Greetings Citizens,

In recent weeks we’ve had a number of questions about buying and selling “used” Star Citizen ships and packages on the secondary market.

As you know, Original and Veteran backers can continue to purchase Star Citizen items with Llifetime Insurance through November 26th, 2013. Using the RSI site’s gift feature, these LTI variants can be traded to other users, including backers who did not pledge during the LTI period.

Some Citizens have been operating trading services, offering LTI packages either at cost or for a profit. Other limited ships, like the Vanduul fighter and the Idris corvette, have begun to appear on auction sites. While we applaud those willing to spend their time to sell additional packages and help more players join the game, we do not have the resources or the ability to support the practice.

While we recognize that many players are doing this to support the game, the potential for abuse is too great. We need to keep our players as safe as possible from scammers, which means blocking the advertising of this practice from RSI-hosted community areas. Your ships and packages are yours to do with as you please and there is no intention of removing the package gifting process. However, we must require that you do not buy or sell them through the official RSI forums.

From today forward, moderators will close any “for sale,” “for trade” or “want to buy” posts and issue warnings. Repeated warnings will earn forum bans. For those purchasing ‘used’ packages elsewhere, be aware that it is at your own risk. We do not support the practice and we can’t offer customer service nor can we accept any liability for outside deals that may go bad. Note also that concierge status will not transfer with gifts; purchasing a thousand dollar corvette on an auction site will not give you access to that area of the site.

LTI may not be available anymore, but there are still plenty of reasons to back the current Star Citizen packages without the risk of the secondary market. Remember, insurance will be readily available for purchase with in-game credits… and the six-month (or more) free insurance bonds included in the current packages will likely cover your starter hull for far longer than it will take you to upgrade to another ship. Lifetime Insurance is a small token aimed at rewarding early backers, not something which will have a huge impact on the final gameplay.