Idiots guide to selling shares

[lozster]

I'm not an idiot honest however I'm finding it hard to understand how to sell shares.

Ive never bought shares but I have shares from an employee share save scheme. I have paper certificates and now need to sell them to pay to repair a hole in the roof! I have done some reading on line but I'm grappling to understand the (best) way to sell shares.

My basic understanding is that I can open an electronic account or do a one off sale? I'm confused though on what the lead time is on setting up an account, how the share price at the point of sale is fixed, how quickly money is transferred. Can anyone give me a simple account of my options and the pros and cons?

Thank you!

My knowledge is pretty sketchy but just as a starting point before someone more expert comes along:

You want to sell some shares and presumably do so avoiding an extra charges e.g. admin fees, commission etc. There are online a number of Fund Supermarkets and Discount Brokers who don't necessarily give actual investment advice but just carry out your instructions, thereby keeping extra costs to a minimum. Examples and Hargreaves Landsdown, BestInvest and The Share Centre.

They would allow you to open an account with them (perhaps online) in which to place your shares, which you could then sell for cash. If you hold them as paper certificates you may have to send them those, or fill in a form with the relevant details.

It might be quickest to get the advice phone numbers from their web sites, give them a ring, and tell them you just want to make a one-off sale. They should be able to tell you what the easiest and cheapest way is of doing this. Some sites (The Share Centre is one) have a different admin charge depending on whether you are an occasional small investor or a frequent investor (or one with a large amount to invest in one go). You'd need to work out what category you fall in. If you have a large monetary amount to sell you might be better spending a one-off charge than a percentage (typically 1-1.5%) of your investment.

Also on these sites there will be FAQs and documents explaining the detailed stuff e.g. how long it takes, at what point the share prices is determined etc.

I hope this at least points you in the right direction - to repeat, I am not at all an expert, just vaguely (and recently) interested!

Thanks do much for the reply. I will check out those companies. The direction really helps as my searching has uncovered a vast number of links that assume long term buying and selling. That's perfect thanks.