You can send, or gift, pledges made with cash using a supported payment method to your friends with an RSI account!
Quick Jump Links:
- How do I send a gift?
- Gifting Restrictions
- What you can't gift
- I gifted a pledge to my friend, but they don't show as a Backer?
- What happens if a gift is never redeemed?
- I've sent a pledge to my friend, but they no longer use it. Can I get a refund?
- I've received a gifted pledge and wish to return it, as I no longer have a use for it.
- Can I try out the ship before gifting it to my friend?
- If I use the Buy Back Tool to recover a pledge, can I gift it to someone else?
- I have two accounts. Can I gift items to my other account?
- I bought my friend a ship, but I can’t gift it. Why?
- There has been an issue with the payment on a pledge I gifted to a friend. What will happen to my account?
- There are emails about gifts being sent that I did not initiate!
- I received something from another player through a third-party service, but it was deemed "fraudulent" and removed. What happened?
How do I send a gift?
For a detailed walkthrough, see Gift a Ship or Game Package to a friend!
Gifting Restrictions
- The pledge must have the "Buying as a gift?" option available on the Pledge Store and this option must be checked at the time of purchase.
- A pledge purchased using any amount of store credit cannot be gifted.
- Once a pledge has been gifted it will be ‘locked’ to the account on which it has been accepted.
- A single RSI Account cannot send more than $1000 USD worth of gifts in a 24-hour period.
- For pledges made prior to October 30th, 2026, game packages, standalone ships, and other pledge store items may be gifted once. This is counted as once per pledge, not once per account.
RSI Support will not assist with circumventing these restrictions.
What you can't gift
The following items can never be giftable:
- Your protected game access pledges.
- Orders with physical merchandise, like books or apparel.
- Backer rewards from Kickstarter pledges are tied to your account.
- Referral rewards are tied to your account.
- Pledges made with partial or full Store Credit.
- Pledges from special promotions or rewards.
- Pledges with an extremely high monetary value (above $1,000 USD).
- Any model of the Idris, regardless of monetary value.
- The F8C Lightning.
When in doubt, check if the pledge has the "Buying as a gift?" option available on the pledge store.
I gifted a pledge to my friend, but they don't show as a Backer?
The Backer status is an award for players that have pledged for a standalone ship/game package, item, etc. with cash using an approved payment method. Only players that have supported the game can receive this status.
If a player only has pledges they have received as gifts on their account, they are not considered to be a backer. To become one, a player only needs to make a pledge on our store of any amount to support the game.
What happens if a gift is never redeemed?
Should a gifted pledge remain unclaimed for 30 days, the purchase will be automatically refunded and the sender will be notified.
I've sent a pledge to my friend, but they no longer use it. Can I get a refund?
A gift to a friend is intended to be just that: a gift. What they do with it and how often (or not) they use it is up to them. Pledges that have been gifted away from your account no longer belong to you and thus are not eligible for a refund. You can review our refund guidelines and policies at this link.
For this reason, be certain that you are okay with losing access to any ships or items you give to a friend, as it is a permanent decision.
I've received a gifted pledge and wish to return it, as I no longer have a use for it.
If you have received a gift and want to return it as you don't intend to use it or even play anymore, the gifted pledge needs to remain unclaimed to be able to return it to the sender.
If a gifted pledge remains unclaimed for 30 days, it will be automatically refunded and the sender will be notified. Should the gift be redeemed then it is now rightfully yours and cannot be returned or refunded.
Can I try out the ship before gifting it to my friend?
No. When a pledge is purchased as a gift, the pledge is automatically sent away and never appears in the buyer's hangar. This means it can only be used by the person that received the gift.
If I use the Buy Back Tool to recover a pledge, can I gift it to someone else?
Recovering a pledge via the Buy Back Tool will recover a pledge with the same giftable status of the previously reclaimed pledge. If it is eligible to be gifted, it will have the "Buying as a gift?" option available at checkout.
This means, pledges that were originally acquired prior to October 30th, 2026 can be gifted after a buy back, assuming the pledge was giftable when it was reclaimed.
Pledges acquired after October 30th, 2026 that are bought back will remain ungiftable as the gifting should have happened at the Pledge Store during the original purchase.
As usual, any pledge acquired using any amount of store credit are also not giftable. Please also keep in mind that your buy back queue should not be used as a sort of "storage" for pledges to recover later.
I have two accounts. Can I gift items to my other account?
If you have pledges acquired before October 30th, 2026, you can definitely gift applicable pledges between your accounts. These gifts still have the same legacy gifting restrictions and rules as if gifting to a friend. If the pledge is giftable, you can send it to your second account and claim it.
We cannot merge RSI accounts, so this is the only option to consolidate multiple accounts.
IMPORTANT! You will receive an email with a link for accepting the gift. When accepting ANY gift if you own and use multiple RSI Accounts, make sure to log into the account you want to accept the gift on BEFORE clicking the link.
I bought my friend a ship, but I can’t gift it. Why?
If this is the case and the pledge and all items included with it are normally giftable, then this means the "Buying as a gift?" option was not selected during the checkout process.
If the pledge in question is eligible for a refund, you can request a refund and purchase it as a gift instead.
There has been an issue with the payment on a pledge I gifted to a friend. What will happen to my account?
If a pledge has been gifted away but the payment for this gifted pledge has encountered problems after the fact, RSI Agents will attempt to recover the deficit via store credit balance, reclaiming, and/or removing other pledges on the account until the missing balance has been covered.
Due to this, if some sort of problem or trouble has occurred with the payment for a gifted pledge, such as the payment not being processed for some reason, we recommend that players contact us as soon as possible to discuss how to resolve the payment issue.
There are emails about gifts being sent that I did not initiate!
Should you see emails saying that gifts, or any other changes, were made from your account that you did not initiate, it might be an indication that someone has gotten into your account that isn't supposed to be there. This could be a result of sharing account access with another person, such as a sibling, parents, significant other. Should we find that it was a case of account sharing, no changes will be made.
More sinisterly, it could mean that an account thief has hijacked your account, an account compromise, and is sending things away for their own benefit. If the account was compromised, we can return all stolen/gifted, melted/reclaimed, or sold ships, game packages, and other pledged items when restoring the account.
If this has happened to you, please place a ticket to contact RSI Support immediately. It's important to keep your account login credentials secure and private to avoid unauthorized account access.
I received something from another player through a third-party service, but it was deemed "fraudulent" and removed. What happened?
Important!
Pledges purchased through third parties (e.g. private sales, trades, social media and/or 3rd party websites, also known as the Grey Market), are not authorized, supported, or condoned by CIG. We strongly advise against engaging with them.
For full details, please review the Terms of Service, Virtual Goods section.
Virtual Goods received from Grey Market or third party transactions may have been obtained by such third party through fraud or stolen from a compromised account. We legally recover stolen pledges, whether reclaimed or active, back to the customer of record during restoration of compromised accounts.
In the event that a trade of pledges falls through and/or involves illicit or unauthorized means, we will not be able to assist. Any issues you have with respect to 3rd party transactions should be addressed to said 3rd party.