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.
Skyline Chess is a UK based online chess store that was founded in 2013 by two London based architectural designers, Chris Prosser and Ian Flood in order to offer the chess market a chess set design that differed from the typical Staunton designed chess sets that many chess enthusiasts have grown accustomed to. Chris Prosser and Ian Flood’s combined love of chess and passion for architecture led to the founding of Skyline Chess which specialises in supplying uniquely designed chess sets, chess boards and chess pieces that are modelled after famous cities around the world. Skyline Chess’ chess sets are crafted using traditional casting methods that date back thousands of years and are available in various materials such as bronze, metals and marble. Skyline Chess supplies bespoke chess sets as well as their trademark city inspired chess sets and have worked on projects for numerous brands around the world. Today Skyline Chess is one of the most popular online chess stores in the UK and they have also gained a lot of popularity around the world due to their unique and luxurious city inspired chess sets as well as their outstanding standard of customer service. The chess products that are available at Skyline Chess are suitable for chess enthusiasts of all ages and experience levels and they are also ideal for chess collectors in search of high quality, unique and luxuriously designed chess products.
Store history
Skyline Chess was founded in 2013 by Chris Prosser and Ian Flood both of whom are London based architectural designers and passionate chess players, who as flatmates would often play chess in the evenings whilst formulating innovative architectural plans. The founding of Skyline Chess was sparked during a chess game by Chris Prosser and Ian Flood fuelled by their passion for architectural design and chess and their desire to offer uniquely designed chess sets to the global chess community that differed from the standard Staunton designed chess sets that has been the most popular chess set design for centuries. Chris Prosser and Ian Flood utilised their knowledge of architectural design to create chess sets that modelled the architecture of famous city skylines such as London, Dubai, New York, San Francisco, Paris, Chicago, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Doha, Istanbul, and Singapore. The chess pieces in their chess sets are miniature representations of famous buildings that comprise the architectural skylines of famous cities. Since its founding in 2013 Skyline Chess has worked with numerous brands such as MoMA design store, Guggenheim, Southbank Centre, Paul Smith, The National Gallery, The View From The Shard, Time Out Love London, The Week, Wired, Robb Report, Livingetc, Icon, Chanel, BT, British Land, UCL, NBC, The Vatican Museum, The Royal Palace in Jordan, and Cunard Cruises. Skyline Chess’ products are unlike other chess products on the market as they are competitively priced, luxuriously designed and crafted by skilled craftsmen using high quality materials such as bronze, metals, and marble and traditional casting methods that date back thousands of years. Skyline Chess has plans to introduce many more city skyline designs to their catalogue using a wider range of materials and they are also developing another chess brand, Neochess, which specialises in modern, artistic, and stylish chess sets that are also crafted using traditional methods.
Product selection and quality
Skyline Chess has a wide range of chess products that cater to the tastes and budgets of chess players of all ages and experience levels. The chess products that are available at Skyline Chess are modelled after famous city skylines around the world and includes chess sets, chess boards, chess pieces as well as playing cards and gift cards. Skyline Chess also supplies bespoke chess sets, chess boards, and packaging for both private and corporate uses.
Chess sets available at Skyline Chess:
London skyline chess sets, New York skyline chess sets, San Francisco skyline chess sets, Dubai skyline chess sets, Paris skyline chess sets, Chicago skyline chess sets, Tokyo skyline chess sets, Los Angeles skyline chess sets, Doha skyline chess sets, Istanbul skyline chess sets, Singapore skyline chess sets, and Staunton chess sets.
Chess boards available at Skyline Chess:
Marble chess boards, wooden chess boards, London city map chess boards, and New York city map chess boards.
Chess pieces available at Skyline Chess:
London, New York, Paris, Dubai, San Francisco, Chicago, Doha, Istanbul, and Singapore Stainless steel half sets in black and silver, and London, New York, Dubai, Tokyo, and Los Angeles acrylic half sets in black and white.
Playing cards available at Skyline Chess:
London, Paris, New York, and San Francisco playing cards.
Gift cards available at Skyline Chess:
£10, £50, £100, £200, and £595 Skyline Chess gift cards.
Skyline Chess customer service and customer experience
The Skyline Chess customer service team can be reached by phone, email, and by leaving a message on their contact form which can be found at the bottom of their contact us page. The Skyline Chess customer service team are happy to help customers with any issue or queries they may have such as product related questions, assisting with returns and exchanges, assisting with website navigation issues or any other issues that customers may need assistance with whilst using their site. Skyline Chess does not have any reviews on online review sites such as trustpilot.com however they have received several reviews on other websites and online chess sites such as John Lewis, Amazon, Chess and Bridge, Not On The High Street, Maclin Studio, Farrar and Tanner, Stanfords, and many others. Customers that have purchased Skyline Chess products and left positive reviews online have expressed their satisfaction with the quality, craftsmanship, and pricing of their chess sets. Customers that have purchased Skyline Chess products and left negative reviews online have expressed their dissatisfaction with the thinness of their chess boards and the lightness of their chess pieces. Although Skyline Chess does not have dedicated customer review pages on online review sites most of the customers that have purchased their products from other stores have been pleased with their chess sets. Skyline Chess has an excellent standard of customer service as they strive to exceed the expectations of their customers at every stage of their shopping experience.
Trustworthiness and reputation
Skyline Chess ranks highly in the scale of trustworthiness which can be corroborated by observing their high ratio of positive to negative customer reviews, the numerous reputable brands that have partnered with them or commissioned them to make chess products, their terms and conditions policy which outlines exactly what customer can expect when shopping in their store, and their dedication to ensuring that their customers receive the highest standard of customer service. Skyline Chess has served the chess community for over a decade and during this time their products have gained massive popularity both in the UK and around the world, most of the customers that have purchased their products have been generally pleased with the quality, craftsmanship, and the pricing. Skyline Chess is also very transparent with their customers as their terms and conditions policy outlines exactly what customers can expect from them when shopping in their store which ensures that customers have access to all the information that can protect them from the abuse of their rights or of any unfair practices. Numerous reputable brands recognise Skyline Chess as a trustworthy online chess store and have either partnered with them on projects or commissioned them to make bespoke chess products for them. Some of the brands that have worked with, or commissioned Skyline Chess include Chanel, BT, British Land, UCL, NBC, Guggenheim, MoMa Design Store, The National Gallery, Mr Porter, Southbank Centre, The View From The Shard, Robb Report, Livingetc, Icon, Wired, The Week, Time Out Love London, San Francisco Chronicle, Financial Times How To Spend It, and London Evening Standard. Skyline Chess aims to satisfy their customers at each stage of the shopping process by prioritising delivering the highest standards of customer service and as a result they have developed a reputation for creating and supplying high quality chess products that are both unique and competitively priced.
Pricing and affordability
The chess products that are available at Skyline Chess cater to the tastes and budgets of chess players of all ages and experience levels. The chess sets that are available at Skyline Chess are priced as low as 99 pounds on the lower end of the spectrum and as high as 1800 pounds on the higher end of the spectrum. The chess boards are priced as low as 90 pounds on the lower end of the spectrum and as high as 165 pounds on the higher end of the spectrum. The chess pieces are priced as low as 58 pounds on the lower end of the spectrum and as high as 295 pounds on the higher end of the spectrum. The playing cards are priced as low as 8 pounds on the lower end of the spectrum and as high as 30 pounds on the higher end of the spectrum. Lastly, the Skyline Chess gift cards are priced as low as 10 pounds on the lower end of the spectrum and as high as 595 pounds on the higher end of the spectrum.
Available Payment methods
Skyline Chess accepts numerous payment methods which includes American Express, Apple Pay, Diners Club, Discover, Google Pay, Maestro, Mastercard, PayPal, Shop Pay, Union Pay, and Visa.
