# New Vodafone Share Dealing Service - Sell 152 Shares or Buy More?



## llgon (3 Feb 2016)

I got a letter today from Computershare regarding the new dealing service for small Vodafone shareholders.  I have the options of selling my 152 shares with a transaction fee of 21c each or buying up to €10,400 worth (less transaction fee and stamp duty) with a transaction fee of €30.  The other options given are to do nothing and retain the shares or donate to a UK charity.

Due to the low number of shares I hold I am considering selling them and the offer sounds attractive.  However I am also considering buying the full allowance.

My question is whether these fees represent good value, particularly the fee for buying additional shares? Given the publicity involved I am assuming they are, but such assumptions can be wrong.

Thanks


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## xoxoxo (3 Feb 2016)

I am in the exact same situation as yourself llgon. Quick online search seems to indicate this is good value. instinct is to sell and avail of the good deal. Am a real amateur as far as shares are concerned so open to any advice!


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## Brendan Burgess (4 Feb 2016)

Just a polite reminder that we do not allow speculation about share prices on askaboutmoney.

It's fine to discuss the merits of the deal on offer from Voafone.

As a general guide, you should not let slightly reduced transaction costs to determine your decision on whether or not to buy a particular share.  If owning Vodafone shares fits into your overall portfolio and financial plan, then by all means use this offer to buy the shares. 

Also, as a general guide, it's not a good idea to have a small holding in shares.  

Vodafone shares are around £2 each, so a holding of 152 shares is around £300.  I don't see any point in having a holding of this size, so if you can sell them for €30, go for it. 

Brendan


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## RedDevil (9 Feb 2016)

I have got no letter about this, they do not give the detail on their website. I have share in respect of myself 139, wife 139  and three children (68x3). Just want to get rid of them, I think share certificates are now gone?


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## Johnnie (9 Feb 2016)

How much have we lost on this Vodafone shares since we purchased the eircom shares. with the dividends we got over the years is there much of a loss


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## llgon (9 Feb 2016)

RedDevil said:


> I have got no letter about this, they do not give the detail on their website. I have share in respect of myself 139, wife 139  and three children (68x3). Just want to get rid of them, I think share certificates are now gone?


Computershare helpline 0818 300999


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## freewheeler (10 Feb 2016)

RedDevil said:


> I have got no letter about this, they do not give the detail on their website. I have share in respect of myself 139, wife 139  and three children (68x3). Just want to get rid of them, I think share certificates are now gone?


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## freewheeler (10 Feb 2016)

Well worth your while to search for mislaid share certs. Appears that an extra deduction of €61.60 per shareholder for indemnity,will apply.Cant believe they would deduct an extra €308 fee from 5 seperate small shareholdings. Also, the commission fee is 0.35c per share, subject to max of €42 up to 1000 shares.


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## Johnnie (10 Feb 2016)

has anyone an idea of how much we have lost??????? since first buying Eircom shares


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## RedDevil (11 Feb 2016)

I do have the Share Certificate but I thought they were no longer valid. Have no idea what I have lost, prefer not to think about. I have not been sent any information and am wondering are others in the same position.


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## elcato (12 Feb 2016)

RedDevil said:


> I do have the Share Certificate but I thought they were no longer valid. Have no idea what I have lost, prefer not to think about. I have not been sent any information and am wondering are others in the same position.


I am. I have heard nothing from vodaphone about selling them.


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## Eithneangela (12 Feb 2016)

elcato said:


> I am. I have heard nothing from vodaphone about selling them.


DITTO. No communication from Vodafone on this - still have my shares from Eircom debacle.


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## PaddyBloggit (12 Feb 2016)

I've my form sent off. I'll take whatever they give and will happily consign eircom/verizon/vodafone/compushare documentaion to the bin.


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## Eithneangela (12 Feb 2016)

PaddyBloggit said:


> I've my form sent off. I'll take whatever they give and will happily consign eircom/verizon/vodafone/compushare documentaion to the bin.


Did you get a form sent through the post? I think I signed up for electronic communication from Vodafone years ago because I was fed up recycling the voluminous documents sent every year. But I haven't received any electronic communication re selling shares.


