sound67 wrote:
Enough with the spamming!!!!! It's SOOO obvious!
why you talk about spamming. This refers to chess.com shop !
My experience with Chess Bazaar
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Dec 7, 2019
0
#183
Actually not all wooden are easily damaged in blitz.
The House Of Staunton Liberty Series set is one that I have played blitz with well over 15 years with no problems at all.
This set is a reproduction of the Pinney Set from the 1930’s and 1940’s. It wears like iron.
Charousek2002 wrote:
I still call your opinion presented as a fact BS.
The defects are not too serious, and usually they are hairline cracks, slight chips or scuffs or weight imbalance that even escape the buyers’ attention. Of course, Chessbazaar provides free replacements that are sent by Post India and arrive in 25 days.
Chessbazaar also sells plastic sets which are safer to use for blitz and you can bang them against each other with any fear of damaging them when you have only seconds left on your clock.
The knights in Soviet/Latvian sets may seem chunky and crude but actually even in the original sets the knights are not any better. However, this chess set is at very low price and even the shipment is free. CB as usual offers after-sale customer service in the event of faulty chess pieces.
sound67 wrote:
This is a comparison between the crimson dye (all: glossy) on three CB sets. The German "Bohemia" Staunton, the Romanian-Hungarian, and the Soviet-Latvian set:
Wow! There is substantial color difference. It goes from reddish to brownish tone. I like the German Bohemian Staunton among the three. It looks funny.
Yes they are nice red and if the colour comes off during wiping and cleaning the chess pieces Chessbazaar will provide replacements free of charge.
Dec 9, 2019
0
#189
I too have the Latvian set from C.B......It's quite nice,but I certainly agree that the gloss adds another dimension of nice aesthetics to it.I'd have bought the gloss if it were available at the time.
"Sound-man",you have really fine taste!
Thank you so much for sharing your picture of your Soviet/Latvian set in the lacquered, crimson-dyed version. I've long found the appearance of the set quite appealing, and this lacquered/crimson set is especially attractive. I wonder how the set feels during play, however.
I had very unexpected and unpleasant experience with ChessBazaar. Minor issue: could not use promotion code for 40% discount; only 25%, and only for board; few hours after the purchase made, I found BOX45 (45%) coupon, and combo set, which would significantly reduce total costs paid, and sent them Email; waited few days for response!!! Needless to mention their fake "price match warranty" published on their website, they said "as a courtesy", because 45% discount was not available at exact specific time of purchase, they will give me store credit. "as a courtesy". After I sent them at least 7 Emails, they responded. I could simply cancel this unshipped order and make another order with 45% discount isn't it?
And item arrived almost on second business day by DHL, declared $22 for customs, so that I paid about $3 from those $22 as VAT (GST) local tax, and $15 brokerage fees, and $3 processing fees, and VAT on top of these fees, and they have "no hidden fees" policy and they still fight with me saying "we are not responsible for collecting Canadian VAT tax" (three dollars) LOL 
give me back $18 then! (BTW if they declare $20 then really no tax no brokerage; but declared value $22 caused me to pay extra $21 to DHL
such a stupid mistake, am I their first Canadian customer?
And in general, they use all these coupons, and sales, because it is modern marketing trick: anchor "value" in customer mind, such as $450 for Spanish board, then provide sales coupon with 35% off. House of Stauton has the same Spanish board twice cheaper, and they will use FedEx, and I tried: no hidden fees, no extra brokerage.
P.S. Unfortunately House of Stanton exceptionally disappointed me with "top-notch" travel board which I cannot even open without breaking the wood; magnets are very weak; felt is not properly glued. Doesn't look like "artisan work", like jewelry item from such a brand name. They should change name to something simpler. "Bazaaar".
In the initial post in this thread, cracked chess pieces mentioned... unfortunately, in cold places in Winter, in condo, humidity levels can drop to 15%-20% and it may develop cracks (cracks everywhere: chess, doors, windows, floors). And, unfortunately, if they use fresh wood which was not properly dried, chess pieces made in subtropical 80% humid environments, then it will crack anyway. I am not sure this is the case. I have musical instruments at home, made from Brazilian and Indian rosewood, some came from Hawaii, and humidity is at 40%-45%, and no cracks. If wood used to make chess pieces was not stored in managed environment for at least 6-7 years before making chess pieces from it, it will crack even in Florida. So, figure. Same design, same wood, same master, but price could be different 10x just because of that invisible quality of wood.
I am not really collector, but I liked some Staunton designs on their site, and by sizing and weight (heavier) they look much better then Staunton from House of Staunton; I don't care if it cracks; I will play it, abuse it, throw it, buy new one. But not from them. They do not keep the word.
Here is board from Chess Bazaar:
https://www.chessbazaar.com/standard-walnut-maple-wooden-chess-board-matte-finish-21-60-mm.html
"Standard" Walnut Maple veneer board from Spanish vendor.
CA$341.08, or $208.55 after 45% new-year discount and $21 brokerage fees.
And here is more valuable "Deluxe" board from same Spanish vendor found in local Canadian online store:
https://www.regencychess.ca/chess-boards/21-to-26-inch-boards/21.65-inch-deluxe-walnut-and-maple-chess-board
$145 plus 13% local tax = $163.85, and no any coupons, no any "boxing day", no any 80% discounts from initial $999.97 price. No any price match warranty, no any hidden fees refund.
