Selling Shares

Selling shares is easy in large, liquid markets like the Australian Securities Exchange. All you have to do to sell shares is place a sell order with your broker, and then instruct whether you want to take a minimum price or the market price.

Once the shares are sold, you broker will provide you with a contract note that confirms the sale. Your contract note will have details such as fees and stamp duties, and you should keep this information for your tax records. All shareholdings are listed on either the Clearing House Electronic Sub-register System (CHESS) or an issuer-sponsored sub register, so you can expect a CHESS statement (or similar) that you should also keep.

Settlement takes place three days later, and at this time, you will have to enable the transfer of any shares you have sold and collect funds owed. Sometimes when selling shares an offer may be made on your shares when you haven't offered them for sale, such as when a company performs a share buy-back or during a takeover.