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## PaddyBloggit (12 Feb 2016)

I got it in the post. I too, signed up for electronic communication a few years back but you need to fill in a physical one page form - very easy to do as it was well laid out. A return envelope was also included in the letter I received.


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## Eithneangela (12 Feb 2016)

PaddyBloggit said:


> I got it in the post. I too, signed up for electronic communication a few years back but you need to fill in a physical one page form - very easy to do as it was well laid out. A return envelope was also included in the letter I received.




I didn't receive any post from Vodafone. Is there any other way I could get the form - I'd love to be rid of the tainted Eircom rubbish leftovers.


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## RedDevil (16 Feb 2016)

I just got the material for Share Dealing in the post today. So I will have to sell them at a time when the share price is going down.


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## Silvera (29 Feb 2016)

I've also received two letters from Vodafone regarding the selling (or buying) of shares. I'm seriously considering getting rid of my shares (at a big loss too!). The small print states that if a person holds shares in a CREST account they cannot avail of this offer (i.e. to sell shares at the offered rate). 

I think I have some (all?) of my shares in a CREST account ...how can I confirm this is (or isnt) the case?
(The forms from Vodafone dont state if my shares are in a CREST account or not)


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## Eithneangela (2 Mar 2016)

Requested Computershare to sell my Vodafone shares last week. Got cheque this morning. Had 638 shares. Current value €2.7479 per share. Dealing Fee €32, Currency Conversion Commission (!) €26.30. Bottom line - cheque value €1,694.87. Exchange rate 1.12816 (bad timing for me ). Bad cess to Eircom!


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## Silvera (3 Mar 2016)

Can anybody answer my question re the CREST account / selling vodafone shares problem I mentioned above (on 1-3-16)?


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## Sue Ellen (7 Mar 2016)

Silvera said:


> Can anybody answer my question re the CREST account / selling vodafone shares problem I mentioned above (on 1-3-16)?





Might be best to give them a call.  I used the landline UK number because such calls are free on our house phone.  0818 numbers are expensive www.saynoto1890.com  Why they give a landline number for the UK (01-2163100) and only 353 (0) 818 300 999 for Ireland is a mystery.


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## Sue Ellen (7 Mar 2016)

RedDevil said:


> I have got no letter about this, they do not give the detail on their website. I have share in respect of myself 139, wife 139  and three children (68x3). Just want to get rid of them, I think share certificates are now gone?





freewheeler said:


> Well worth your while to search for mislaid share certs. Appears that an extra deduction of €61.60 per shareholder for indemnity,will apply.Cant believe they would deduct an extra €308 fee from 5 seperate small shareholdings. Also, the commission fee is 0.35c per share, subject to max of €42 up to 1000 shares.



I wasn't sure either about whether or not share certs were held by Computershare but had a vague recollection that when we sold Verizon shares they confirmed that they would hold certs.

Rang them to-day and they do have our certs so hopefully no €61.60 charge.  I didn't see any mention of this charge on their documenation so just wondering where this info came from?


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## freewheeler (8 Mar 2016)

On Vodaphone share dealing form received last month . On back of page. See " Important- Missing Share Certificates. Please note that if your missing share certificate(s) total 51 shares or more, an idemnity fee of €61.60 incl vat will be deducted from your sale proceeds." So, say you owned 200 shares sold at about  £2 each, but lost the share certificate, you would receive st£400 converted to euro, but after deduction of €61.60 idemnity fee + transaction sales fee €42 .


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## Sue Ellen (8 Mar 2016)

Ah, just had a look at our share dealing forms and nothing on back of them other than info on ShareGift which applies to UK taxpayers only.  The guy I spoke to in the Call Centre mentioned that our reference number indicated that they held our certs.


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## haroldsxxx (12 Mar 2016)

I decided to add some Vodafone shares thinking this was a cheap way to do so. That's the way it has been publicised. I sent a cheque for 5k euro in the week of Feb 15-19, it was cashed on Feb 26 according to my bank a/c. Yesterday, March 11 I checked on computershare to see if there was indication of a transaction as I have received nothing by post.

