"The buying experience was good. I received an e-mail to call their customer service department the next day for order confirmation. I purchased an extended warranty at a reasonable price, and the order was completed. The person I spoke with on the telephone was very pleasant to speak with. I received my Pioneer Elite received 6 days later via UPS. The overall experience was very good with no problems."

"I purchased a Canon HF-S10 below $1000 when the going rate was $1299 and lowest prices were hovering at $1160.

Initially I was skeptical due to all the bait-and-switch operations out of the Brooklyn-New Jersey area, and after reading many "Thoughts of Dave" posts, there was no way I'd go near CameraKings or any of their affiliates.

However, since I seemed to be violating my own "don't believe everything you read" philosophy, I took a chance and emailed several of these extremely bad-mouthed companies with a list of conditions under which I'd purchase a camcorder from them.

Eve from Camerakings was the only merchant representative who replied. She assured me there would be no pressure-sales phone calls, no "mix-ups," no "out of stock" excuses, and essentially, no bullsh*t.

I placed my order thru PayPay, and my card was charged within 24 hours. Unfortunately I never received any confirmation emails--but this was because I had a different email address on file with PayPal than the one I'd given Camerakings. My mistake, not theirs. In fact, Eric had called and left a message for me about the two addresses, but I found out several days later that my wife had accidentally deleted the message and had forgotten to tell me.

When I emailed Eve, she responded immediately and let me know that my order had shipped ASAP, and she provided a UPS tracking number. My camcorder arrived on schedule a few days later in new condition with a valid U.S. warranty and all advertised retail boxed accessories.

Eve acknowledged that affiliates of Camerakings had earned them a black eye, and she assured me that the company is doing its best to turn things around. She walked her talk by responding promptly to all my emails -- the first while she was on vacation -- and took the time to explain how hard the company was working to resolve past problems and reverse their former course of business.

Based upon my recent experience with Camerakings, I'd have to agree with Eve.

Next time I'm in the market for consumer electronics, Cameraking will be one of the first places I shop.

Thanks, Eve.

John
"

"I could not be more pleased. I received my Olympus E-620 camera within 48 hours of my order at the best price available."

"I purchased the Panasonic HDC-TM300 on line from Camera Kings on October 7th for $1,068 and was told it would most likely ship the next day or the day after that. They tried to sell me a battery pack Panasonic states will not work properly. I declined. No word of a shipment by 10/9 so I called. Not until the 12th could I reach them. They said out of stock, although the web site still had it listed as "available." On the 13th they cancelled my order saying they would no longer be carrying that camera and refunded my money. Two days later is is still listed as available for $1,294. Don't mess with these dirtbags."

"Called CK and ordered Panasonic ZS3. Camera King rep asked if I wanted extended warranty & SDHC memory card and explained benefit. I declined...with no pressure; however, CK rep sounded disappointed. I then asked about the "expedited delivery" and was told that it was not expedited delivery/shipping, but rather expedited "processing" to get the order out...go figure that one (was it because I didn't order the extras?). So, I'm still stuck with delivery anticipated at 7 days. CK rep then told me price and that I was getting the "free" accessory items. I also called back later to inquire what camera color was ordered as I wanted black and couldn't remember telling the first rep. Camera on order was silver, but no problem changing the color to black with 2nd rep. So far my experience has been good (aside from the delivery point). Will update when I get the product.

Product arrived as scheduled (total 9 days from order date). Camera was new and not opened. Free accessories included as promised. Aside from waiting for the camera, Camera King fulfilled the order as promised. "

"After a bad experience with SkyPoint I went to Camera Kings and ordered a Canon EOS digital camera body to update my very old and wonderful Rebel. The following day they called to confirm the order and suggested that I should get a battery with extended life. The price was ok so we closed the order. The camera body was received when they promised, everything was great except the battery. Not a Canon as promised but a CTA DB-LPE5 7.2V 1100mAh. The camera came with a Canon LP-E5 7.4V Min. 1000mAh. I know I have only worked with batteries for 60 years but I don't see the difference. At 79 years I have become very used to the new way of doing business. Just expect to be lied to when the truth would have made me a repeat customer.
Monday Sept 21. Isn't it interesting that a customer service gets very concerned when their company gets caught in a fib. I can't believe one sales person would just pull a bait and switch without the company creating the condition for this to happen. Camera Kings has offered to correct the ERROR by exchanging the battery but I feel this is the easy way out. THEY HAVE TO CHANGE INTERNALLY. "

