This is the response I received from customer support today (3 days later...) "Thank you for contacting us regarding your Cartel Coins. We have become aware that players have expressed concern about the number of Cartel Coins listed on their individual Cartel Coin Ledger page. We would like to clarify the following information for you: * Cartel Coins are not awarded for the 30 days free game time included with the purchase of the game * Cartel Coins are not awarded for the 30 days free game time awarded as part of the loyalty program earlier this year * Cartel Coins are not awarded for any compensation time granted to your account for any other reason For more information on Cartel Coins and the Free-to-Play option, please see this news article on our website: http://www.swtor.com/info/news/news-article/20121016 or visit our dedicated help center section: http://www.swtor.com/support/helpcenter/6449 If you believe that you have still received the incorrect amount of Cartel Coins since the launch of Free to Play, then please submit a new ticket and an agent will investigate your issue as soon as possible. Please note that our Customer Service team cannot provide any additional information on Cartel Coins rewards. We recommend that you keep an eye on http://www.swtor.com/free/features for any future announcements. Should you require further assistance with any other issues, please do not hesitate to contact us again. Galactic Support is our specialty..." So they duped people into resubscribing before the launch of F2P so subscribers could get the super-secret EXCLUSIVE one-time Cartel Coin grant...that was really only intended to give people half of what they deserved and paid for. Yup.

Any chance they'll allow items to be sold/traded for Cartel Coins? Seems like that would only boost the purchase of Cartel Coins from EA.

I had 450 Cartel Coins on my account when I signed on today. One previous month (200) and the one-time grant (250). I resubscribed a few days before the free-to-play option based on, "If you’re a paying Subscriber at the launch of the Free-to-Play option on November 15th, you will be granted all of the Complimentary Cartel Coins currently listed on your Cartel Coin Ledger page, plus a one-time grant of 250 Complimentary Cartel Coins!" If the Monthly Subscriber Reward of 500 Complimentary Cartel Coins is distributed at the time of payment, as I've been led to believe, does this mean if I would have received more Cartel Coins if I waited until today to resub? I hope this is not the case as it seems misleading and takes advantage of loyal players.