# Paper stock certificates?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-stock-certificates/647336>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 16, 2013, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-stock-certificates/647336 "2013-01-16T00:06:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mdcastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@Mdcastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mdcastle)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-stock-certificates/647336/1 "2013-01-16T00:06:08Z")

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Do they still exist? If I buy 100 shares of Acme mfg company would I ever get 100 pieces of paper that I would need to deliver to the broker when I want to sell them. Or are they as extinct as paper airline tickets.

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**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-stock-certificates/647336/2 "2013-01-16T00:17:03Z")

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In the US, most companies will still issue them, though they are not required to anymore. If you deal through a broker, they may charge a fee for obtaining them. If you deal directly with the company’s transfer agent, you may avoid the fee.

Schwab is upping their fee for issuing a paper certificate to at least $500, from $50:

[http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2012/07/schwab-stock-certificate-bank-fees-apple.html?page=all](http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2012/07/schwab-stock-certificate-bank-fees-apple.html?page=all)

ETA:

Oh, and you wouldn’t normally get 100 pieces of paper anyway. You would get 1 paper certificate saying that you owned 100 shares.