Is it reasonable for a broker to take 50% of sales of a stock? Seems ridiculously high to me, but I have no experience here. Is that the going rate in broker’s fees?
That depends. If you sold a hundred shares of a stock that trades at $.02 it would be rather cheap.
Most brokers generally have a minimum fee per trade or charge extra for special services. That can make the percentage look very high.
OK, say it’s 24 shares around $50 each = $1200. Is 50% still reasonable?
I’m assuming you’re using an European broker since they’re charging you by volume. In no universe have I ever heard of a 50% broker commission. Usually, they are in the low single digits, sometimes even below 1% with a set floor.
Watch The Wolf of Wallstreet. The whole movie (based loosely on a true story) is based around the idea of selling stocks to gullible people at 50% commission.
In short, no it isn’t reasonable in the least but it does help some people afford an excessively extravagant lifestyle. That is fine if it is that type of thing is the charity of your choice but, otherwise, absolutely not. Tell them to get fucked as many ways as you can think of.
I have no idea what types of stocks these are but they may be penny stocks. If so, that is just pure gambling with a hopeless house advantage. More reputable stocks can be bought in almost any reasonable amount for just a few dollars commission on any of the competing online brokerage firms.
No, never - full-stop. That is a pure scam. Even back when stockbrokers made decent commissions based on smaller sales, the standard was still 1% and even that was a lot in retrospect. If you want to by shares directly, just open up a flat-fee per trade account at any of the major online providers and be done with it.
I don’t sell stocks, I sell real estate. If you want me to sell a lot worth $8,000, I will charge a minimum commission of $4,000, which works out to 50%. If you don’t like these figures, you can sell it yourself, but it’s not worth my time for less.
It’s not illegal, and it’s not a scam. But you can imagine that it’s rarely done.
No. Not remotely.
I’m a broker and my firms most expensive transaction - which this wouldn’t be - is 5%.
Get a new broker.
No! It’s way beyond reasonable.
Thanks, all! It just seemed equivalent to usury.
Is it illegal to charge 50% on 24 shares around $50 each = $1200?
I would think Finra has maximun percentage?
I can only think Jinx is being spammed by some one saying "great low commission payable, only 50% ! "
OR
he’s contacted someone who advertised, perhaps the advert says “we even sell small numbers of shares”.
(but like, they’d better be worth $15,000 each !"
The issue is the minimum fee … did they quote 50% , or did they quote a dollar amount, and really its the minimum fee they are charging ?
Also, the terminology could be confusing, perhaps they really mean to say minimum transaction of $X.
There are some mutual funds with crazy high loads and fees but 50% seems way out of line even for one of them. Is it an over the counter stock not traded on an exchange?