Introduction
Online chess stores play an important role in sustaining the global chess community as they enable chess players to access essential chess equipment and learning resources so that both chess players and chess enthusiasts can improve their skills and enjoy the game wherever they reside. Online chess stores also play a key role in promoting chess and providing support for the global chess community which is essential for the future growth and development of the chess community and the chess industry. In this article i will highlight some of the best online chess stores and provide information on the history of their stores, their available products and services, their customers experience, their trustworthiness and reputation and much more. I will also explore their main strengths and weaknesses.
Royal Chess Mall is an online chess store that was founded by Sidharth Kapoor in 2015 in order to promote chess and share the exquisite craftsmanship of Indian artisans with the world. Royal Chess Mall specialises in crafting and supplying high quality chess sets, chess boards, chess pieces, chess tables, chess accessories, and backgammon sets from exotic woods and fine metals. Royal Chess Mall’s main headquarters is in India, but they have distribution centres all over the world in countries such as Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The chess products that Royal Chess Mall supplies are all handmade by expert artisans in India and are extremely detailed works of art. Royal Chess Mall takes an environmentally conscious approach to selecting their materials, the woods used to construct their chess pieces are sourced from responsibly managed forests to ensure that each product made contributes to the preservation of the ecosystem whilst also supporting local communities in the process. Royal Chess Mall strives to ensure that the artists that create their chess products are treated fairly and compensated fairly for their works. Royal Chess Mall encourages their customers and potential business partners to visit the Royal Chess Mall warehouse in India to browse through their collection of chess products and connect with their artists to see firsthand the level of craftsmanship that goes into making each chess product.
Store history
Royal Chess Mall is an Indian based online chess store and manufacturer that was founded in 2015 by Sidharth Kapoor. Sidharth Kapoor is a passionate chess player who transformed his love for chess into a successful online chess store. Royal Chess Mall’s mission and purpose is to promote chess and connect with chess players and chess enthusiasts around the world whilst showcasing the expert craftsmanship of the Indian artisans responsible for creating their chess products. Royal Chess Mall’s main headquarters is in India, but they also have distribution centres all over the world in countries such as Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Royal Chess Mall provides opportunities for online chess stores to acquire chess products at wholesale prices and they also enable content creators to partner with them and earn commissions through their affiliate program. Since 2015 Royal Chess Mall has grown into one of the most popular online chess stores in the world with a global customer base that spans the entire globe in countries which includes the United States, Canada, Europe, and India and a team of over 150 expert local Indian artists. Royal Chess Mall encourages customers and potential business partners to visit their warehouse in India to browse their vast collection of chess products and to see firsthand the level of craftsmanship that goes into making their chess products as well as to meet the artists that are responsible for making them.
Product selection and quality
Royal Chess mall has a wide collection of chess products that cater to the tastes and budgets of chess players of all ages and experience levels. The products that are available at Royal Chess Mall are skilfully crafted by expert artisans and includes chess sets, chess boards, chess pieces, chess accessories, chess tables and backgammon sets.
Chess sets available at Royal Chess Mall:
Wooden chess sets, luxury chess sets, metal chess sets, tournament chess sets, minimalist chess sets, Staunton chess sets, travel chess sets, marble chess sets, combo chess sets, and Dubrovnik chess sets.
Chess boards available at Royal Chess Mall:
Ebony wood chess boards, bud rosewood chess boards, golden rosewood chess boards, rosewood chess boards, marble chess boards, folding artisanal chess boards, and printed chess boards.
Chess pieces available at Royal Chess Mall:
Luxury chess pieces, economy chess pieces, antique reproduction chess pieces, Staunton chess pieces, mid-range chess pieces, camel bone chess pieces, and metal chess pieces.
Chess accessories available at Royal Chess Mall:
Chess piece storage boxes, chess board storage bags, and chess clocks.
Chess tables available at Royal Chess Mall:
Golden rosewood and maple chess tables with Staunton chess pieces, golden rosewood and maple chess tables with drawers, solid sheesham and acrylic ivory chess tables, round minimalist brass chess tables with chess pieces, round executive combo chess tables with chess pieces, golden rosewood tournament chess tables with stoppers, wooden tournament chess tables with pro Staunton chess pieces, round weighted ebonised boxwood chess tables with Staunton chess pieces, round golden rosewood and acrylic ivory chess tables, Regalia luxury chess tables with Reykjavik series Staunton chess pieces, golden rosewood Regalia luxury chess tables with drawers, and round solid sheesham and acrylic ivory chess tables.
Backgammon sets available at Royal Chess Mall:
Wooden travel folding backgammon sets, golden rosewood magnetic travel combination backgammon and chess sets, and handcrafted wooden travel folding backgammon sets.
