Zecco equals zero in customer service and not in trade commissions. Since, I am cheap - I wanted to go with the most economical brokerage house. However, not too long ago they increased the minimum required balance to enjoy free trades to $25000 that I don't have. So, it is no more zero dollar trades for me. It is $4.50 which is still lower compared to the others. But, I should have had realized, what you pay is what you get. Their customer service sucks big time. Zecco's clearing house is Penson, so at times you have to use their interface to download statements and trade confirmations, which is not as intuitive as other brokerages such as E*Trade or ScotTrade. On personal front, I have had a few problems with Zecco's reliability of trade execution with limit orders on 2 occassions in last 14 months. I have also had problems with incoming and outgoing ACH not getting honored even if submitted before the daily cut-off time. On one occasion, my outgoing ACH was cancelled even when I had sufficient funds available for withdrawal. The reason that I was given was that the same bank account used earlier to initiate an incoming ACH cannot be used to withdraw money if multiple accounts are set-up for ACH to prevent money-laundering - what a joke! It also lacks news or research tools that most other brokerage houses provide for free. If you are new to investing or a day-trade then I would not suggest going with Zecco. Instead try E*Trade if you are new (their customer service is excellent or at least it used to be) or if you're a casual trader then thinkorswim might impress you (which also uses Penson as the clearing house so viewing statements/confirmation may not be as easy). So anyway, by moving to Zecco I really didn't save any money considering missed opportunities and delayed money transfers. I am bidding my farewell to Zecco. Best luck!

JuniorRathod

Farmington, MI

Where do I even start? First, Zecco has TOO many system problems that will lead to other problems. For example, between June 20th 2011 and July 10th 2011, Zecco had two system issues come up during the trading day. Trades would not execute because their system had issues. When you call in to see what is going on, they ended up charging me for calling in that trade. Keep in mind the commission is much higher for phone trades. Lucky, I reviewed that trade the next day to make sure everything was ok and found out they tried to cheat me. They ended up refunding me by giving me a few free trades, but I have not seen those free trades yet. Is the customer suppose to pay for an error that the company made? Second, they will try and nickel and dime you by charging you an extra $1-$7 for something they call "Hard to borrow fee". Suppose if a stock is hard to borrow for shorting, they charge you an extra fee. Well, the problem with that is they can't produce a list of those stocks for you too know. Yet, every stock that i shorted seems to be on that list. What a coincidence? NO!!! And its because there is no such thing as hard to borrow. they just make that up to get an extra $1-$7 from you. How is FCX hard to borrow? How is BIDU hard to borrow? Third, CUSTOMER SERVICE SCKS!!! If i was a business, and I told my customer I would call them back with an answer by the end of the day, then, call them back or at least email them with your findings. Its as simple as that. If you say it, do it! Don't make the customer call you a day or two later! Fourth, Zecco has no after hour trading. Sometimes you can exist a trade in after hours and prevent a severe loss the next day or the vice versa. But you can't do that with zecco because they have no after hour trading. Overall, their $4.95 per trade is decent and it lures you in, especially if you are a day trader. However, all the other problems aren't worth it. I rather go to Optionhouse where it has cheaper rates ($3.95) and better customer service. If you need an actual live person to talk to face to face, go with Scottrade. They have $7 per trade, which is a little more expensive, but customer service is good there too, from my experience that is. Yet, with zecco's hard to borrow fee, the price is actually almost the same as scottrade or any other brokerage. So in conclusion, it ain't worth the headache and hassle to deal with zecco.

viewpointsRmine

Frederick, MD

Major bait and switch. They lured customers in with free trades, then jacked up the rates and fined them from transfering out. They refused to sign paperwork with their holding bank that actually has the securities and their contract even states they can bar you from accessing you stocks and they have done just that to me. They are a crooked business and should be avoided at all costs. I have done business with some big corrupt mega banks, but Zecco makes them look like a friendly neighbor.

midtra52

Clarksville, IN

I have been with Zecco for 5 months now and it has been bumpy and now gone bad. They lure you in with a nice web site and free trades, but once you are there it is painful! First the web site would be great if it was not so buggy and slow. They routinely fix one bug to only bring back another. Their first reaction is to tell you to try another browser and be warned their web site performs better with fire fox than anything else, but it still has bugs. They you have the steady declining customer service. Also as of March 2011 the free trades are gone and they raised their rates. Couple that with Penson as their clearing house and you now have a disaster in the making. On numerous occasion Penson has had to retract and repost dividends for various securities in my account, I also caught them on several occasions shorting my dividend by $.01. Sure $.01 is not a big deal to me, but think about how all that skimming ads up. Then in today's electronics systems how can it take 6 weeks to get out a 1099 then over 2 weeks later (after I already filed my taxes) send me an updated 1099 with different numbers forcing me to for the first time in over 28 years have to file an amended return! All I can say is run as far away from Zecco and in addition any firm that using Penson as their back end.

hdtvguyatl

Marietta, GA

Zecco customer service is awful. Dividends are constantly incorrect and late, trades fail to go through, transfers are slow taking several days to weeks, and the site will regularly boot you or prohibit you from logging on.   STAY AWAY!

campatski

Washington, PA

Im new to Zecco Trading but have used Ameritrade now for 6 years. In general the site offers plenty of tools and options, maybe too many. Trading is pretty straight forward as is registration and account set up. I found that ACH deposites seemed to take a bit more time than other online trading sites. My biggest concern is using Safari/Apple with Zecco (I have had the same issues with my HP and Explorer 8). Since depositing money into my account I have had issues logging into my account. To log in I had to reset my password then log into my email and enter a new password. Now I can't seem to access my account at all. I addressed the issue with customer service and got a quick but useless response. They do acknowledge that they have not tested their website with Safari. See help/system-requirements on their website for additional info. If you are using Internet Explorer 7+ than Zecco might work and serve as a good low cost online trading site but, if you are an Apple user then you probably ought to steer clear of Zecco.