"This is the worst online experience I have ever had. A little background. I am a professional cameraman. I have been shooting professionally since 1971. You do the math. I buy about 20 thousand dollars worth of equipment every year. I always buy from the same online retailer. Here's where I made mistake number one. I deviated. I decided that I wanted a particular item, the Lumix GH1, too much. It was out of stock at my regular retailer (B&H) so I called up Camera Kings. I had never done business with them. They had it and I ordered it. I had come to believe, in my own mind, that I had done due deligence on them. I searched them and they were highly rated on resellers.com. Mistake number two. There were only ten reviews at the time.... all of them positive. After completing my order with a very pleasant person I waited for my confirmation email. Nothing came. I called them, They told me the email would arrive the next morning. Nothing came. I called them again two days later. They said it would be there soon. Nothing came. On Tuesday the package arrived. I ordered six items. All of them were incorrect. The two extra high capacity batteries did not work in the camera, the two extra high capacity SDHC cards did not work in the camera... and the lens filter was the wrong size. The most egregious was the camera. The website advertises a NTSC Lumix and they ship a PAL camera. I called them on it. They argued that it was an NTSC even though it shoots 25p. They suggested I use the video out. I explained that was not the same thing. Then they offered me $100. I refused. In the end.... I got my money back minus shipping and their insurance. Trying to buy a camera from Camera Kings cost me $118 in out of pocket expenses. You've been warned.

UPDATE 10/10/09
Customer service contacted me because they were concerned about the review I gave them. They offered to reimburse me for their insurance coverage. I accepted. For my inconvenience they sent an 8gb SDHC card. I complained about their deceptive website discription. They blamed it on Panasonic. That was two weeks ago and the site has not been corrected. They are still advertising their IMPORT model as the same as a domestic model when in fact the IMPORT is a PAL camera (1080/25p) and the Domestic is NTSC (1080/24p). I have since purchase the GH-1 at another retailer and paid $350 dollars less. I am absolutely bewildered by Camera Kings business practices. Here is their website discription of the GH-1 they are NOT selling. "The Panasonic DMC-GH1 Digital Camera not only records high quality still images at up to 12 Megapixel resolution, but can also record high definition 1080/24p or smooth 720/60p HD (High Definition) movies in AVCHD format..."
"

"BEWARE!!!I ordered a Sony A700 camera, although the camera was an excellent price, the balance of the transaction was extremely poor. The camera was, and is, selling on their site for $895 with the basic lens included. Almost all other sites sell the A700 and lens for $1099.99, so it was a good price . The site advertised "free gifts" for phone orders and other "free" incentives includeing "free" expidited shipping. I agreed, after being told how much I needed it, to buy an "Extra Long Life" battery and an AC/DC charger. The battery is not a long life battery. I also agreed to buy a "Deluxe" camera bag to keep my purchase safe (an upgrade from the standard bag that was "free"). The bag turned out to be a $13.00 bag that doesn't close completely so little protection from dirt and dust. My invoice shows I paid $1099.99 for the camera, the same price as SONY, and all other items were free. That is not true. All the other items together were worth almost nothing as they are give away leader items from "Digital Concepts". When I expressed my concerns a second time, I was told I would be sent a "professional tripod" since the " 6"tripod" that was sent in my order would barely hold a point and shoot camera and no way would I trust is to hold a camera and lens. My mother could not stop laughing about the "tripod". It looked like three little flexable legs attached to a bolt. The hole thing would fit in a pocket holder for a cigar. I recieved the 72" Digital Concepts tripod. The reviews for the "pro Tripod" are accurate - very unstable, plastic fasteners, poor quality, not worth the ptice, cheap cheap, etc. Sells for $17 and up to about $34. All this to say the camera is a great camera but the deal was a sham. The price I was to pay for the camera was $895 not the SONY list price of $1099.99. The "free" gifts were not free but added to the selling price of the camera and then some. Expidited shipping was normal UPS ground 10 days. I doubt that I would buy anything from a company that so clearly tries to dress up their "deals" with free add-ons to somehow justify jacking the selling price by over $200.00 (over 20%). I could of bought the same camera here in Fresno, at the same price, from the most expensive camera store in town. The $1099.99 is the "SONY" price. If you choose to buy from Camera Kings, buy only the item you want, at the price listed, do not allow them to tack on a bunch of NON- "FREE" extras. You will be wasting your money and they will not make it right. When they say "nothing is free" in this world, must have been talking about Camera King and their "deals". "

"They have not shipped my order, It has been two weeks.. When you call all u get is the run around from fast talking sales reps.. I have cancelled my order as I do not need that much hassle.........