Royal Chess Mall customer service and customer experience
The Royal Chess Mall customer service team can be contacted via phone, WhatsApp, mail, and email, Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm (Indian standard time) and Monday to Friday, 7.30am to 10.30pm (Eastern standard time). The Royal Chess Mall customer service team are happy to help with any questions or issues that customers may have such as product related questions, assisting with returns, cancellations, and exchanges, assisting with website navigation issues, or any other issues that customers may have. The Royal Chess Mall customer service team can also be contacted by utilising the live chat feature and clicking on the black icon which is located at the bottom right corner of the website. Royal Chess Mall has received thousands of customer reviews on sites such as trustpilot.com, judge.me, sitejabber.com, and tenereteam.com and have received significantly more positive reviews than negative reviews. The customers that have shopped with Royal Chess Mall and left positive reviews have expressed their satisfaction with Royal Chess Mall’s helpful customer service team, their fast-dispatching times, their secure packaging, the high quality and beautiful craftsmanship of their products, the competitive pricing of their products, their large selection of products, and their reasonable shipping costs. On the other hand the customers that have shopped with Royal Chess Mall and left negative reviews were disappointed with the way they processed and handles returns, their poor communication, their inability to process orders, the inconsistencies in their product designs, the poor condition of their products upon arrival, their unhelpful customer service team, their high return postage costs, and their slow dispatching times. Whilst Royal Chess Mall has received much more positive reviews than negative reviews many of their negative reviews indicate reoccurring themes that may discourage potential customer from shopping with them however it’s very rare for online stores to satisfy one hundred percent of their customers. Overall Royal Chess Mall is both trustworthy and reputable according to the positive revies that their customers have left online but customers should also be aware of some of the issues that they may face when shopping with Royal Chess Mall.
Trustworthiness and reputation
Royal Chess Mall ranks highly on the scale of trustworthiness as they have a high ratio of satisfied customers compared to unsatisfied customers. The main factors that contribute to Royal Chess Mall’s trustworthiness according to their customer reviews are their high-quality chess products, their helpful customer service team, their secure packaging of products, and their fast-dispatching times. Royal Chess Mall is also transparent with their customers as they have a clear terms of service policy which outlines exactly what customers can expect when shopping with them. Another factor that contributes to Royal Chess Mall’s trustworthiness is their willingness to interact with customers personally by encouraging customers to visit their warehouse in India to see firsthand how each of their chess products are made. Royal Chess Mall has become one of the most popular manufacturers and online chess stores in the world because of their competitively priced and high-quality chess products, their excellent customer service, their contribution to the preservation of the ecosystem, and their transparency. Since their founding in 2015 Royal Chess Mall has built a reputation for encouraging business partnerships, prioritising the fair treatment of their artists and customers, producing skilfully crafted chess products at competitive prices, and for promoting chess.
Pricing and affordability
Royal Chess Mall has an extensive catalogue of high-quality hand-crafted chess products that cater to the tastes and budgets of chess players of all experience levels. The chess sets that are available at Royal Chess Mall are priced as low as 61 pounds on the lower end of the spectrum and as high as 943 pounds on the higher end of the spectrum. The chess boards are priced as low as 102 pounds on the lower end of the spectrum and as high as 355 pounds on the higher end of the spectrum. The chess pieces are priced as low as 81 pounds on the lower end of the spectrum and as high as 708 pounds on the higher end of the spectrum. The chess accessories are priced as low as 46 pounds on the lower end of the spectrum and as high as 223 pounds on the higher end of the spectrum. The chess tables are priced as low as 178 pounds on the lower end of the spectrum and as high as 607 pounds on the higher end of the spectrum. Lastly the backgammon sets are priced as low as 61 pounds on the lower end of the spectrum and as high as 115 pounds on the higher end of the spectrum.
Available Payment methods
Royal Chess Mall accepts numerous payment methods which includes American Express, Apple Pay, Diners Club, Discover, Meta Pay, Google Pay, Mastercard, PayPal, Shop Pay, Venmo, and Visa.
