February 5

Site Review: Zecco.com

Zecco.com is an online brokerage and investment community embracing the Web 2.0 mindset.  The company (whose name is a clever abbreviation of zero commission) first embraced one of the major tenets of the open Web — making it free! Once customer fears were assuaged that their free trades came with no catch, Zecco combined that offer with a rich interface, and they grew steadily in customers.
zecco.com

Often, sites will rush to adopt new interaction techniques without heavy consideration of the impact on customer experience. Zecco has made many improvements to speed and performance, but some fundamental interactions within the application can languish. The trading platform is a legacy user interface with an inconsistent visual design and many usability problems and design flaws that can make interaction frustrating at times.

Not the best interfaceFor instance, when a first-time customer goes to the “Move Cash” screen to transfer funds into their account, of the eight possible controls, only one of them initiates a new transfer. (Furthermore, that singular button has now been obstructed by a recent redesign–see edge of button in right side of screenshot). The first step required of all new users is incredibly challenging.

zeccocommunity.jpgZecco has also implemented a rich user community featuring standard social features of friends, groups, and forums and more clever features like personal blogs, news feeds, and performance metrics. They’ve done well in balancing privacy with publicly sharing personal data. For example, customers can opt-in to share their trading data. Customers can then be ranked on performance, and others can follow their buys and sells, leading to more engaged customers.

I consider Zecco a leader of bringing practical rich interactivity to financial services online. They’ve made mistakes, but earned much customer trust by reacting quickly to suggestions and concerns. While other complementary Web 2.0 money properties like Mint, Wesabe, and Billmonk continue to innovate, Zecco has affirmed its position as the trading home for the 2008 online investor.

Creative Commons License
The Site Review: Zecco.com by Molecular Voices, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Comments

  1. Tony Leach said on February 5th, 2008

    Thanks, Paul – it’s great to hear positive feedback about what we’re doing at Zecco – and especially with ZeccoShare. We’re continually making improvements to all aspects of our site, and you should check out the Cash Transfer section in a couple weeks for some major improvements.

    p.s. – i love the graphic at the top of your post. we may have to steal the idea…

  2. Paul Irish said on February 7th, 2008

    Tony! Great to hear from you. I’ve seen your great changes in some areas on the site. And obviously, I think some focus on the legacy trading platform would be well worth it.
    You guys are definitely on the right track.
    (and here’s the tutorial on making that snazzy screenshot. Enjoy!)

  3. butdiene said on June 14th, 2008

    pay attention to drawbacks about zecco,

    For cash account, zecco has the T+3 day rule for buying power from selling. So, if you sell stocks XYZ for $1000, you have to wait for 3 days to be able to use that $1000 to buy in anything.

    For margin account, zecco indeed has T+1 day rule (against what you read on their FAQ), so you have to wait for the next day to get the $1000 added to your buying power.

    the unreasonable buying power rule is the worst about zecco

    other drawback, you have to positively choose electronic delivery confirmation, otherwise, charged $2 more per trade

  4. Unhappy Customer said on July 25th, 2008

    Poor Customer Service

    I have gone through the setup and funding process. I scheduled a transfer and they executed it early causing a NFS charge from my bank AND a 25 fee from them. My bank refunded the bank fee even though it wasn’t their fault. Zecco refuses to refund their $25 fee even though it is clear they pulled the money 2 days early. Also, instead of showing a -$25 balance, they posted a -$20,025 balance and issued a margin call on my account. I was then in the hole 20K+ before I even started trading. I guess this is how they fund 10 free trades a month.

    Please be careful using this service. It isn’t worth the headaches.

  5. Happier Customer said on July 30th, 2008

    Improving Customer Service

    I wanted to post an update to my previous comment about my difficulties getting my Zecco account set up. I was contacted by Zecco about my experience and they resolved my issue to my satisfaction. More importantly, they have promised to continue to focus on providing great customer service to avoid situations like mine. I think this is a very good sign. Also, I have executed numerous trades in my first month with no issues.

  6. Danzguy said on September 2nd, 2008

    Regarding the three day rule my TD Ameritrade has that, too. It takes three days to get the funds through the pipe line when you sell. I don’t know of any online broker who funds your account any faster. Please let me know if you find any.

  7. Greg said on September 6th, 2008

    ScotTrade does not have a waiting period for funds to be available for trading following a stock sale. They do, however, have a waiting period (a week, I believe) after a sale if you want to transfer the funds out of the account.

  8. jp said on October 1st, 2008

    I opened an acount with Zecco on Wed, am., It took all of the 3 days to complete the funds transfer from my bank account. They somehow managed to execute my order Monday at almost exactly the highest price of the last two months. That cost me… Very disturbing. The stock price hasn’t been near that since. I’m not real thrilled that I didn’t see any mention of their three day rule on the website whether it’s considered standard or not. It should be on the front page!!!, My mistake!. I Think I’ll switch to Scotrade.

  9. Rich said on October 24th, 2008

    I have had an aweful experience with Zecco. They are slow in every aspect of their business. They are slow in getting orders placed on the market, their website is slow, they are slow in getting me funded, and to add insult to injury, they made a mistake on my billing address and sent me a letter and it came back to them. Then instead of calling me or looking at my drivers license they have on file for me, they locked my account out from making further trades WHILE THEY HOLD MY MONEY. It has been three days and the trading I was planning on doing has already past. My opinion? RUN dont walk away from ZECCO.

  10. Anthony said on January 28th, 2009

    finally got serious to give it a try after considering for a while, hey the free trades are tempting… opening account is a breeze but the money takes forever to clear.

    here’s what you get officially: “Incoming bank transfers can take up to 2 business days to complete. However, any deposit may be held at the discretion of Zecco Trading for up to five business days until verified as cleared.” what da F* is that?

    well, its been more than a week now… just so you should know… not cool…

  11. john said on March 26th, 2009

    I agree that zecco is poor. My buying power fluctuates for now reason and usually only downwards, with no action on my part. Deposits take eons to arrive and just why is this with a linked bank account??? Sharebuilder deposits in one day and you can buy instantly from your bank account with express funding. Any stock I buy with them does not seem to be at the realtime price with i look simultaneously

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