Starfield: How and Where to Sell Contraband

Exploration is one of the main attractions when it comes to Starfield, and you will spend most of your time exploring random locations and collecting valuable items. At some point, you will come across items with a red or yellow symbol, and these symbols should not be ignored.

The red symbol signifies that the item belongs to someone, while the yellow symbol indicates contraband items. If you are caught with contraband goods in your inventory or on your ship, you will immediately have a bounty placed on your head. Fortunately, there are some ways to avoid this if you wish to sell contraband items.

How To Sell Contraband In Starfield

If you have acquired a contraband item and wish to sell it due to its high value, you must first bypass various scanners in the star systems that belong to the Freestar Collective or the UC Vanguard. This is not an easy task, and you have no means to accomplish it during the early stages of the game.

You can bypass a scan either by having a shielded capacity on your spaceship or by possessing a scan jammer. While you may come across many places where you can buy new ships or upgrade your ship components, you will not find the shielded capacity or scan jammer anywhere. The only way to obtain them is by participating in space battles.

During combat against other ships, you can dock with them and check their statistics. If you come across a shielded capacity or a scan jammer, it is worth taking over that ship as it helps prevent the contraband from being scanned. The likelihood of your contraband being detected during a scan is also based on probabilities, even with the presence of these mentioned items.

The chances of detection increase as the weight of your contraband gets closer to the shielded capacity. If you attempt to smuggle contraband onto a planet, it is recommended to save the game shortly before entering, so you can try again if caught. Once you are on the planet, you can sell the item to most merchants who accept miscellaneous items.

Where To Find Contraband

Normally, you won't come across contraband just randomly in places due to strict security measures against these items. The few ways to find such items are as follows:

• You can head over to deserted planets and look for various Abandoned Outposts taken over by Pirates or Eclipse. These places have a chance of spawning Contraband items.
• You have a better chance of finding Contraband if you go around space and look for Crimson Fleet or Eclipse Spaceships. Boarding these ships will usually result in you locating at least one Contraband item.