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   posted: Jan. 19, 2008 @ 1:08p

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If you have used an investment tracking / schedule D generating service such as TradeLog vs Gainskeeper, can you please post your experience with them? TradeLog seems to be much cheaper and seems to support most functions that Gainskeeper does perhaps without the Jazzy interface. Other than that I don't see much of a difference from the info available on the websites.

I have 100s (perhaps 1000+) of options transactions to record this year - everything from spreads to butterflies to condors. This is the first year that I've done such intensive trading and now overwhelmed at all the info that I need to sort thru.

I am sure few other FW'ers may be in similar situation so if you have gone thru this in the past , your advice will be valuable. I'll update the Quick Summary section with any key tips and tricks from the postings.

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   posted: Jan. 19, 2008 @ 2:22p

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as a scottrade member I automatically got gainskeeper on my account.... generally its been great and really helpful.... two caveats however... when it was introduced, it didn't have the right basis information for some of my long-held stocks.. so I had to add it... also with options... some of my options expired, but since they weren't sold (just expired) gainskeeper didn't recognize that there was a loss there.

good luck!

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   posted: Apr. 4, 2008 @ 7:51a

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I've been using GainsKeeper for a few years and have been happy with it - everything is imported into TurboTax with the click of a button.

Yes, it handles wash sales. From their website: "GainsKeeper automatically adjusts cost basis and gain/loss reports for wash sales and corporate actions."

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   posted: Apr. 25, 2008 @ 8:29p

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I've had endless problems with tradelog. They post revisions many times per month. Their software regularly stops accepting downloads from fidelity "because fidelity changed their download format again". Every one of their revisions/upgrades requires going back to customer service because of one or more problems with download or installation.

The time before this one, my tradelog was working just fine, but their software said a new upgrade was available, which I dutifully downloaded & applied. After the upgrade, my download from fidelity no longer worked. Customer service blamed it on fidelity changing their file format. They sent me a link to a patch. Still, the software, which had been usable, became unusable during this exchange with customer service.

Today, I had a working tradelog, but their system again suggested I upgrade. This time, the upgrade yielded "source file is corrupted". I tried uninstalling & then reinstalling tradelog. I was again left with a non-functioning system. I was exasperated yet again.

The last time, I exclaimed their software "sucks" because of this. This prompted an email from the president of the company threatening to revoke the customer serive I had paid for, scolded me for "being rude", and stated the problem was with my internet connection or browser. I escalated this by stating that I had paid for that customer service & they should either get me a consistently working system or refund my money. Otherwise, they should expect to be hearing from (and I fully expect to complain to) the better business bureau, the federal trade commission and ic3.gov (the govt's internet fraud complaint site). I've never seen such rude customer serive, or an utterly incompetent technical company. The way these guys rationalize their failures ("fidelity changed its format again", "the problem is with your browser",...) is enormous.

The bottom line is that you get what you pay for. I've used gainskeeper for years without problems. I switched to tradelog to try & save a few dollars.

I'm going back to using gainskeeper though it's slightly more expenisve. I use such software to save my valuable time. But tradelog simply doesn't work. The software doesn't work. Their upgrade/revisions do not work. Their customer service does not work.

Avoid tradelog at all costs.

JMHO

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