Comments on: Zecco.com Offers Free Online Stock Trading

by: stevesegal

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 05:57:17 +0000

zecco offers free trade for 10x/month, but if you go over it you have to pay premium. my experiences tell me that if you trade ove 10x a month it is wiser to go another brokerage like interactive broker or sogotrade. they have the best rate around plus sogotrade is going to upgrade their services soon. sooner, it will offers roth ira and option account.

by: Lance

Tue, 20 May 2008 20:24:30 +0000

Horrible, Horrible service. Their website needs lots of work! You get what you pay for. I attempted to cancel an order and it wouldn’t let me. I placed a new order and it never appeared on my screen but when I called, it was on their screen. Multiple problems with their trading platform. My advice STAY AWAY FROM ZECCO!!!!!

by: Fred

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 19:35:05 +0000

Hi,
I am on the way to fund my zecco account and I would like to have fresh feedback.
Did they improved their services?
Thanks

by: Bill Burns

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 13:33:47 +0000

“There are no customer service agents that you can speak to (only email). They repond to your email 3 or 4 days later.”

I statement just isn’t true. I’ve called Zecco several times and they have always picked up the phone quickly and been very responsive.

by: Bill Burns

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 13:27:55 +0000

I had the same initial problem with the pending paperwork. But I called Zecco customer service and they just fixed it on the spot.

Other than that my experience has been great, and you can’t expect a company that makes no money off trades to be able to invest that much money in staffing, customer service, and quick response time. For a small investor it’s definitely worth the trade off for slightly slower service.

by: Stork

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:53:28 +0000

I would have to agree with the sentiment that “Zecco sucks”. I don’t normally take the time to write such reviews, and I would generally choose different words. But I would not recommend them to anyone. Perhaps they are just experiencing growing pains. I have almost memorized their customer service number - always something wrong. The executions are good, because they use an underlying provider - Penson. But their website, customer service, timeliness will put you at risk. Perhaps they will get better over time. But I would advise you to use someone else… you get what you pay for.

by: The IT Guy

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 16:24:37 +0000

I’ve had a terrible time with this company. It’s ridiculous really. I posted about it here http://theitguysblog.com/2007/10/16/zecco-trading-word-to-the-wise-stay-away/

by: LL

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 13:42:18 +0000

I also got robbed $6,000. Zecco keeps saying that they want more and more paperwork to release my money and after turning them in they still haven’t given me back my money.

So I’ve filed a complaint with the SEC, Attorney General, Amex, BBB and I’m not done yet. Looks like they are going belly up so I hope their SIPC premiums are paid up so I can collect it from the SIPC.

by: jk

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 22:24:36 +0000

Zecco cancels accounts over negative feedback over the recent pricing structure change. Zecco did it to me. Lets see how soon this gets edited.

Watch what you say to zecco. BEWARE of ZECCO.com for investing, trading, options and stocks. It took over 5 weeks for them to setup my account and it still has not been created correctly. I don’t even have any stocks to transfer in. When talking to customer service I need to start over every time which takes a lot longer if any problem needs more than one phone call to resolve. There have been reports from people that the setup process is not clear so if you fund your account after they say everything is a go and you have not turned in your government tax papers they will withhold a sizeable chunk of your money.

Recently they changed their policy where if you no longer meet the New minimum balance requirements you do not get free trades. Even though their whole business model is built on free trades you don’t get any. Now my account is halfway setup at this point and I log in and I receive the notice saying everything is changing the minimum requirements for account, and the amount of free trades, and that you must meet the $2500 minimum to be able to receive their now ten (down from 40) free trades a month. I have not even traded my first stock with this service and the terms are changing. On top of that there is a $50 transfer out fee (up from $0) that is imposed now. This seems like bait and switch to me.

Now they contact me because they don’t have the required information that was already sent to them when my account was setup the first time. I send back that I don’t have time to start this process over with and I do not feel confident more or less in the company anymore. I also let them know that I am not happy with their business model now affects me and how I have been treated as a customer since the start. Now I have heard people criticize the company on their site which is always deleted by the moderator’s but also on the internet. I felt that I would make my own decision as their site seemed informative and I thought I know what I was getting into. All I wanted was for them to understand they are pushing customers away and that it would be beneficial to grandfather the people in that have been with the company or just signed up before this was enacted. I was not notified of this change by email or us mail as they stated before it went into affect and I just wanted to use my account with their new restrictions if need be but not be shutout by the new minimum balance.

Now I have my major funds at another broker since I wanted to make sure this company was of the straight and narrow before I brought my whole account over to them (like a lot of people do). Now these people are shunned away which may lose them business.

Now I understand that they are a new company but they don’t need to close my account because I stated I didn’t think I what they were doing was fair to me and to others. Most business owners would like to hear the feedback before it costs them money from customers taking their business elsewhere.

Moral of the story is watch what you say to Zecco they may close your account if they don’t like what you say.

Zecco if you would like to contact me I would be more than happy to talk to you.

Thanks

by: Lucas T

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 06:46:00 +0000

One of the basics of investing I learned in class was transaction costs that ANY trading or holding strategy has. A no commission structure changes things drastically. Not only can you start investing and feel like you’re in the game, but actually build balances faster using whatever strategy you have. Now it is possible to dollar cost average into stocks, not just mutual funds. Imagine those people who traded a thousand times in the past ten years, and paying 14.95 or so per trade. At what expense did their wealth come?
The masses that can only afford to pack away $10 a week can now afford to move into equity markets. This enables the larger population to take part in investing.
Higher margin expenses isn’t a terrible thing. It is possible to build equity wealth without margin, it is not possible to do without transaction costs. Tolerating advertising is sort of a pain, but who says you have to be logged in to your brokerage account all the time. An 18 year old could just open an account, build up to 20 different positions in blue chips, and forget it till he’s 65, and be unaware of advertising.

Those of you who have several brokerages for different purposes are pretty smart. You can use Zecco for your small transactions and ETF positions, another for buying something on margin that you don’t have the cash for, and a paltry sum at some expensive full service place for your research to support your activity at the other two.

Thanks, Jay, for the warning about new accounts and having funding tied up. Perhaps new people from here on should open an account with 10 or 20 dollars in case they bungle new applications, then build up later.