All set with ShareBuilder Promotion. But did I get ripped off?
I got my trade confirmation from ShareBuilder that my buy order for EEM went through on Tuesday, as part of my plan to make $1,000+ out of their $50 bonus. I got .5318 shares of EEM for $46. So I paid the equivalent of $86.50 a share?? Nowhere in the 5-day range of EEM on Yahoo does it show it going up to $86.50 a share. Hmm…
I investigate further. I see I still have $4 cash in my account. What about the $4 trade? I think this is what happened: They actually only bought $42 worth of stock, and took the $4 out of the $46 I said I wanted to “invest”. How funky. I wish they made that clearer. So that means I got the share at $78.98 a share, something within Tuesday’s range.
My account is now showing total of $42.73 in EEM, and $4 in cash stuck in limbo. This makes sense, as EEM has been going up the last couple of days. Oh well, at least I’m all set. Just got to wait for my $50 bonus now. ShareBuilder was nice enough to send me a confirmation e-mail, saying I satisfied the requirements of the offer, and will get my $50 in 4-6 weeks. I wish all companies did that!
Moral of the story? If you are going to do this, put down $50 as your investment amount.
Find more in Deals & Offers | 8/10/05, 4:30pm | Trackback
August 10th, 2005 at 6:32 pm
hi,
I actually followed your advice and did the same thing as you, except that I figured that the commission is included in the so-called investment by sharebuilder.com. And you should see the price you paid in your confirmation. Print a copy since there will be no hard copy. I have enjoyed your blog for a while and thanks.
August 10th, 2005 at 7:16 pm
EEM is a great buy, free money is always good.
August 10th, 2005 at 9:44 pm
Thanks for the posting. I followed your lead and opened an account and changed my purchase amount from $46 to $50 before it was enacted. Thanks. Your site is great and informative.
August 12th, 2005 at 5:52 am
I did the same thing. Somewhere down the line that mistake is going to have cost me several hundred dollars. But its free money, so really can’t complain….
August 14th, 2005 at 10:23 am
Thanks for the tip, I changed my order!
August 15th, 2005 at 6:14 pm
I did the same thing, but I realized that I will have to pay taxes on the $50 bonus at the end of the year. It’s still some free money, so I have $46 worth of stock, which I can sell to get $36 and I will have $23.50 profit after paying $12.50 in taxes. Better than nothing…
September 15th, 2005 at 6:14 am
Great news, I followed your Sharebuilder scheme and I just got my $50 bonus this morning. Thanks for the idea JP!
December 11th, 2005 at 7:25 am
I just did this deal recently except I only invested $5 ($1 stock & $4 commission). I got my $50 bonus and they also sent out a free real-time trade for anytime in December. So I sold my investment for $1.08 and am going to transfer out $51.08 for a net gain of $46.08 in a few weeks.
Anyway, you might want to consider selling for free now if you just wanted the bonus money. I don’t really find Sharebuilder very compelling for my purposes.
February 18th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
I did the same thing a year ago when I did my first bonus. I made up on it though, because I bought more stock when I got the bonus. I am waiting for my third bonus to funded now. I am about to move on to doing bonuses with custodial accounts for my three kids. I will have a different strategy for them. I have been buying more than the bonus amount, and then withdrawing the bonus (except for the first one); for my kids, I am going to buy them vanity stocks that kids would find fun, like Nintendo or Disney. Then, then I will withdraw the bonus and actually profit of it.