yeah, I know, my Last post made less sense than even my regular comments
I'm trying again, though I promise nothing.
This is the way my fevered mind sees it.
If the 'buyer' acquires a ship with a special component on it from a neutral race (or anyone else for that matter) they will not be able to upgrade other components of the acquired ship because they cannot design an upgrade that still has the special component.
So, for the components to be 'usefully transferable' they would need to be an integral part of the hull. Then the 'buyer' could upgrade the components on the ship without losing the special ability. So every special component would actually have to be a new hull type.
But! the 'buyer' cannot make that hull type, so they cannot upgrade that hull type, so they're stuck with crummy ships from the neutral player! Argg.
This is why I think we can only accomplish successful trade of 'special commodities' through hard-code changes.
-jimbob