Monthly Collectible

Monthly Collectibles, previously known as Donation Items are special items that are released once a month. These items are generally of higher quality than other items, both in versatility and art quality. They are only obtainable by buying "Thank You Letters" via the Gaia Store for a fee of $2.50(USD) each, or by buying them from other users. When then La Victoire arrived, Thank You Letters were transferred there; the letter is the first item that always occupies the first slot.

History of the Thank You Letter
Between the months of April and May of 2003, Gaia Online users made a thread in the (then) Question & Feedback forum to ease the cost of Gaia Online. The users were aware the Administrators pay for Gaia Online out of their own pockets and after deliberation, a donation system was set up.

This option allowed users to donate for the purpose of simply helping Gaia Online out with such expenses. However, the Administration of Gaia Online secretly created a Thank You Letter and manually put them into the contributors inventories. When these Thank You letters were opened, they revealed the first Donation Item, the Angelic Halo.

The original date of opening the letters was the 25th of each Month.

However in 2006, several changes were made to the donation system. The Administrators put up a poll about the best time to open Thank You Letters. As a result, in May 16, 2006 the letters were to be opened at the middle of the month.

On October 30, 2006, the items were renamed from "Donation Items" to "Monthly Collectibles," the staff citing concerns that since Gaia is a for-profit organization, it shouldn't give the impression of being a charity.

On July 17, 2008, an annoucement was made that the Monthly Collectibles would get a new date, going into the next month (August) the dates for the release would be the 8th. But the announcement stated that if the 8th didn't work out, then there would be adjustments until there was a date that would work for everyone. A reminded was posted August 5th.

On Thu Oct 02, 2008, an announcement was made that the MC date would be switched back to the 15th.

Ways to Buy Monthly Collectibles

 * PayPal - Gaia has a cap on PayPal donations; donating more than $200 will result in your trading account being frozen.
 * Debit/Credit Card - Visa, Mastercard, American Express, or Discover are accepted.
 * Money Order/International Money Order (in USD denominations).
 * Snail Mail
 * Landline Phone
 * Gaia Cash Shop

Monthly Collectible Items
Each month, the items are changed and old Monthly Collectibles will never be re-released. After an item's month has passed, the only way to obtain an older Monthly Collectible item is to purchase it from another Gaian via trades or the Marketplace. The only exceptions to this is to win an item from the "Gaia Wheel" at Gaia Online booths at anime conventions or if Gaia Staff holds a contests wherein the prize is a Thank You Letter of a particular month, which is quite rare.