I am in the position of wanting to sell some shares that are traded on the Australian Stock Exchange. I don’t want financial advice, to buy any shares or other investments or to have to wade through a long sales spiel about them making a fortune for me. I just want to sell what I have.
I would appreciate recommendations for a service that is secure and that charges competitive rates, preferably not requiring personal attendance at their office as I live away from big cities or financial centres.
It is difficult to provide recommendations as fees can vary within the same broker and fees charged can be conditional. Conditional by number of trades to get fee reduction, having other transactional accounts, size/value of transactions etc.
Changing broker requires a transfer and associated paperwork. This can take time and some effort.
The other consideration is whether shares are Chess registered or not. Chess should be easier to transfer a portfolio. Non-Chess registered takes more effort as each holding would need separate transfers.
I have used both Commsec and Nabtrade to just sell Chess registered ASX listed shares, but there are cheaper online brokers. The commissions depend on the value of the trade, but the amount is in tens of dollars up to say $25000, and maybe a few hundred if going over that.
A million dollar sell would incur a bit over $1000.
Easy to do online. Just set up an account. Bank account detail where they put your money (just the usual bsb and account number as per funds transfer), or your account could have a cash account for the sale funds which operates like any bank cash account, and the chess details for the shares. And how many to sell and maybe some conditions such as floor price below which you don’t want to go.
If your shares are Chess registered the brokerage that sponsored the Chess registration would be the easiest to use since no transfers would be required.
If not Chess registered and depending on how long the shares have been held they may be paper certificates (very old!) or just an accounting entry with the company’s contracted share registry. The registry is the entity that sends your dividends and is identified on the dividend advices.
The registry is most likely link market services, computershare, or board room. Login (if you do not have a login account you will need to make one) .Whichever one, it should have a link to ‘transact securities’ that will get it done for you that will be trustworthy. If you have a problem contact the relevant registry for advice.
While I have had a trading account I’ve been able to dispose of smaller holdings directly through as @PhilT has indicated the services provided by the nominated share registry.
I’ve used both Link Market Services and Computer Share for one offs without any problem. For a one off transaction going to the appointed registry from our experience would be less involved than establishing a trading account. The only benefit of the latter for a one of (speculatively) might be for a very large value investment as it gives more control over when the shares are traded and the price.
P.S.
I’ve never set foot in a registry or Broker’s office. Express post, plus online forms, local JP as necessary has been the go.
For shares not regularly trading or currently listed there may be no simple solution. Circumstances vary.
I think you meant Link Market Services? Linkt is a toll operator. Autocorrect can sometimes have a mind if its own.
For those not familiar with share registries in Australia each listed company chooses which registry to use. If one chooses to use a registry service to sell shares it must be the registry appointed by the listed company.
EG Commonwealth Bank of Australia, ASX code CBA has chosen Link Market Services.
Link Market Services and Computershare are not the only registry services.
EG Origin Energy Ltd, ASX code ORG has chosen Boardroom for its registry.
If one does not intend to use a trading account or alternate registered broker - Link MS are the registry to contact to sell shares in CBA, and Boardroom to sell shares in Origin Energy. The appointed registry details are included on all listing documentation, dividend notices, and for most listed companies the regular notices and correspondence. The registry and contact details can also be found on the company web site through the web links, typically labelled as Investor Relations, Shareholder Information or similar.
I sold a parcel of shares a couple of years ago. They were registered under ComputerShare (also Chess registered). I also have a NABTrade account that I set up years ago and have only every used once or twice. I am fairly sure it was free to set up. I compared the fees and ComputerShare was at least 3 times more expensive than NABTrade for the same transaction, so I just transferred the parcel of shares from ComputerShare to NABTrade (which was free) and sold them there.
Basically I would assume ComputerShare, Link Market Services etc. are going to charge you a lot more than some other places, so it is probably worth spending the time to investigate other options.
As @Fraser indicated the registries take top dollar and a bit more for convenience. For a once off transaction the convenience and lack of committent to future business may be worth it to avoid opening an account and transferring shares to it.
Online share trading platforms can charge as little as $3 to as much as $30 depending on the amount of ‘service’ (eg research, market depth information, etc) included and one’s committent to ongoing trades. Traditional brokers who give personal advice and hand holding, quite a bit more since they portray themselves as ‘wealth builders’ and ‘wealth managers’ targetting higher net worth individuals who are money rich and time poor; typical charges seem to be from $75 to $300 per transaction. Regardless of whether online or full service there is usually a base fee plus a percent of the trade value.
Thanks to all who provided advice. I have managed to sell the portfolio without too much runaround or exorbitant fees. If I had been in a rush or careless it could have cost much more.
A general comment. I have dealt with some technical areas at depth that perforce use a technical language but I have never come across so much cant and double-talk in my life outside of this very brief excursion into the world of the share-market.
Once you think you have hold of it they start calling things by unexplained names that mean the same but for no reason are different. Then you get told something by A but the exact opposite by B. It is little wonder some of the online agents charge like wounded buffaloes to sort it out for you and manage to get away with it.
I was dealing with a very small segment of the activity, just selling up. If you wanted to trade or get trading advice the vultures would be circling, diving and coming up with gory heads. Ain’t capitalism wonderful!
Unless there is more the thread can be closed as far as I am concerned.
The platform I chose and the reason why I chose it (other than the fees being reasonable) would not be relevant for many others due to peculiar circumstances that I found myself in so I cannot give a useful recommendation for the general reader.
I am still not clear about much of it as it was an effort to separate the relevant from matters that did not concern me and I did not document the problems along the way so I doubt I can give a coherent account. Had I wanted to get involved, to own and to trade shares I would have approached it quite differently.
If you are volunteering to go into this morass (I didn’t) take it slowly, cross check everything and remember that; of those who say they are here to help some are but some are here to help themselves.