There was a trade completed. The trade date was 8 March, more than ten days after the cheque was cashed. The cost of transaction was more than I expected. I knew there was a 42 euro fee. I knew there would be a 0.5% stamp duty fee. What I hadn't realised was that there would be a 72.91 euro 'currency conversion commission'. This is nearly 1.5% of the gross amount of the shares purchased.

Reading the terms and conditions of the sale, I now see that they mention currency conversion costs of 'up to 1.5%'. Should of course have checked this before. But how can Vodafone have a cheap share dealing service, largely aimed at consolidating holdings of their Irish shareholders, and add 1.5% for currency conversion costs. I could understand 0.25% but 1.5% is excessive.

What order of currency conversion costs do other Irish brokers charge for purchases of UK shares?

What makes it even more annoying is that in the delay between Feb 26 and March 8, there was a shift in the sterling euro rate from 1.268 to 1.291, which cost me another c. 2% on the deal.

Conclusion: this is not a cheap service for Irish shareholders given the excessive currency conversion costs. It is not an efficient service taking weeks to complete with the trade taking place at some arbitrary date weeks after you give Computershare your money. 

If you have a broker, use the broker - that way, you know the price you are getting, the currency conversion rate and the currency commission rate.


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## losttheplot (12 Mar 2016)

I only had a small amount but had forgotten my log on details for Compushare. The only contact method seems to be phone and I probably would have spent the value of the shares on phone credit while being on hold. My original Eircom holding was 300 euro. I received a cheque for about 100 euro. I don't really know if I'm up or down.

If you really want to buy more shares it would probably be cheaper to set up an account on Degiro and buy them this way. I think this deal is only useful to get rid of a small amount of shares.


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## llgon (12 Mar 2016)

haroldsxxx said:


> I decided to add some Vodafone shares thinking this was a cheap way to do so. That's the way it has been publicised. I sent a cheque for 5k euro in the week of Feb 15-19, it was cashed on Feb 26 according to my bank a/c. Yesterday, March 11 I checked on computershare to see if there was indication of a transaction as I have received nothing by post.
> 
> There was a trade completed. The trade date was 8 March, more than ten days after the cheque was cashed. The cost of transaction was more than I expected. I knew there was a 42 euro fee. I knew there would be a 0.5% stamp duty fee. What I hadn't realised was that there would be a 72.91 euro 'currency conversion commission'. This is nearly 1.5% of the gross amount of the shares purchased.
> 
> ...



Your experience is very informative.  Having posed the question originally I decided to wait until closer to the May deadline to make a decision on what I would do.  Having read your post I am now a lot more likely to sell rather than buy more.  1.5% currency conversion cost does seem excessive to me and I would be very annoyed as well with the delay.  Thanks for the information.  I wonder if many have used the share purchase option.


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## CarPark (4 Apr 2016)

Brendan Burgess said:


> As a general guide, you should not let slightly reduced transaction costs to determine your decision on whether or not to buy a particular share.  If owning Vodafone shares fits into your overall portfolio and financial plan, then by all means use this offer to buy the shares.
> 
> Also, as a general guide, it's not a good idea to have a small holding in shares.
> 
> ...



Can anybody explain (to a total novice) why it is not a good idea to hold a small number of shares?  I have 426 Vodafone shares, which corresponds to roughly €920 worth.  Is that worth keeping or still too low to be bothered with?


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## Raskolnikov (6 Apr 2016)

CarPark said:


> Can anybody explain (to a total novice) why it is not a good idea to hold a small number of shares?  I have 426 Vodafone shares, which corresponds to roughly €920 worth.  Is that worth keeping or still too low to be bothered with?


Because share dealing costs will take a far too large percentage of your capital.

e.g. you invest €200, a dealer might charge a fee of €20 to buy, leaving you with €180 worth of shares. Even if you made a 20% gain on the shares, by the time you come to sell, you will have to pay another €20 - leaving you with your original €200. In this example, your shares went up by 20%, but you end up making nothing.


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## Raskolnikov (6 Apr 2016)

Another question, maybe someone can help.

To minimize costs, would it be possible for family members who all own Vodafone shares to transfer their shares to the one person for free? That might go some way to minimizing costs?


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