OneShare.com

Full review
This was a great idea when it came out, now they've gotten lazy and are desperate for revenues...read on...

The first time I used this company, it was a gift. It was a simple checkout process, a little cumbersome when it comes to registration details or if you want to order multiple share certificates as you have to register each one individually (think of it as going to a bank to open up 3 accounts but having to fill out 3 different forms to do that instead of the one).

Regardless, I ordered 3 shares, 1 as a gift, 2 for myself. The online order tracking thing is good, you can see where your order stands but I agree with the majority of posters here that the delivery was extremely slow. It took about 2 months and a couple emails from me to finally get my full order.

The packaging was decent - I didn't order a frame as I wanted to frame them myself and as a result, the certificates showed up with cardboard backing. One corner was bent but we have to expect a little wear and tear in the mail. No complaints about that.

The registration was all done properly and I and my niece still get annual reports and proxies when due. That is nice for her.

Now for the problem...I went to re-order as I was happy with the original orders, only to find out that they now FORCE you to buy a frame. These frames, readily available at Home Depot or Lowes, retail for $9.99 or less, they charge $34-44 for them!

Ridiculous, why should I be forced into buying a frame from them? So I emailed their customer service dept. and they fed me some line that the SEC requires them to add costs to the order (under $44) so as not to compete with brokerage firms (funny I don't recall that the first time I ordered and I ordered $23 and $26 stock). Insane excuse...I work in the industry and they're no such ruling. Something's fishy over at OneShare in my humble opinion.

Regardless, I am fortunate enough to be close to the investment business so I literally purchased 1 share of Apple for a cost of $15 commission and $25 certificate fee.

So OneShare's ok if you want to buy the frame and a plaque and all that jazz and gift it to someone (literally "full service share certificate brokerage") but I prefer the discount do it yourself and get it the way you want it brokerage ;)