Pledge gifting: ToS bans reselling through gifts, but the rules remain unclear (November 1, 2026)

Two days after the overhaul of pledge gifting took effect, early field reports are taking shape. A message shared on the r/starcitizen subreddit points to a clause added to CIG's Terms of Service, in their version effective October 30, 2026. At the same time, two creators, MrKraken and Cpt_Foxyloxy, tested the system in real conditions. They note strict rules, but also gaps between how the system is announced and how it actually works.

A clause against reselling through gifting

According to the Reddit post “Selling a ship via gifting now violates ToS,” the Terms of Service now explicitly prohibit requesting or receiving payment, goods, or any other benefit in exchange for a gift. The gifting feature must also not be used to facilitate sales or trades on secondary markets or unauthorized sites.

The full text of the terms is not reproduced in the sources consulted, so the exact wording and the penalties provided for are not known. Another Reddit thread, “What is CIG's goal with the new TOS for ship buying?”, questions the coherence of the move. It points out that CIG is targeting the grey market while continuing to sell ships in limited sales, which feed the very demand on that market.

What Cpt_Foxyloxy's tests show

In his video “Important Item Gifting Change & Pledge Store Testing,” Cpt_Foxyloxy made multiple real purchases on an alternate account to check the system point by point. Several findings emerged:

• a ship returned to buyback remains non-giftable, even after being bought back with cash;
• a paint could be gifted, but the recipient cannot then regift or resell it, only return it to buyback;
• a warbond pack paid entirely in cash was refused as a gift during the test. The creator sees either a bug or a stricter rule than the one announced.

According to him, only items that have recently become available in the store at the time of the gift remain subject to transfer, which is a serious blow to the grey market for pledge resales. This is his own analysis, not a CIG position.

Inconsistencies in enforcement

In “The New Gifting Changes,” MrKraken also tests the system live. He notes that buyback items, which officially should no longer be giftable, are still giftable at the time of recording. A player had already made a similar observation on Reddit: buybacks seemed to be giftable from the hangar when bought with cash, which the author considered a bug. Conversely, the refused warbond pack shows an item that one might expect to be giftable but is not.

A Spectrum thread also reports the disappearance of a well-known combination used to open a second account at low cost. The sources do not detail the mechanism.

Background

On October 28, CIG published on Spectrum a FAQ on the pledge gifting updates. It announced that the gift would no longer be credited to the buyer's hangar, but instead sent by email to the recipient with a redemption code.

Since October 30, several threads have raised questions about how the system is applied. On Spectrum, one of them documents that an item returned to buyback is now permanently marked as non-giftable. Others criticize the launcher for signaling a Terms of Service update without describing the changes. A player also reminded users on Reddit that a gifted pledge no longer passes through the hangar, so it can no longer be upgraded before being gifted.

What we still don't know

CIG has not issued any official message clarifying the points raised on Spectrum during this period. Several questions remain open:

• CCUs on old ships. A Spectrum thread, “Gifting changes: new ccu on old ships?”, asks what happens to upgrades applied to older ships locked to the account. No official answer is known.
• Bug or rule? It is unclear whether the buybacks that can still be gifted and the refused warbond pack stem from deployment errors or from intentional rules.
• Impact on the grey market. The real effect on resales can only be measured through use, and the extent to which CIG will enforce the clause is not known.

The next signal to watch is a possible clarification from CIG on Spectrum, or a fix that would align the behavior of buyback items.