Sogoinvest is a fairly new online discount broker that opened its doors in the summer of 2006.  I signed up for it in November 2006 and was impressed by its website and attractive transaction fees.  Here is my take on it after using it for a month and doing some transactions with it.

The Good

• It's cheap.  They have a 90 day promotion where trades are a $1, and after that all trades (buy/sell) are $3 each if you are on the Bronze plan that has no monthly fees.  Sharebuilder charges you $15.95 to sell shares, whereas Sogoinvest is a flat $1-$3 per transaction.
• The website interface is very clean and nice. 
• Gain/Loss tracker (Sogoinvest's competitor Sharebuilder charges you for this feature)
• Execution speed was fast enough for my purposes
• No minimum required in your account
• No maintenance fee for the Bronze level
  
• Phone support is excellent and quick (0 wait time)

The Bad

• Dividend Reinvestment does not exist yet - The money goes directly to your cash account
• Electronic ACH withdrawal transfers are not possible without filling out a paper form and faxing or mailing it in for each transaction
• No options investing
• The activity history page on the website does NOT show you when dividends were credited to your account.  It is only visible through end of the month statements.
• No retirement accounts allowed yet.
• Funds are settled into your account only on the T+3 day, where T is the date Sogoinvest actually initiates the ACH transfer. 

Conclusion 

I do not feel it is worth continuing to invest with it at this time until it matures with more features.  Dividend reinvestment is a big feature that I definitely want.  They allow buying of fractional shares, but don't offer dividend reinvestments?  That makes no sense to me.  ACH withdrawals is the second priority feature I wish they had.  When they add these features, I will be glad to pick up where I left off with them.

Others have commented about features they don't like such as the long/inconsistent ACH transfer time in to their accounts and also the margin interest that accrues on T+1 day.  See indexfundfan's review below for more info.

In the meantime, I will be looking out for other discount brokers to invest with. 

Other Reviews of Sogoinvest 

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