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Terms of Use

First Share Terms & Conditions of Membership

Please read carefully the following terms and conditions of membership. By joining FirstShare you accept and agree to abide by these terms and conditions.

  1. By becoming a FIRSTSHARE member, you understand that your membership will be automatically renewed upon expiration. FIRSTSHARE TRIAL members will be automatically enrolled in our FIRSTSHARE PRO membership tier upon expiration of their 30-day trial period. FIRSTSHARE PRO memberships will be automatically renewed for a term of one year upon expiration. All FIRSTSHARE members will receive email notification one week prior to automatic renewal. To opt-out of auto-renew, FIRSTSHARE members should log in to the "My Profile" page of their FIRSTSHARE account and cancel their membership.
  2. By becoming a FIRSTSHARE member, you understand that any fees (membership and StarterShare) paid to FIRSTSHARE are NON-REFUNDABLE. FIRSTSHARE provides a service and does not sell a product that can be returned. In addition, all membership and StarterShare requests are processed immediately upon submission by the FIRSTSHARE member.
  3. Purchases and sales between FIRSTSHARE members are private transactions between the parties. The purchaser understands that, in addition to the referral fees paid to FIRSTSHARE, he/she may incur a small convenience fee (approximately $7.50/share), to help cover the selling member's expenses associated with transferring the share to, and establishing a DRiP account for, the purchaser.
  4. A purchasing member must respond promptly to a selling member's offer to sell by returning the completed agreement and payment for the share on a timely basis.   The selling member may cancel his offer to sell if the accepted agreement and payment for the share is not returned to the seller promptly, and the agreement may specify a reasonable time within which it must be returned to the seller.  If an offer is terminated because of purchaser's failure to return the agreement and correct payment to seller on a timely basis, FIRSTSHARE will require the payment of a new request fee to refer buyer's request to another selling member.
  5. The purchaser shall provide all of the required information for registration of the share to the seller in a proper and legible manner.
  6. The FIRST SHARE member initiating the request to purchase should sign the agreement with the selling member, even if the share is being registered in a name other than that of the purchasing member.  Selling members may return purchase agreements which are not signed by the requesting member.
  7. The purchaser shall be liable to the seller for any additional fees resulting from the purchaser's actions or failure to perform in accordance with the purchase and sale agreement.  Such fees may include fees for collection of checks which are not honored by the purchaser's bank;  additional expenses which may be incurred by seller to effect the transaction on account of the purchasing member's failure to provide sufficient registration information or the tender of incorrect payment.  The membership privileges of purchasing members who owe money to selling members may be suspended or terminated.
  8. If a purchaser's check is not honored for any reason, the seller may impose charges for returned check fees, require the purchaser to make payment in certified funds, or elect to cancel the transaction.  If the transaction is cancelled by a seller because of non-payment, the purchaser must make a new request to FIRSTSHARE and pay an additional request fee.  FIRSTSHARE may, at its discretion, require any member who presents a check which is returned unpaid to make payment of fees by certified funds, and may suspend or terminate the membership privileges of any member who presents an insufficient check.
  9. Members who wish to offer shares for sale to other FIRSTSHARE members must apply to FIRSTSHARE in writing identifying the shares offered for sale.  A FIRSTSHARE member who has elected to offer shares for sale must respond promptly to referrals made by FIRSTSHARE, must act promptly to effect the transfer of shares to purchasing members, and must act in good faith at all times.  All referrals to selling members are made at the discretion of FIRSTSHARE, and FIRSTSHARE may suspend or terminate referrals to selling members at any time in its sole discretion.
  10. FIRSTSHARE does not effect transactions in securities, and FIRSTSHARE assumes no liability or responsibility for the completion of transactions between members.  Forms provided by FIRSTSHARE are sample forms for the guidance of members;  members may agree on any reasonable terms relating to the transactions between them.

Members are responsible for verifying the terms of a company's Dividend Reinvestment or Direct Stock Purchase program before requesting a referral for a company. Once a request for a stock referral is submitted the request fee paid for the referral is NON-REFUNDABLE whether or not the member completes the purchase of the share. A member requesting a referral is not obligated to purchase the share, however, if the purchaser elects not to purchase the share the referral fee paid to FirstShare for the request is not refundable. updated 10/15/2013