How to sell contraband in Starfield

There’s plenty to pick up and loot in the vast galaxy that Starfield takes place in, but some of the most interesting and valuable items will be contraband. These items are worth more than your basic miscellaneous loot, but only a select few will even purchase them, and you have to avoid interest from the authorities.

To kick start your contraband empire in Starfield, you will need to know who will buy it from you, and you will need to know how to avoid getting caught with it.

What are contraband items in Starfield?

Contraband items are goods considered illegal by most of the major factions, primarily the United Colonies and Freestar Collective. Most contraband you run across in Starfield is drugs, though there are other notable goods that are not permitted on some planets, such as mech parts.

The best example of contraband is Aurora. While legal on Neon, a planet existing outside of the UC and Freestar Collective, it is illegal to bring into the major faction’s airspace. Thankfully, it is easy to identify contraband items in Starfield as they are tagged by a yellow mark, as seen above.

Related: Starfield Lockpicking Guide – how to pick locks and steal items

How to sell contraband items in Starfield

The easiest way to sell contraband items in Starfield is simply to sell the item to the Trade Authority. If you manage to smuggle contraband into major cities, such as Akila City or New Atlantis, you won’t find many merchants willing to take the items off your hands, except for those working at the aforementioned Trade Authority.

When orbiting a planet in a settled system in UC or Freestar space, you will be scanned for contraband. If contraband is discovered, you have three options:

1. Pay the fine and surrender the contraband goods. You will be teleported to the jail of the nearest settlement, but you will not serve any jail time. Depending on the jail layout and your stealth system, you might be able to steal back your contraband goods, but there’s no way to get the fine back.
2. Surrender the contraband goods and go to jail. You will not lose any credits, but several days of game time will pass, and you will lose experience for that.
3. Fight. You will pick up a bounty with the local faction, and you will have to survive space combat.

So what’s the best method for selling contraband? There are two pretty simple solutions.

1. Take your contraband to The Den, located in orbit around Chthonia in the Wolf system. The Wolf system is one of the few places you can fly into without being scanned, and you can sell contraband at the small Trade Authority desk inside the station.
2. Purchase shielded cargo holds. Shielded cargo holds will hide contraband up to a certain amount if you don’t want to go to The Den every time you want to sell. Speak to Lon Anderssen at the Red Mile on Proxima III in the Proxima system, and he will sell you shielded cargo holds that you can equip with your ship builder.

Additionally, given the seediness of the Red Mile, you also might find a local vendor there willing to buy contraband from you.