However for sure I would not have joined Zecco in the first place with the $25,000 requirement for free trades. It was the 10 free trades for AN ATTAINABLE $2,500 that attracted me.

Had they adjusted the costing structure to 5 free trades for $5,000 balance or something possible to most newbies, they would probably continue to attract new customers like me. But $25,000 is way beyond what the majority of potential new-to-trading customers would be prepared to risk investing (especially in today’s volatile market).

TO ATTRACT NEW CUSTOMERS (especially newbies to trading), they need to keep a certain quantity of free trades (say 5 per month) at an attainable balance for most people, say $3,000 or $5,000 max.

They will still get revenue from commissions as many will make more than 5 trades/month especially when the market is so volatile, BUT without this FREE TRADE/ATTAINABLE BALANCE (and $25,000 certainly isn’t), they will struggle to attract new customers.

For this reason alone (ie, fear they will go out of business soon) I will now look into alternative highly-rated competitors to Zecco and not because I’ve been dissatisfied with their service or tools (which I don’t need/use anyhow).

I know that they simply wouldn’t have people like me as customers with their new free trade package and somewhat mixed reviews.

I figure they have actually made trading cheaper in the last 6 months, they must be doing better than Zecco who has made trading MORE expensive. BTW, I would have had a $2500 balance with Zecco for the first time this very month, which makes me particularly bitter about the timing of this change.

I have tried Zecco b/c of price and now I will go to them where they kept the “price same” since they opened up. Not to mention they charge $2.50 per trade Vs. $4.50 almost half what I have to pay here. Zecco was crappy when started. As long my trades get filed I will save more money on trade. If I have $25,000 after losing 35% or so in 2008 (as the case with DOW and S&P) Why would I keep it in “Zecco – Zero Care for Customers”

Zecco only sells their product on price, it will surely hurt their growth to drop the free trades. Now there almost in the same boat as Wells Fargo with its 24k limit for free trades.

We just opened 2 IRA accounts in Zecco, one in Jan and the other in last Dec and we just payed 2 $30 IRA annual fees. Now there will no be free trades anymore given our IRA acct sizes are not that large. and closing the IRA account and tranferring out is expensive at Zecco. that means we are trapped here! we are very disappointed with this decision and we feel the whole thing was well planned. we want to file a complain at BBB

Pls adivse. thanks.
alvinxw@yahoo.com

When you compare what this Veth guy says now compared to what he was saying in the past, it’s easy to see this guy is a hack who didn’t have the foresight to prepare for and weather a storm.

Anyway, I’m the type of person where it’s hard for a site/service to earn my customer loyalty, because I’m a very unbiased, objective user… but those that deserve my word-of-mouth will get it.

I’ve used E-trade, Zecco, and Ameritrade. E-trade is superior. The majority of “small investors” aren’t going to get very far if they can’t get their trades executed well and can’t get stellar support. The times I’ve actually needed support and questions answered, Etrade came through quickly and politely, whereas Zecco was AWFUL + waiting for many days, and Ameritrade suffered (and still does) from serious site problems at some inopportune moments.

If you’re actually a do-it-yourself investor then you should want to possibly pay a couple bucks more because it’s even more important that you get a quality platform w/ great support. Thinking that small investors should only go for the cheapest, flimsiest solutions is backward thinking. If Zecco works for you, great. I’m speaking about my own experience and other stuff I’ve heard from other people that got a bad first, second, third impression. About the only thing that Zecco had going for it was a forum. That’s it. I gave them several chances and the benefit of the doubt the first couple times, and actually like the “community” aspect but then I saw it was meaningless w/ the millions of other investor communities out there. I came to appreciate that the only thing that matters is the actual platform & support. And I transferred completely into E-trade and haven’t looked back. Yeah, I’m “genuine.” How ’bout whether YOU are genuine or not… dun dun dun (scary music).

i totally forgot big names like bofa let you trade free with $25k+ assets. i’m definitely going to switch over asap.

if the minimum was pushed to $10k or something, i’d be fine with it. but a 1000% increase without advance warning? AWFUL customer experience.

Desiree – next time you post for your company use less details, pretty transparent

I bet there are no fewer than 5 different trading firms using fake names on this comment thread right now. Weak.

Lastly, I understand Zecco is still a cheap solution, but by increasing the balance, you are increase the discrepancy between who can trade for free and who can not. Those with less money are getting punished.

Welcome to life right?

Zecco has always been a low cost provider of a service that shouldn’t cost anything close to what some of the other brokerage houses charge. There is too much old status quo mentality in many sectors of the economy, especially in the financial sector, because people haven’t come to terms with computers and the internet having changed realities. Zecco seems to have adapted to the reality of the true cost of financial transactions and is providing a great service without ripping you off to shovel money down some exec’s throat.