Bond

A bond is an in-game item that allows a player to pay for selected account-related and out-of-game benefits such as membership, Runecoins and Treasure hunter keys with in-game resources.

Tradeable bonds may be traded to other players and sold on the Grand Exchange; however, when the transaction is complete, the bond will become untradeable. A bond is always bound to a player when it has not been redeemed or traded to another player. It is always kept on death, even when inside the wilderness. Both tradeable and untradeable versions may be stored in a player's bond pouch, up to a total of 500. Players can only put an offer for one bond at a time.

Uses
When purchased using real life currency, bonds are tradeable. Once traded to another player for an in-game sum of money or items, they become untradeable. Bonds can be made tradeable again for a payment of 10% of their Grand Exchange value (10% currently being ).

At any time, whether tradeable or untradeable, bonds can be redeemed for one of the following:
 * Membership:
 * 14 days for 1 bond
 * 29 days for 2 bonds (1 day extra compared to 2 bonds separately redeemed)
 * 45 days for 3 bonds (3 days extra compared to 3 bonds separately redeemed)
 * 15 Treasure Hunter keys
 * 195 RuneCoins
 * 1 Character Name Change (if redeemed on a members server)

If the player has both tradeable and untradeable bonds, the latter will be used first.

Bonds can be:
 * Traded with other players
 * Sold for in-game money
 * Rent or buy up to five additional preset slots from the Gear interface (3 bonds each - note, you can alternatively buy 585 runecoins with 3 bonds, use 480 to buy the slot, and have 105 left over)
 * Used to buy RuneFest tickets (when tickets are eligible to be purchased during the year)
 * Donated towards charity via the Well of Goodwill when it is active (currently inactive)
 * Used to buy Premier Club membership (when eligible to be purchased during the year)
 * Used to buy Top Trumps
 * Used to change your character name more than once a month
 * Used to rent/buy the Wealth Evaluator (3 bonds to buy - note, you can alternatively buy 585 runecoins with 3 bonds, use 480 to buy the slot, and have 105 left over)
 * Used to buy a ' ' key

Charitable donations
Jagex donated approximately $4.70 per bond put into the Well of Goodwill, over a dollar less than the purchase price. A selection of charities have benefited from the donations.

Price changes
On 2 March 2015, along with membership, the price of a bond increased, as well as the number of keys and runecoins awarded when redeemed. Prior to this, bonds could be redeemed for 12 keys or 160 runecoins, and cost:

Controversy
A section of the RuneScape community found the introduction of bonds hypocritical and destructive to the integrity of the game, claiming that it was real world trading in the form of gold selling. This is due to the fact that the bonds can be bought with real-life money and sold for in-game gold.

Jagex has said that despite the controversies, bonds did reduce the amount of real world trading that occurred on non-legitimate sites; within one week of the introduction of bonds, the amount of real-world trading dropped by 61%, and the amount of coins that was brought in by real world trading was down by 81%.

Trivia

 * Despite being tradeable, bonds cannot be placed in the party chest at the Falador Party Room, stored in the treasure chest from Carnillean Rising or a beast of burden; they may also not be staked at the Duel Arena or in Conquest; they may not be fed to a Baby Troll.
 * When buying membership in the UK, two bonds costing £7.18, giving 29 days, are cheaper per day than buying a £7.50 30-day membership card, but more expensive than buying 30 days of membership directly for £4.95.
 * When redeeming bonds for RuneFest, the room number displayed in the example is "#237". This is a reference to 's film .
 * When redeeming bonds for RuneFest, doing so on an account without a verified email gives: