Had a birthday recently:
I ordered the Ultimate Chess Set (plastic) from Shelby along with a silicone board. The order arrived in 3 days. I ordered a DGT 3000 from Chesshouse on Monday but I only found out today that I didn't receive a confirmation. I assumed it was sent. I contacted Chesshouse but their bot said someone would get back to me in a few days. I have to give Chesshouse the benefit of the doubt here for now because the online site should send the email confirmation automatically. Maybe I forgot to hit submit or something. Oh and I ordered a wedge bag for the DGT clock from HoS yesterday. They sent a confirmation. We'll see when it actually arrives.
With the problems we see in the other Topic, it looks like Staunton Castle has dropped quite a bit in the level of trust. There are a number of pieces cracked, and they are not sending replacements.
How is Chess Empire doing?
Has The House of Staunton improved as well?
Chesshouse replied back and stupid me I misspelled my own email address. I checked out as a guest instead of creating an account. The clock was delivered to my office. I can vouch for Chesshouse too.
I fell victim to peer pressure and ordered a new 'improved' Ultimates set and a butter Ultimates set. The notifications via email, the shipping times, the packaging were all excellent. I really like how Shelby gets on these forums and gives updates on so many of these products! So I ordered for the first time from him last week, and I am very pleased with the sets and the board that I got.
I have had a couple of issues with House of Staunton, but to their credit they have made good on them and made it work. I ordered a couple of boards with storage drawers, a storage box, and a couple of nice sets from their Outlet page, because I would get scratches on anything in my house that I didn't hide from my kids. The pictures of the errors on these were outstanding, so I knew what I was getting when I ordered it. Shipping is always fast because I'm just a couple of hours away from them, but I can say that packaging and shipping notifications are great. They did send me a "How did we do?" email which I responded to in great detail about my earlier issues, but I did not get a reply. Maybe I'm not supposed to.. not sure if it was automated or a real person.
I found a set I liked from Rochester Chess, and I ordered that along with a wood grain mousepad board. No issues here either.
I used Chess Armory and got a very good magnetic study board. I think that they're a safe bet.
I have had bad experience with House of Staunton last January so me personally I stay away from HoS.
Fwiw, I would avoid RoyalChessMall (at least currently) - I bought a $275 set from them based on recommendations in another thread.
Surface finish was mediocre on a fair few pieces (tiny rings from lathing and just generally rough quality), a few tool marks, one cracked rook which was replaced (with a piece which has small "nipple" in the center of the top face from poor final lathing), and a knight where the tip of one ear cracked off and uneven, which they refused to replace because "these are handmade items".
If I didn't like the design so much and we weren't in the middle of this demand crunch I'd have returned the set without a second thought. As it stands their response was "If you don't like it, we have buyers lined up behind you".
Imo,it's a crap shoot with almost any vendor these days,except those upper tier mfgrs like NOJ and Official Staunton.....I did get a gorgeous and flawless set of the Yugoslavia pieces (Russian Zagreb) in Padauk,from The Chess Store about 2 months ago.
I mention Official Staunton because they were an absolute joy to deal with and upgraded my set ordered,to a much more expensive one at no additional charge,because I ordered it on Christmas Day.The set was absolutely in the class of my NOJ set!
There are some custom guys,whose products seem amazing,but not priced anywhere near the usual vendors we so commonly see.
C.B. has done right by me,in the past and have good pricing,with their discount structure....However,after ordering about a dozen sets from them,they are a bit inconsistent in overall quality.......I'd still give them a shot and may do so soon,since their hearts seemed to be in the right place.
For the European market: I ordered at Schach Niggemann a few weeks ago. Their virtual shelves are pretty bare, but the things that are available are shipped promptly and completely.
Well, at this time Shelby of American Chess Equipment and The Rochester Chess Center, oh and The Chess House, appear to be sure places to order new product with no problems at all. This is based on statements above.
Of course Noj and Official Staunton also remain flawless in their new product as well.
We have not heard of Chess Empire in this thread.
One vendor that isn't mentioned is ChessByIndia (Etsy). Kind of below the radar vendor but I've not seen any complaints against CBI. I might add a single data point to say my 3 3/4" Staunton ebony/boxwood set was cheap by half of others ($150), ordered on 12/24/20, shipped on 12/26/20 and arrived via FedEx (free) 4 days later.
Had a birthday recently:
I ordered Alegria Natural from Legend products on 2/21 and my order was cancelled a week later with no communication at all.
I ended up getting a set from House of Staunton, and it arrived 2 days later.
I'd like to add another HoS purchase:
House of Staunton: very good for Hastings Luxury pieces (early January 2021).
I think that once HoS recovered from the Christmas Crunch they've done very well. However, shipping anything via USPS (including UPS SurePost) will probably make them look bad.
Chess & bridge for the UK is good , Only thing outside of UK you now have the hassle of import tax post Brexit , Only reason why I had used them was selling a item could not find in Europe that easy with 22% vat still had worked out OK , But anything over & £130 pounds forget it not worth It unless you have a deep pocket . 
One vendor that isn't mentioned is ChessByIndia (Etsy). Kind of below the radar vendor but I've not seen any complaints against CBI. I might add a single data point to say my 3 3/4" Staunton ebony/boxwood set was cheap by half of others ($150), ordered on 12/24/20, shipped on 12/26/20 and arrived via FedEx (free) 4 days later.
I agree, just bought from him a Zagreb Burnt Set + board. I still haven't them but for problems with customs, from their part, It was all very efficient and fast. I purchased the set the 19th of February, shipped the 22th and arrived at local customs the 25th.
Chess House has been outstanding for me. I ordered an eBoard (Millennium KP) which developed a warm along the h file, and I sent it in for full credit. I'm much happier with the DGT eboard, and Chess House was fast and courteous. Highly recommend them! (That should be "warp" above).
Alright, the question is, “As of today which companies are good or safe to order from, and which ones still have problems?”
I have seen some recent complaints of Staunton Castle and Chess Bazaar.
I know, from personal experience that Shelby of American Chess Equipment is providing great sets at a speedy delivery. And the quality is great.
Does anyone have recent experience from some of the others like House of Staunton, Chess Empire, The Chess House, and a host of others?
This forum is great for informing all about current performances of the various sellers.