Zecco Bait and Switch

 b) reducing free trades from 40 to 10.

 c) They've raised their commission from $3.50 per trade to $4.50.  (this one wasn't in this morning's newsletter, but I noticed that they snuck it in at some point).

The justification is so that the company can build infrastructure like answering phones and providing ZeccoShare which honestly is not what I'm interested in.  I think it's a sign of a deeper problem.  My guess is that Zecco is losing money hand over fist and needs to stem the flow.

I didn't open a Zecco account for bells and whistles.  I don't expect to have phone support available and I don't expect to have a web site chock full of features.  This is not why I signed up AT ALL.  It was a very inexpensive way for me to add small amounts to long term holdings and participate in some small speculation without having to worry about transaction costs.

So it appears that Zecco is turning out to be another lousy web based broker with lower than average commissions and a sub par platform (just about anything web based is sub par for real trading).  It's a good thing that my Interactive Brokers account is still available (not that it wouldn't have ever been), but I'll likely be moving my speculative plays back to that account since the executions are superior and the cost is less.

Zecco was nice while it lasted.