Shipping, cancellations, returns, exchanges, and delivery performance
Royal Chess Mall provides free shipping to over 80 countries around the world and discounted shipping to many other countries around the world. Customers will receive a shipment confirmation email once their orders have been shipped and a tracking number within 24 hours once orders have been shipped. Royal Chess Mall also covers the cost of customs duties fees, sales tax, VAT, GST, and HST for orders that are sent to up to 35 countries which includes Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Customers that reside in countries outside of the 35 countries previously mentioned that are exempt from additional shipping costs may be subject to additional shipping costs due to the fees that are required to facilitate international orders. Orders are shipped using couriers such as FedEx and DHL and Royal Chess Mall customers can choose between several shipping methods which includes free express shipping, premium expedited shipping, postal shipping and more. Delivery to most countries should take place within 4 to 8 business days and orders with Indiapost shipping as the chosen shipping method to locations all over the world should be delivered within 15 to 25 business days. Royal Chess Mall has a 30 day return period in which customers can request to return any items that they are unhappy with. As Royal Chess Mall has various distribution centres in countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, and India customers can send their returns to their closest distribution centre once returns are approved by Royal Chess Mall. Customers can return items if they ordered the wrong products, if the products are the wrong fit, if they simply don’t want the products they ordered, if an incorrect product is delivered, or if products arrive damaged or defective. Royal Chess Mall will replace or refund customers at no extra cost if customers receive an incorrect item or if items arrive damaged or defective. In cases where items are damaged during transit customers must request a replacement or refund within 48 hours of receiving the product, within 3 years if chess pieces are defective, and within 6 months if chess boards, chess boxes, travel sets, or other boards games are defective. Customers must provide their order number, the reasons for requesting a return, and wait for confirmation by Royal Chess Mall before returning items in order to avoid returned items being sent back or refused. Once returned orders are received, inspected, and approved by Royal Chess Mall they will either issue a store credit or a refund minus the cost of shipping and any customs duties or taxes that were paid by Royal Chess Mall to ship the items. Refunds that are approved are typically processed within 7 to 10 days and sent to the customers original payment method, Bank or PayPal account.
Website navigation and mobile friendliness
The Royal Chess Mall website is intuitively designed, mobile friendly, and easy to navigate with product categories that are easy to identify, a search bar that’s located at the top left corner of the website which enables customers to search for specific products, and a footer menu that’s located at the bottom of the website which enables customers to find additional information such as the about us page, the blog page, the terms of service page, the affiliate program page, the rewards page, the green policy page, the wholesale inquiries page, the frequently asked questions page, the contact us page, the shipping policy page, the cancellations and returns page, the warranty page, and the privacy policy page. Links to Royal Chess Malls social media pages can also be found within the footer menu of their website. On mobile and tablet devices clicking on the hamburger menu that’s located at the top left corner of the screen will display all of the product categories. On desktop devices hovering over the product categories with the cursor will display the product types within each category. The Royal Chess Mall website is as easy to navigate on mobile and tablet devices as it is on desktop devices, and it has clear and vivid products images and comprehensive product descriptions which enables customers to gain all the information needed to make well informed purchase decisions. Royal Chess Mall also has a live chat feature which customers can utilise to communicate with their customer service team in real time by clicking on the grey icon at the bottom right corner of the screen on desktop, mobile, and tablet devices. The Royal Chess Mall website is secured with TSL/SSL encryption which protects customers sensitive information such as credit card numbers and passwords that are used on the site from malicious entities online. Overall, the Royal Chess Mall website is intuitively designed with the user’s convenience in mind, easy to navigate, secure, mobile friendly, and well stocked with a wide range of high quality and competitively priced chess products.
Royal Chess Mall strengths and weaknesses
Royal Chess Mall’s main strengths according to customer reviews and personal observation are their global presence as they have multiple distribution centres around the world, their wide range of high quality, handmade, and competitively priced products, their excellent customer service, their free/discounted worldwide shipping capabilities, their live chat feature which enables customers to contact and communicate with their customer service team in real time, their wide range of payment methods, their fast dispatching times, and their secure packaging. Some other factors that contribute to Royal Chess Mall’s strengths are their willingness to interact with customers and potential business partners on a personal level by encouraging them to visit their warehouses in person and their dedication to preserving the ecosystem. Although Royal Chess Mall is strong in many areas there are also some areas where improvements could be made which would improve the shopping experience for existing customers, potential customers and potential business partners. Royal chess Mall’s main weaknesses according to customer reviews are their customer service teams poor communication, their procedures for handling returns and exchanges, the inconsistencies in their product designs, their return postage costs, their slow dispatching times, and their inability to process orders effectively on occasions. Although the majority of their customers are generally pleased with their services there are still some customers that have had poor experiences shopping with Royal Chess Mall. Addressing these issues will significantly increase the strength of their store. Overall, Royal Chess Mall is a reputable online chess store with a reputation for creating and supplying high quality and expertly crafted chess products and for providing and prioritising excellent standards of customer service.
Conclusion
Online chess stores are an essential part of the chess industry, and they play a crucial role in sustaining the global chess community as they enable chess players to access essential equipment and resources that will enable them to improve their skills in chess however not all online chess stores are made the same as some are clearly better than others. In this article i have highlighted 25 of the most prominent online chess stores, each having defining characteristics. Some online chess stores specialise in supplying high end chess products, some specialise in supplying chess products for professional chess players, and some specialise in supplying chess products for chess players for all ages, tastes, budgets, and experience levels. Whether you’re a professional chess player in search of a chess set that’s suitable for practice sessions, a chess set collector in search of unique chess products, or a chess enthusiast in search of a high-quality chess set, this catalogue of online chess stores will enable you to find the perfect online chess store.