*************************************************
UPDATE
A few days After Cancelling my Order and Writing this review.. A gentleman from camera kings contacted me.. A manager who said he was concerned about what happened in my case.. We talked about the experience I had with feeling like after two weeks of waiting.. There should be no issues with someone being able to give me exact information about what is going on with my order and why it had not shipped. He did tell me that what happened was after they had the release for the product from the manufacturer, there was a delay in the manufacturer getting the product to them. And that they were displeased with the manufacturer by it all. and that he was displeased that I had not gotten the type of customer service and clear information that I should have.. he was very nice and i believe he was very genuine. he told me that he would send me a free hdmi cable from all the trouble when we were concluding our conversation.. I told him that really wasnt necessary, that was up to him, but that i did appreciate him calling to investigate what had happened. And he did ship the cable anyway.. i recieved a notice he sent it in my email.

Im very pleased now about how he handeled it. And i think now I would give them a second chance.
"

"Right under the "add to cart" button, for the lens I purchased, it says "All products are brand new and carry a USA warranty unless otherwise stated. Nothing was stated otherwise for my Tokina 11-16mm lens. The lens I received is POSITIVELY gray market, with all enclosed papers in Japanese, including warranty card. I emailed them about it; 4 days later I have no response.
UPDATE: Brian, customer service manager, called me to apologize for the problem, offering a 3rd party warranty to make up for the lack of USA warranty. I agreed this was a fair resolution. I'm happy that Camera Kings was interested in making me, the customer, happy but they really need to change the listing info for this lens which still makes a purchaser think they're buying a USA warranty lens, which it is not.
This was my 1st order with Camera Kings. Since they "did the right thing" for me I'll consider them for future purchases. Next time I'll ask, as we all should, whether the item is really USA, or gray market."

"Camera King is about $50 cheaper than others. When I posted the deal on some other shopping website, the webmaster pull my post offline and other users left feedback to me saying that I should avoid Camera King at all. (Search for this headline from Cnet.com: "Bait and switch: Online electronics stores caught in fraud." ) Too bad I already placed the online order. I was waiting for someone to call me and try to up selling me more stuffs. Two days later, I got a lady call from Camera King, huh! She wanted to double check if I had called my credit card company because my shipping address is different from my billing address. I told her that I always ship to my office so my credit card already has that ship to address on file. I assumed she will start selling me other stuff after that. If she did, I would have cancelled my order over the phone. However, she did not. She said okay and would process my order!
Received the Canon EOS Rebel T1i EF-S 18-55mm IS Kit today from Camera King (4 days after the call). Everything Look new. The camera and Lens come in one box and is marked as Kit. I go to www.registercanon.com and successfully registered my new camera okay without problem.

May be I am just lucky, may be they did change."

"I have nothing but positive things to say about Camera Kings. Given that they're an electronics store based in Brooklyn, and the poor rep associated with that, I was leery of ordering with them at first. I took the chance based on the 4 positive reviews I saw earlier and I'm an totally satisfied with the result.

On Aug 10 I placed an order online for an Olympus SP590UZ (digital camera) from them. I received my order confirmation email a few minutes after placing the order. I was actually expecting someone to call me the next day and try to pressure me into buying accessories, but that never happened. I actually got antsy and called Camera Kings on Aug 12 to check the status of my order. I called at lunchtime, but got the answering machine so I left a message with my order number. A guy called me back 3 hours later and confirmed the item, the price and the shipping info. Then he asked me about accessories but there was no pressure to it. He didn't try any forceful sales tactics. It was a quick, easy conversation.

The following day I received the shipping notification email along with a confirmation number. The camera came a week later, on schedule. I got to use it last night and everything is in order. It's the legit US packaging, not any gray market overseas stuff.

I am very happy with Camera Kings. I absolutely recommend them and would buy from them again in the future."

"I purchased a Nikon D90 with an 18-200 3.5-5.6 VR II AFS-DX Lens, which is not the standard configuration. I was concerned that the extremely good price from Camera Kings came with a catch in terms of it being gray goods or non sealed box and that it would take weeks to arrive. My concerns were quickly proven to be completely unfounded. The camera and lens were in stock and shipped promptly and were new US product. The salesrep from Camera Kings was extremely courteous and helpful and did not attempt to upsell me. Overall this was an extremely positive experience and I would definitely purchase from them again. "

"Ordered a Camera and Camcorder and called to make sure it was in stock as stated and they confirmed availability and i got it within 2 days.
Unlike other places this place is great."