February 5
Site Review: Zecco.com
by Paul Irish
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.
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.
For 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.
Zecco 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.
Tony Leach said on February 5th, 2008
p.s. - i love the graphic at the top of your post. we may have to steal the idea…
Paul Irish said on February 7th, 2008
You guys are definitely on the right track.
(and here’s the tutorial on making that snazzy screenshot. Enjoy!)
butdiene said on June 14th, 2008
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
Unhappy Customer said on July 25th, 2008
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.
Happier Customer said on July 30th, 2008
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.