The Pros:
$4/trade automatic investing
$10/trade real-time trading
Intuitive interface
Customer service

The Cons:
Lacking some features
$4/trade automatic investing can only be done once a week on Tuesdays
$10/trade real-time trading more than double the price of automatic investing

Bottom Line: ShareBuilder is an easy, relatively cheap way to start trading online. The website interface is easy to understand and interact with and trading is timely and accurate. Bummer that the $4 trades can only be made on Tuesdays using a market order.

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I have held my IRA account at sharebuilder.com for several years and would not consider moving or housing it anywhere else. I have found their customer service to be exceptional and they have some of the lowest transaction costs in the industry - when using automatic investments as I do. I am NOT a day trader.

In addition, as a dividend income investor, the reinvestment of dividends without cost is of paramount importance to me.

I would heartily recommend this brokerage if these things are important to you, too.

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ING Direct's Sharebuilder is a great for new players in the stock market, but it comes at a price. Although quite a good deal compared to most other online brokers, ShareBuilder has a $10 fee compared to Scottrades $7 dollar fee. Money isn't everything though, and ShareBuilder offers a wealth of tools and investing options that will help investors succeed. ShareBuilder also has no initial balance requirement (Scottrade has a $500 minimum), and withdrawing and depositing money by wire is easy and efficient. Any way you look at ShareBuilder is great for your average investor.

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ING Direct does a great job with its new ShareBuilder service. They stick with their motto of customer satisfaction and simplicity. Moving money from my Orange Savings account was breeze and they offered my a $50 credit to start trading. They charge $10 per transaction (only $5 if you set up recurring transactions). They offer nice graphics and have some features allowing you to research before you buy. Since I am at the lowest level membership I don't have access to all of them, but I got a 30 day free trial of the services when I first started. They weren't worth the price in my opinion.

Overall I would recommend INGs services to any first time traders. The simplicity of moving money between IRAs, CDs, savings, checking, and your portfolio is unbeatable. The customer support from ING is second to none as well. ING is my choice for life.

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My experience with ShareBuilder has been great. Different levels of service fit different investment desires and pricing needs. The ability to inject a lump sum is great for me when I come into some extra cash and the automatic draw from my checking account is really convenient. Sharebuilder allow you invest a minimum amount and spread it over multiple stocks to build a portfolio a little at a time. I have an will continue to recommend ShareBuilder.

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I have been a subscriber to this site for almost 10 years, and all and all it is a very good site to use. Fees are very low for investing, and one of the highlights for this site is that if you are a new investor, or just do not have a lot of money to start with there are no account minimums. They also offer a variety of services and accounts. Some of the services include: stock reports, stock analysis, a portfolio builder as well as many others. The monthly fees are from $0 - $20.00 a month depending on the services and the amount of trades you plan on doing in any given month. The range of services is one of the best for the money.

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Very good service. Very responsive. Were very helpful when there was a problem.

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If you put in a trade it does not post immediately like you would want, nor does it do it in a couple of hours. Your trade usually doesn't come through til the end of the day. The automatic investment plan has a great rate of only $4 for each trade. Real-time trades will cost you. Overall I would say they are a 4 star rating.

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When first started trading, Sharebuilder allowed me to buy partial stock, there allowing me to build net wealth slowly. Great Company to do business with. Allows monthly/Weekly/one time investment withdraws.

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These guys are okay, pretty much stay out of my way. They do not provide any advice whatsoever, however you should seek out your own information. Overall i am pleased with sharebuilder, because above all they stay out of my way! thank you

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Con: Slow web site, needs real time trading without addition expense

Pro: can buy partial shares

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Sharebuilder has a superior technological engine that I love.
What I would like them to work on giving their users more tools like a mobile banking and trading tool etc.

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Although in general I have been happy with the service. The automatic transfers are easy and quick. But, the website is down today 3/19/09. I am very angry considering how rapidly the market changes. This sucks. I have not heard of other platforms having this problem. I expect something from them to keep me as a customer

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It's great, gives you good resources and has cheap trades. Their automatic investing program is also incredibly easy.

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its been more than 3 years....i like the trading experience at sharebuilder.

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This is a simple easy to use site, that only sends me info to my email that is necessary. Could not ask for anything more.

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After nearly seven (7) years with ShareBuilder I would not change. Their program fits my investing style because I am a small investor who can only afford a few dollars a week. The electronics funds transfer feature works great and is very dependable. The gains keeper program makes it very easy to see where I stand on each stock. End of year statements always come in plenty of time for tax season.

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Has been very good for my long term strategy.

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You can still trade on the stock market, but only on the days they say you can trade on, and it costs much more to trade in real time. I guess it's ok for beginners, but anybody on UpDown.com would know better.