$163.85 vs. $208.55
Do you think I will ever buy anything from ChessBazaar again?
@Funtick19
The mistake is yours. You should have asked the question here before buying. Most of the buyers here never buy chessboards from Chessbazaar. They are super expensive because they import boards from Spain, to be precise from Rechapados Ferrer. So, no one buys boards separately from them. On 45% sale, which is not for boards but for sets as a whole, the price would be significantly less. But many of them buy pieces which is definitely better priced. The Economy boards from HoS is better priced especially their Mahogany, Walnut boards.
Funtick19 wrote:
Here is board from Chess Bazaar
Do you think I will ever buy anything from ChessBazaar again?
They dont make chessboards. so buying from them a spanish board you pay shipping and fees from europe to india and then shipping and fees from india to you. As well as profit margin for the original manufacturer and CB. So yes if you did that you made a less than perfect purchase.
They dont make plastic sets either, or print books so dont buy those from them.
Chess bazzar makes wooden chess sets, and they sell them, sometimes for very nice prices. But dont assume their sales are actual sales. Take stock of the items, and prices, then compare to same sets on amazon, and ebay, and etsy to get a sence of base price, then wait and look at different codes. You should be able to get non luxury sets at about 50-100 dollars.
You want a great deal from chess bazaar you need to be a savvy shopper. And dont buy overpriced convinience items. This goes for drinks in hotel rooms and hot dogs in movie theaters too. So good life lesson.
Dec 31, 2019
0
#195
Really sorry for your experience! Lets hope,moving forward you can glean some satisfaction from it all.
@Sound67
Some don't mind money. He might be one of them.
Jan 1, 2020
0
#197
Funtick19 you make a good case for shopping with Chessbazaar. They certainly had no obligation to retroactively apply a sale, yet they gave you store credit, and they had no obligation to pay your countries import fees, yet they refunded most of it. As for the board, you can find it cheaper, so what? You didn't have to buy it from them. You are complaining a lot for someone who was treated more than fairly.
Mohan_Kumar_Chess wrote:
@Funtick19
The mistake is yours. You should have asked the question here before buying. Most of the buyers here never buy chessboards from Chessbazaar. They are super expensive because they import boards from Spain, to be precise from Rechapados Ferrer. So, no one buys boards separately from them. On 45% sale, which is not for boards but for sets as a whole, the price would be significantly less. But many of them buy pieces which is definitely better priced. The Economy boards from HoS is better priced especially their Mahogany, Walnut boards.
Yes, I know, the board is made in Spain
Yes, mistake is mine, I noticed this forum too late, and I didn't notice post from @Funtick19 (and initial post about "custom" pieces being cracked)
Better value "deluxe" Walnut-Maple board (*legally* imported from Spain, from the same vendor!) costs CAD $164 here in Canada, at RegencyChess, delivery included. "Standard" Walnut-Maple board from ChessBazaar costs CAD $341, delivery included. Both companies import it from Spain, and believe me, delivery of such a huge box here in Canada would cost half of the price to Canadian company too. I have to be smarter next time that's all because I refused chess past 40 years!
I made two orders with 12 hours difference in the hottest boxing day and according to order numbers they have at most 30 sales per 24 hours (during hottest sales). They are very busy, they answer Emails only on 3rd business day, after 6pm IST. I have Email question for another order which was never answered. Their "Cheetah II" looks very nice and simple and classic Indian that's how I was hooked.
forked_again wrote:
Funtick19 you make a good case for shopping with Chessbazaar. They certainly had no obligation to retroactively apply a sale, yet they gave you store credit, and they had no obligation to pay your countries import fees, yet they refunded most of it. As for the board, you can find it cheaper, so what? You didn't have to buy it from them. You are complaining a lot for someone who was treated more than fairly.
They have obligation to apply "price match policy" published on their site. They have obligation to cancel my mistaken order so I can make new order with 45% discount. Instead, they preferred not to respond to my Emails for a few days; and finally responded (to my 8 Emails) with in-store credit offer which I can't use (I already have chess, I don't need more!)
" they had no obligation to pay your countries import fees, yet they refunded most of it"
Wrong. They do have such obligation, it is part of the contract, I wouldn't buy from them if not this. And they didn't return money, wrong again, they are fighting for each penny.
QUOTE:
There are no extra taxes, hidden costs or additional shipping charges(Taxes only charged in Europe/Canada*). The price mentioned on the website is the final price. What you see is what you pay. Our prices are all-inclusive.
https://www.chessbazaar.com/help-do-your-prices-include-taxes/
Hi
take a look at chess.com shop here, one interesting finding !
https://shop.chess.com/nextgen-pawns-plastic-chess-pieces-3-75-king-colonel-variation/
The pieces are very well designed and i got there 2 different sets with different pawn designs. Got also extra Queens.
And thanks to chess.com shop and discount i paid less than 27$ for this set.
I also discovered that the manufacturer of this set have many different items including boards and other pieces (name just a few: Hawk !! , Leopard etc) i'm excited and i cannot wait to buy these pieces. Hope they are as good as what i got (i will just buy the Hawk and see the quality first)
I also discovered that the new pawns can be customised (at least 4 of them 2 white and 2 black).