starfield how to sell ships

June 28, 2026

To sell ships in Starfield, you need to use a Ship Services Technician at a major spaceport, switch to the Sell tab in the ship menu, and make sure you’re not trying to sell your current home ship or an unregistered stolen ship.

Starfield How To Sell Ships (Quick Scoop)

Basic way to sell a ship

Here’s the core loop you’ll use almost every time:

Go to a major spaceport
- Land at places like New Atlantis, Neon, Akila City, Cydonia, or any big settlement or station with a landing pad.

 * Look for the **Ship Services Technician** standing near the landing pad or docking area.

Talk to the Ship Services Technician
- Choose the dialogue option like “Let me see what ships you have for sale.”

 * This opens the ship vendor screen; by default, you’ll be on the **Buy** tab.

Switch to the Sell tab
- Use the on‑screen button prompt (shown at the bottom of the screen) to switch from Buy to Sell.

 * Now you’ll see your owned ships instead of the vendor’s list.

Pick the ship and confirm sale
- Use the navigation controls at the top of the screen (bumpers on controller, equivalent keys on PC) to scroll through your ships until you find the one you want to sell.

 * Select **Sell** , then confirm in the popup window to receive Credits.

Quick example: Land in New Atlantis → talk to the pad tech → “Let me see what ships you have for sale.” → swap to Sell → highlight ship → Sell → confirm.

Important rules and limitations

You can’t just sell any ship at any time; Starfield has a few guardrails:

You cannot sell your Home Ship.
- The game always keeps at least one ship for you, so your current Home Ship is locked from being sold.

* If the ship you want to sell is set as Home, you must set a different ship as Home first.

You need more than one ship.
- If you only own one ship, you won’t be allowed to sell it—otherwise you’d be stranded.

Stolen/captured ships must be registered (normally).
- A ship you commandeer or steal counts as unregistered until you pay a registration fee at the technician.

* Unregistered ships can’t be sold in the standard way; registering them turns them into fully owned ships.

Registration costs credits.
- The registration fee is a big chunk of the ship’s value—around roughly 85% of what it would sell for, so you must have enough credits upfront or you won’t even see the option.

* If the fee is higher than what you’ll gain, selling that ship may not be worth it.

Step‑by‑step: selling a stolen or captured ship

If you’ve done some space piracy or just nabbed a ship in combat, here’s the cleaner, intended route:

Dock or land with the captured ship
- Fly the ship you just took to a spaceport with a Ship Services Technician.

Set another ship as your Home Ship (if needed)
- In the Ship Services menu, pick the option to view/modify ships , then set a different ship as your Home Ship so the one you want to sell isn’t locked.

Register the captured ship
- In the ship overview or Sell screen, select the captured ship and choose Register (if you have enough credits).

 * Confirm registration; now it’s treated like a normal owned ship.

Sell it like any other ship
- Back with the technician, go to “Let me see what ships you have for sale” → Sell tab → pick the ship → Sell → confirm.

Some community players report button‑timing tricks to bypass registration and sell unregistered ships directly (for example, simultaneous key/button presses on Sell and another command), but those rely on exploits, may require a controller, and are likely to be patched. Use them at your own risk.

Where to find Ship Services Technicians

You don’t need to remember one specific city; almost every major hub has one:

New Atlantis (Jemison) – Available early via the main story; technician is near the landing pad.

Neon, Akila City, Cydonia – All have technicians by the main landing area or pads.

The Key and other stations – Many pirate/faction hubs and stations also have technicians where you can buy, modify, and sell ships.

If you can see a proper landing pad and a small service kiosk or NPC nearby, there’s a good chance that’s your ship vendor.

Quick tips, profit angles, and current chatter

Players on forums and social media have been actively min‑maxing ship selling since Starfield’s launch in late 2023 and into 2025–2026.

Selling vs. keeping for your fleet
- Some ships are worth more as specialized tools (haulers, combat ships) than the relatively modest Credits you get from selling them.

* Many players suggest selling only duplicates or ships that don’t fit your build (e.g., redundant low‑cargo ships in a smuggler run).

Is capturing and selling ships “worth it”?
- Community threads often note that once you factor in registration cost and time, ship theft is more about fun and variety than raw credit farming.

* It can still be lucrative early‑mid game, especially if you grab higher‑class ships and already have enough credits for registration.

Exploit discussions
- Some Reddit and video guides share button‑timing exploits to sell unregistered ships or squeeze out extra credits, but players also report inconsistent success and patches affecting them over time.

* If you want a stable experience, the standard register‑then‑sell flow is more reliable in the long run.

At‑a‑glance ship selling flow (HTML table)

Below is an HTML table summarizing the main points (you can embed this directly if you’re posting on a site that allows HTML):

html

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Step</th>
      <th>Action</th>
      <th>Key Details</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>1</td>
      <td>Go to a spaceport</td>
      <td>Land at a major city or station with a Ship Services Technician near the landing pad.[web:1][web:7][web:10]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>2</td>
      <td>Talk to the technician</td>
      <td>Select "Let me see what ships you have for sale" to open the ship vendor menu.[web:1][web:5][web:7]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>3</td>
      <td>Open Sell tab</td>
      <td>Use the on-screen button prompt to switch from Buy to Sell.[web:1][web:3][web:5]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>4</td>
      <td>Select ship</td>
      <td>Use navigation controls to highlight the ship you want to sell.[web:3][web:5]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>5</td>
      <td>Confirm sale</td>
      <td>Choose Sell, confirm in the popup to receive Credits.[web:1][web:5][web:7]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Rule</td>
      <td>Home Ship restriction</td>
      <td>You cannot sell your current Home Ship; set another ship as Home first.[web:1][web:5][web:7]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Rule</td>
      <td>Registration</td>
      <td>Stolen/captured ships must be registered for a fee before standard selling.[web:1][web:5][web:7][web:10]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Note</td>
      <td>Registration cost</td>
      <td>Fee is a large portion (around 85%) of the ship’s sale value; you need enough credits or the option won’t appear.[web:5][web:7]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Community</td>
      <td>Exploits</td>
      <td>Some players use timing exploits to sell unregistered ships, but they can be inconsistent and patch-sensitive.[web:4][web:6][web:9]</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

TL;DR: Find a Ship Services Technician, open their ship menu, switch to Sell, make sure the ship isn’t your Home Ship and is registered if stolen, then confirm the sale to cash in.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.