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They are no frills

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i am currently with sharebuilder. to this point i have been really happy with them because they make everything pretty easy, especially since i have an account with ing. however, currently i am living in abroad on a student visa. it is only a temporary situation and the other day i called sharebuilder from another country and inadvertently let them know where i was temporarily residing. as a result, they immediately froze my account because they are only certified to deal with the trades of those residing in the usa. it didn't make any difference that i am only here briefly and that i am an american citizen who still pays american bills and holds several different american bank accounts. there was no getting around it. they said i can switch to a different broker that allows overseas trades but they didn't provide any names and it will probably cost me. additionally, i think it will take at least 6 weeks for all the paperwork to go through. a lot can happen to my frozen trades in 6 weeks! to this point i have been fine with sharebuilder, but i am really inconvenienced now. a word to the wise - if you are a student living overseas for a semester, don't mention it to your broker!

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Below is my complaint letter that I wrote to them (sorry its long). They admitted their mistake, but they are not willing to reimburse me for their mis-information.

The purpose of this email is to file a complaint and to rectify this issue. You should receive a physical letter in the mail shortly. I can not believe the level of disappoint that I have experienced with your company.

I placed a Limit Order GTC for 999 shares of Washington Mutual WM at $4.87 on September 18, 2008. The next morning, I tried numerous times to access my account and eventually I was able to log in. At 6:28am, I canceled my order so that I can immediately place a Market Order. Once I clicked on the "cancel" button, I was disconnected from your web site. I called and asked the representative the status of my trade and why it was so hard to access my account. He told me that ShareBuilder’s website is currently down due to unusual high volume and this trade was executed. I was concerned because I already cancelled this order. He reassured me not to worry and once ShareBuilder’s website is running again, it would refresh and I would be able to see that this trade was executed. I did not asked for his name because he made me feel comfortable and assured that this trade was executed.

Later that afternoon ShareBuilder’s website did refresh, but it showed that my trade was canceled rather than executed. I called ShareBuilder Securities Corporation and spoke to a representative name Nick who told me that this trade was canceled. I told him that during my previous call, a representative had confirmed that this trade was executed. Since he was not able to further help me, I was transferred to a Supervisor name Heather Widden. Heather rudely told me that ShareBuilder’s website was never down and that ShareBuilder’s representative never told me that my trade was executed. Heather rudely tried to convince me that there is nothing further to talk about and there is nothing for her to do since I canceled this. Heather made me feel as if she had important things to do and that I was wasting her time. I told her that I intended to place a Market Order after I cancelled this order, but I was not able to do so because I couldn’t log into ShareBuilder’s website. Then I called to place a Market Order over the phone, but I didn’t do so because I was told that this trade has been executed. I trust that I was receiving correct information so I didn’t proceed to place a different order. I asked Heather if she would listen to my previous recorded phone call so she can hear that I was indeed told that this trade was executed. Heather rudely told me that my previous call was not recorded and this conversation is recorded. I asked if I can talk to a manager or someone with greater authority, but Heather told me that her manager is on a different call and her manager will call me back. Then the call was over with.

I called ShareBuilder Securities Corporation a few days later and was told that their manager is still busy and I will receive a call later. It was been 16 business days and I still have not received a phone call.

My experience with ShareBuilder Securities Corporation’s customer service department left me speechless. October 26 will be my 1 year anniversary with ShareBuilders. Since I have been with ShareBuilders, I have spent a total of $843.71 in commission fees. I request that ShareBuilder Securities Corporation honor my trade of 999 shares of Washington Mutual at $4.87 as I was told by your representative that this trade was executed.

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Not much to write home about. Mainly for long term investors. Commissions are too high for traders.

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This service is terrible. Their website constantly goes down. If you call them, they tell you their is a 45 minute wait time to talk to someone. Unbelievable. You cannot sell or buy. I lost money trading with this broker.

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The cost per trade is $9.95 for first 1000 shares,then $25.00 for each additional 1000 in an order,,a bit steep don't ya think ?Never answers questions provided by email. Trades very slow and does not keep[ up with real time quotes .........

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PROS: The prices are fair. There are no hidden fees. The customer support is fantastic.

CONS: There is little support of penny stocks. The free tools aren't very impressive.

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Requires 3 trading days for funds to settle - I think a bit longer than the industry average.

$10 trading fee is more expensive than industry average.

Allows small initial investment for the beginner. The trading fees will eventually make you look elsewhere for better value.

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I don't trade that often and don't have much to trade with, but after the execution of one sale last week took almost a half hour during which the price went down about 5% - I was willing to chalk that up to perhaps everybody bailing at once, but the end price of the day was hardly worse than what they sold it at for me, and then today, when I issued a buy, I waited nearly an hour and a half for the trade to be executed, during which the price went *up* over 50 cents! I am starting to think perhaps ING DIRECT is collecting a bunch of information on what their customers want to do and then trading their own stocks before they trade their customers. They have lost my business. I will be getting out at the first opportunity and trying Zecco.

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ShareBuilder is an excellent online broker for buy and hold or small investments (I have no experience with large stock positions). Extensive educational resources and analysis for serious investors are available. They charge $9.95 per trade.

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