchat accounts, are now available on Spectacles.com. Before, the glasses were sold through vending machines which popped up in major metro areas around the country, as well as a store in Manhattan. 
 
 Because of the short supply, those lucky enough to snag a pair were able to resell the wearable devices for up to $5,000. CNBC reporters had to wait in line for a total of 18 hours to get ahold of the funky sunglasses. ||||| Back in November, Snap Inc. (formerly Snapchat) announced it would be selling camera-enabled sunglasses called Spectacles. The only catch: If you wanted a pair, you had to track down a roving vending machine that popped up in random places around the United States for short periods of time. New York City got a temporary Snap store (it is closed as of today), but long lines and high demand meant you might not be able to get your hands on a pair, even if you waited for hours. (Speaking from experience here.) Starting today, getting your hands on a pair of Spectacles is going to get a whole lot easier; Snap is now selling the glasses via its website. 
 
 Spectacles come in three colors — teal, coral, and the ever-stylish black — and retail for $130. The company is currently only shipping in the United States, so if you’re a Snapchatter abroad, you are out of luck. (Though you could always try eBay. Following the vending machine release last fall, plenty of pairs popped up for resale online if you were willing to pay a significant markup. This will likely happen again now that Specs are more widely available.) The purchase limit is six pairs and glasses should ship in two to four weeks. Pop-up vending machines around the country will also remain a part of Snap’s distribution strategy, though they’ll be taking a short break, a Snap spokesperson confirmed. 
 
 This announcement comes just weeks after Snap’s SEC filing was released in preparation for its initial public offering. According to the filing document, Snap lost $514.6 million last year. Which means Spiegel & Co. only have to sell approximately 4 million pairs of Spectacles to break even this year. ||||| Snap, the company behind Snapchat, is expected to price its initial public offering today and start trading on the New York Stock Exchange tomorrow. 
 
 Ahead of Snap’s IPO, Recode Senior Editor Kurt Wagner answered some of what are no doubt the questions you’re dying to ask. 
 
 What does an IPO actually mean? 
 
 IPO stands for Initial Public Offering, and it's the first time that a private company starts selling its stock on the public stock market. That means you (yes, you!) are now able to buy a piece of Snap. 
 
 Does this mean we’re all getting rich? 
 
 Sorry, you're probably not gonna get rich, but you never know. People invested in Facebook at $20-$30 a share. It's now worth over $100, so you can make some money. 
 
 Someone is getting rich off this IPO. Who? 
 
 Snapchat's co-founders are going to get very rich. Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy are both going to be worth billions of dollars by the time this whole thing is done. 
 
 Why does Snap want to go public? 
 
 Companies go public for a number of reasons: First, to pay back their investors that have given them money along the way to keep the business going. It's a good way for founders and executives to actually cash out some of the stock that they've earned during their time working there. It's also a way for the company to raise money from people like you who may invest. They can use that money to do things like acquisitions, international expansion and new product growth, things that Snap would love to do. 
 
 Does Snap even make money? 
 
 Believe it or not, Snapchat is a real business. The company brought in over $400 million in revenue last year, the vast majority of which came from advertising. So, even though the app is free, the company is still making money by putting ads alongside all the content that you're creating inside the app. 
 
 Doesn’t Snap make money in other ways? 
 
 Snap also makes hardware, called Spectacles. These are video-recording sunglasses that, until recently, you had to buy out of a vending machine. Snap says those sunglasses don't create meaningful revenue for the company. So while they may be cool, they're not actually benefitting the company's bottom line. 
 
 What could possibly go wrong with Snap going public? 
 
 When you're a publicly traded company, you have to share a lot of information and you have to do it regularly. When you're private, you can keep things like revenue or user growth to yourself, but now, as a publicly traded entity, Snap's going to have to report that number publicly to investors. That means if things aren't going well, all of us are going to know about it.
– Snapchat found itself with a marketing sensation on its hands late last year when it began selling funky-looking sunglasses called Spectacles. The trick is they allow users to record quick videos and photos and send them directly to their Snapchat accounts, but the catch was they were available only through vending machines that would turn up in random locales or through a now-shuttered pop-up store in Manhattan, notes New York. Now, however, parent company Snap is selling them online at Spectacles.com for $129. Just how crazy did demand get? CNBC notes that the glasses were selling for up to $5,000 on secondary markets, adding that its own reporters stood in line for 18 hours to get them. (There's a limit of six per household for the new online purchases.) Snap has said the glasses haven't been big money-makers, but TechCrunch thinks the new move is designed to show prospective IPO investors that they could be. The vending machines will go on hiatus for awhile, but they're expected to resurface eventually.