If you’ve ever stumbled on a perfect S-class hauler while you already have six ships cluttering your freighter hangar, you’ve probably wondered how to sell ships in No Man’s Sky without wasting time or leaving valuable upgrades behind. I’ve spent hundreds of hours bouncing between star systems, trading and upgrading my fleet, and I’ve picked up every trick for getting the most units out of old ships you no longer want. This guide skips the confusing misinformation you’ll find on old forum threads and breaks down exactly what you can (and can’t) do when selling ships, plus how to maximize your profit every time.
First: What You Need to Know Before You Try to Sell a Ship in No Man’s Sky
There’s a lot of outdated information floating around about selling ships, so let’s clear up the basics first to avoid frustration. First, you can only sell ships that you own and are not currently using as your primary vessel—you can’t get rid of your only ship, for obvious reasons, so you’ll need at least two ships in your fleet to sell one. You also can’t sell ships that are currently assigned to your freighter’s expedition fleet, so you’ll need to recall them to your hangar first if they’re out on a mission. The sale price of your ship is calculated based on its class, number of inventory and tech slots, installed upgrades, and overall condition. You won’t get the full price you paid for the ship originally, usually 70-80% of its base value, but you can boost that number by fixing damage and adding valuable upgrades before you sell. Even free crashed ships you find on planet surfaces are eligible for sale, as long as you’ve claimed them and added them to your fleet first.
Step-by-Step Process to Sell Your Unwanted Ships
Selling a ship only takes a couple of minutes once you know where to go and what steps to follow. You can complete the entire process at any major space station, or at large planetary trade outposts that have a ship technology merchant on site. Follow these simple steps to avoid missteps:
How to Maximize the Units You Get When Selling Ships
You don’t have to take the first offer a merchant gives you for your old ship. Small tweaks before you sell can add thousands, or even millions, of extra units to your payout, depending on the ship’s base value. First, repair all damaged general inventory slots before you list the ship for sale. Even if you only use cheap, easy to find resources like ferrite dust and di-hydrogen to fix those slots, you can boost the sale price by 20-30% for almost no investment. You don’t have to fix damaged tech slots unless you already have the parts on hand, since repairing those often requires rare resources that aren’t worth the cost for the small price bump they provide. Sell ships in wealthy T3 systems for the highest possible offers. I’ve tested this across dozens of star systems, and you’ll get 10-15% more units for the exact same ship in a prosperous economy system compared to a poor or struggling one. That’s a huge difference if you’re selling a high-value S-class ship worth tens of millions of units. If you’re farming units by fixing up crashed ships, this trick alone can make your runs 50% more profitable over time. You can also install cheap, common upgrade modules you have lying around, like basic pulse engine boosts or shield upgrades, to add a small extra bump to the sale price without wasting rare resources.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Selling Ships
Even experienced players make silly mistakes when selling ships that cost them time, units, or rare items. The most common mistake is selling a ship separately when you could trade it in for a new one instead. When you buy a new ship from a NPC pilot or merchant, you can trade in any ship from your fleet as partial payment, and you’ll get the exact same value you would if you sold the old ship first. That saves you the extra step of visiting the ship merchant to sell separately, so it’s always better to trade in if you’re planning to buy a new ship anyway. Never sell a ship that has a registered save point if you don't have another save set recently. If the game crashes right after you sell the ship, you might lose hours of progress if your last save was tied to the vessel you just got rid of. I learned that the hard way after losing 4 hours of exploration progress on a remote dead planet once. You also want to avoid selling limited edition expedition ships, since most of these can’t be re-obtained once they’re gone from your fleet. If you’re not sure if a ship is a limited reward, check your fleet menu for any expedition tags before you confirm the sale. Finally, don’t sell ships with extra large inventory slots if you’re still building out your freighter’s storage. You can assign extra ships to your freighter to add shared inventory space that you can access from anywhere in the system, which is often more useful than the one-time unit payout from selling the ship.
At the end of the day, figuring out how to sell ships in No Man’s Sky is a simple process once you know the basic rules and avoid the common pitfalls that trip up new players. Whether you're clearing out space for a new top-tier hauler, farming units by fixing up crashed ships, or just trimming down your fleet to the vessels you actually use, these tips will help you get the most out of every sale. Next time you're browsing a space station hangar and see that perfect ship you've been hunting for, you'll know exactly what to do to offload your old one without any hassle.