Shipping, cancellations, returns, exchanges, and delivery performance
Skyline Chess ships both nationally and internationally to over 200 countries around the world using either DHL or Royal Mail. Skyline Chess covers the costs associated with international deliveries to the EU such as import taxes and customs duties taxes however international customers from countries outside of the UK and the EU will be responsible for any additional shipping costs that are required to facilitate international delivers such as import taxes and custom duties taxes. Customers have 30 days from the date their items are delivered to request return a for a refund or an exchange however after 30 days customers will no longer be eligible to receive a refund or an exchange on their orders. Items that are returned must be unused, in the same condition it was received and in it’s original packaging otherwise it may not be accepted by Skyline Chess and customers will not be able to receive a refund or an exchange. Returned items must be mailed along with sufficient proof of purchase to Skyline Chess’ warehouse in Newark on Trent in the United Kingdom and customers will be responsible for the cost of return shipping which is non-refundable. Return shipping costs will also be deducted from any refunds. Customers are advised to return items using trackable shipping methods and or shipping insurance to ensure their packages are delivered to the correct address and received by Skyline Chess especially for orders that are over £60. In certain cases, customers may only be eligible to receive a partial refund which includes if items are not returned in their original condition, if items are returned damaged or missing parts, and if items are returned after 30 days from the date they were delivered. Customers will be notified by Skyline Chess via email once their returned items are received and inspected as well as if a refund is approved or rejected. In the event that returns are approved a refund will be processed and a credit will be automatically issued to the customers original payment method within a specified number of days. Refunds usually take a few days to be processed by the bank however customers can contact Skyline Chess via email if their refunds are not received in a timely manner. Sale items are non-refundable. Skyline Chess only exchanges items that are damaged or defective. If returned items were marked as gifts when purchased and shipped directly to the giftee, a gift credit for the value of the return will be issued and once the return is received a gift certificate will be mailed to the giftee. If returned items were not marked as gifts when purchased or the gift giver had the order shipped directly to themselves, a refund will be issued to the gift giver.
Website navigation and mobile friendliness
The Skyline Chess website is easy to navigate, intuitively designed and mobile friendly with easy to identify product categories, a navigation bar that’s located at the top right corner of the website which customers can utilise to search for specific products by clicking on the magnifying glass symbol which expands when clicked, and a footer menu that’s located at the bottom of the website which customers can use to find additional information such as the terms and conditions page, the shipping, returns and refund page, the privacy policy page, Skyline Chess’ contact email and phone number, the newsletter sign up form, as well as links to Skyline Chess’ social media pages. On mobile and tablet devices, clicking on the hamburger menu that’s located at the top right corner of the screen will display all the different product categories as well as links to Skyline Chess’ social media pages. On desktop devices, clicking on the different categories will take you to each categories main page whilst hovering over the “cities”, “bespoke design”, and “contact” categories will display the subcategories associated with each main category. The Skyline Chess website is as easy to navigate on mobile and tablet devices as it is on desktop devices and features clear and vivid product photos and comprehensive product descriptions which enables customers to access all the information that’s needed to make well informed purchasing decisions. The Skyline Chess website is also 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 Skyline Chess website is easy to navigate, intuitively designed with the customers convenience in mind, mobile friendly, secure, and well stocked with a variety of high-quality chess products that are unique and competitively priced.
Skyline Chess strengths and weaknesses
Skyline Chess’ main strengths are their intuitively designed and easy to navigate website, their wide range of high quality and unique chess products, their high percentage of positive customer reviews, their competitive pricing, their relationship with reputable brands, their helpful customer service team, their worldwide shipping capabilities, their large number of accepted payment methods, and their live chat feature which enables customers to communicate with the Skyline Chess customer service team in real time. Whilst Skyline Chess has many strengths it also has some weaknesses which if addressed would greatly improve the shopping experience for both existing customers as well as future customers. Skyline Chess’ main weaknesses are their lack of customer reviews on online review sites which makes it difficult for customers to determine what kind of experience past customers have had whilst shopping with Skyline Chess and their level of trustworthiness, the thinness of their chess boards which customers have expressed their dissatisfaction with online, and their lack of chess piece and chess board products. Overall, Skyline Chess is a reputable online chess store that has served the chess community both in the UK and around the world for over a decade and that’s also well known for their unique chess sets and their excellent standard 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.
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