Sell or transfer a small number of certificated shares

[Simbu]

I have a small number of shares in Tesco, from when I worked there as a student. They're currently worth around £300. They're held in certificates I own, administrated by Equiniti. The fees to sell these, as a proportion of their value feels excessive; £45. This feels disproportionate and I'd like to avoid this if possible. £45 isn't loads of money but the principle annoys me enough to look into alternatives. Equiniti unsurprisingly aren't very forthcoming with any info on this

Does anyone know of a more cost effective route to getting these shares out?

[Panamax]

I'm not aware of any way to avoid that cost. Most shares were "dematerialised" a very long time ago and are held electronically by a nominee of one sort or another.

Be careful with that share certificate. If it gets lost they can be expensive to replace as you're likely to have to buy some form of legal indemnity. Use insured/guaranteed post when sending it to Equiniti.

[egomeister]

I think when I had some paper shares a few years ago I was able to send them to my online account and get them added to that, which would have then allowed me to sell at whatever (cheaper) rate they offered. I don't remember there being any charge for the transfer. I use Halifax for the share account

[Somebody]

The likes of AJBell and Hargreaves Lansdown will let you transfer these certificated shares into a General Investment account for free after which you can sell from there. I think it's £9.95 at AJB and £11.99 at HL to buy or sell. Other brokers are available.