Okinawabased

Stuart, FL

**This is one of the worst trading platforms out there. I highly recommend others to stay far away from Zecco. Any positive reviews must be from their own company as Zecco is known within trading as a lousy platform and service.** I've lost money because of Zecco. On three occasions they have issued a 'violations' block on my account claiming trades were done within a time restriction. No trades were done at all on the account in the claimed time frame. It took me several days of their slow and pointless communication before they would even look into it. They then realized their own mistake and offered to 'unblock' the faulty block they had added. It required an additional five days to do so... I lost a buy in a quick stock race - and lost 600% in profits. In total it ended up taking Zecco nearly twelve days to unblock the account. And don't forget they had done this three times. Another time I tried to jump in on a good stock. Again a block on the account. I contacted Zecco to find out why. They claimed some trades were waiting for a sale (true) and the commission was held to cover that sale so I had to lower my buy amount. I asked them to explain it as I was trying to buy for HALF my purchasing power and it made no sense. For example, you have three trades in sale process and the commission is about $15 for them. Your buying power is showing at, lets say, $500. But your actual buying power is $500 minus the $15 - $485. Yet when I tried to buy stocks for, say, $200 and not $500 Zecco would reject the buy. I tried lower and lower buying amounts but every buy was rejected. I asked them to explain it since the credit block was only $15. They couldn't give an explanation. So instead they asked me to sell some trades at market rate to clear up more credit. It simply made no sense that buys far below your buying power is blocked. Zecco constantly keeps blocking accounts, blocking trades, rejecting trades. Keep in mind that I barely EVER have these problems with my Trade King account. Its a pure Zecco problem. I therefore warn anyone to deal with this useless company Zecco. Zecco is a rubbish trading platform. And the website has been dysfunctioning and act wrong so many times, it has ceased to be realiable.  

RobB1

New York, NY

                      I recently changed brokerages to zecco .com.The thoughts of zero dollar commision trades was too hard to resist.I have used E-trade and Scottrade.I like a lot about thier sites,but if you trade often commisions can run into money.I was a little skeptical at first but so far I've been very satifised with Zecco.                               One other thing I like about Zecco is the ability to not only transfer money online to Zecco but to transfer money from Zecco to my checking account,Also the transfers are amazingly quick for an electronic transfer.                                Zecco also has low commisions on option trades also,which is a plus.You should check out their rates for your self.Some of the rates are subject to change after the first of the year.               On the down side I have encountered a few problems at times with the web site.These were glitches that was resolved usually in a speedy manner.Also the research and trading ideas seems to be lagging behind other on -line brokerages,but there is a lot of info on the web so thats not too much of a drawback.                 Overall my experience with Zecco ha been a positive one and I don't hesitate to reccomend it and give it a thumbs up.Don't just take my word,visit Zecco.com and see for yourself.

pauld43

Blue Ridge, GA

With the exception of very busy market times when you get booted out of their site or the screen freezes, I have had flawless execution of trades.  I've always received a quick response on service from their 800 number.  The $4.50 trade fee is among the lowest in the market and if you have over $25,000 in the account you can get 10 free trades per month.  I do not trade options or on a margin.  They do have an annual fee of $30 per account. I think their interface is pretty simple to use and am a long time computer user.  I have been using Zecco and Scott Trade for about 2 years.  Yes, and even made money during that time period. Who'd think!

aleblanc10

Utica, MI

Do NOT trade with Zecco.The once overhyped discount online broker has, through sheer force of will, destroyed any positive advantage or goodwill said hype may have brought it in the past.  As of March 1st, they are again raising the minimum requirement for their free trades from $2500 to $25,000.  They now offer absolutely NO ADVANTAGE to ANY INVESTOR, and should be avoided.I am a current customer, and will be getting out soon.  I was sucked in by their "10 free trades for $2500 minimum balance" ad.  But the shoddy platform and mediocre customer service cost me more than any free trade could make up.The platform is slow, clunky, and annoying, and the messageboards are by and large uninformative.  Don't even think of trying to time a move or watch a chart.  If you have to switch between screens, the random refresh time/criteria virtually guarantee you will miss your opportunity.  There are no real chart tools to speak of, and the graphics on their charts are sometimes unreadable.  For instance, it's impossible to read their candlestick charts.The customer service people scream "small company" for some reason.  I used to work in small salesrooms with the same mantra -- "Be very nice to people who want to sign up, but take your time with customer service claims; they don't bring money in."  I beg to differ with that mantra.  Zecco, your uninformed customer service people were a big reason my money's going OUT.  (And once I get $25,000, won't be coming back.)  The other thing that screams "too small a company to get my money" -- they put you on hold for the simplest questions, like "why hasn't my account resolved today." Or "what's the holdup on my cash balance.  That money's been missing for a week."  During trading hours expect a hold of 10-15 minutes on the simplest questions.Let me repeat -- even if you have $25,000 after March 1st, the absolutely horrible Zecco trading experience will cost you more than those 10 free trades are worth ($49.95 -- big whoop to someone with $25K to invest).  Also, those are only on buys, not sells.  You always get charged commission for sells.  Something else they don't tell you.Good luck to all!  I'm looking at ScottTrade and ShareBuilder.

kaileil

Beverly Hills, CA