Starfield guide: How to easily Hail and Trade with ships

In Starfield, you will not be required to commute all the way to settled colonies to be able to trade items and sell Contraband; you can do it with other vessels and ships while out in space. This factor makes emptying your ship’s inventory space of all junk incredibly convenient so that you can go about acquiring more resources and items to sell once again.

However, many players are a bit confused about how they can trade and sell items to other ships when out in space.

There are a few nuances to the method, and it’s not all that surprising why there are many stuck on it.

Hence, today’s Starfield guide will go over some of the things that you will need to do in order to trade with ships when out in space.

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How to trade with ships and stations in Starfield

To be able to trade with ships and stations in Starfield, here are a few things that you will be required to do:

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1) Make sure you are not a member of the Crimson Fleet

The first thing you will need to make sure of before trading with a friendly or civilian ship is that you are not a part of the Crimson Fleet. They are an outlaw faction, and if the ship sees that you are a member of it, they will refuse to trade with you.

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2) Hail the friendly ship

Once the other ship notices that you are friendly then you will be able to hail them. To do so, you will need to search for the white arrow on the HUD indicator (which denotes that a friendly ship is nearby) and then, after approaching the vessel, press the A button.

This will allow you to communicate with them, and you will be able to exchange items and sell stuff once you go through the interaction.

If it’s a space station, they will allow you to dock, and if it is a Trade Authority center, you will be able to sell Contraband here.

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3) Initiate a trade

Once you have docked or were able to convince the ship that you are friendly, you will need to initiate a trade. This will be the dialogue option that says “Let’s Trade.”

However, unlike settlement vendors and Trade Authority shops, you will only be able to sell a limited amount of items to these ships in Starfield. This is because they do not carry as many credits, so you will need to find more ships if you are looking to sell an entire cargo’s worth of items.

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Check out the guide for Where to Sell Starfield contraband Without Getting Shielded Cargo.