Starfield Contraband Economy: How to Cash in on $350,600 Worth of Contraband

Selling contraband can be an extremely lucrative endeavor in Starfield, but it requires knowing where to sell it and how to avoid getting caught with illegal goods. A recent Reddit post described someone acquiring $350,600 worth of contraband and asking the best way to sell it. This article will provide a step-by-step guide on how to successfully sell large amounts of Starfield contraband without losing your profits or freedom.

Contraband items like illegal weapons, drugs, and stolen goods can net you a fortune in Starfield if you know where and how to sell them. With $350,600 worth of contraband, you’re sitting on a virtual goldmine. However, finding buyers willing to purchase large quantities of hot merchandise can be tricky. Follow these steps to maximize your profits and safely unload your illicit haul.

How to Sell Starfield Contraband Successfully

Contraband items like narcotics, illegal weapons, poached animal parts, and stolen goods are sprinkled throughout the settled systems, usually found in the possession of criminal groups and wealthy elites. By raiding their hideouts or robbing their mansions, you can stockpile impressive hordes of contraband over time. However, offloading that much contraband through legitimate vendors who only pay a fraction of an item’s value will take forever.

1. Acquire Shielded Cargo

The first step is equipping your ship with shielded cargo holds. This allows you to evade scans when entering settlements and space stations, preventing authorities from discovering and confiscating your contraband. Invest perk points into the Contraband skill tree to increase your shielded cargo capacity. With 350k worth of contraband, you’ll likely need the maximum of 5 shielded cargo holds.

2. Find Buyers Willing to Take Contraband

The first challenge is finding merchants willing to buy stolen and illegal goods. Many vendors at space stations and settlements will refuse or confiscate your contraband. However, certain factions and individuals specialize in dealing under the table.

The best options include:

• Trade Authority – Government vendors that purchase contraband no questions asked. They can be found in major ports like New Atlantis. Sell to the Trade Authority Vendor Speak to the Trade Authority vendor and sell him all the contraband you can. He has a limited pool of credits that replenishes every 48 in-game hours. Sell to him until he has no more money. Wait 48 Hours After exhausting the Trade Authority’s credits, wait 48 hours by sleeping in a bed on your ship or sitting in a nearby chair. This will replenish the vendor’s money supply allowing you to sell more contraband.

• The Den – A discreet space station in the Wolf system known for contraband trade. No scans when entering. The Den in the Wolf system is widely regarded as the best location to sell contraband. It has no scans when entering, so you can freely transport illegal goods there. The Den also has a Trade Authority representative who will purchase any contraband. Look for the seedy looking guy with the strange glowing eyes.

• The Key – Home base of the Crimson Fleet faction. Multiple vendors will buy your contraband if you’re allied. Completing the Crimson Fleet quest chain grants you access to The Key, their main base. Here you’ll find five fence vendors who will buy contraband, with two right next to each other offering a combined 23,500 credits. It provides the largest fence network in one place. Just be aware this bars you from UC SysDef quests.

• Red’s Repo – Seedier tavern on Mars where the bartender Red will purchase contraband. The best way to unload contraband is to sell it to shady “fence” vendors who deal in stolen and illegal merchandise. They offer much better rates than legit vendors. The two main fences are Cruz the bartender at the Red Mile space station bar in the Alpha Centauri system, and the shopkeeper at The Den in the Wolf 359 system. Both will buy any amount of contraband with no questions asked and no need to launder it first through a Trade Authority terminal.

3. Maximize Your Profits Through Smart Sales

Once you’ve located willing buyers, you need to carefully plan your sales to maximize profits. Here are some tips:

• Sell the most valuable items first – Prioritize rare artifacts, stolen mods, and drugs to get top credit early.
• Spread sales across multiple vendors – Each has a set pool of credits that replenishes over time. Hop between buyers to empty all their coffers.
• Wait for credit pools to refresh – Return after 24-48 hours when their funds have reset.
• Invest credits into buybacks – Purchase vendors’ normal stock to give them more liquidity to purchase your contraband next visit.
• Use Commerce perks – Skills like Smooth Talker will net you better prices. Invest perks to boost your profit margins.
• Sell prudently – Unload only what you can fence before word gets out. Flooding the market will tank your profit potential.

Follow these guidelines to methodically bleed buyers dry of credits and get top dollar for your loot.

4. Avoid Confiscations and Fines

Making illicit sales successfully means avoiding scans, fines, and confiscations that can sink your profits. Here are some tips:

• Use shielded cargo containers – Prevents scans from detecting contraband when landing at ports. A must-have for smugglers.
• Stealth in and out of settlements – Sneak through back doors and access tunnels to dodge security.
• Don’t loot in hostile territory – Getting caught by factions that hate you can be costly.
• Drop contraband when scanned – You can eject cargo to avoid fines if scanned approaching stations.
• Only sell to friendly buyers – Avoid accidentally angering vendors you need to fence goods.
• Pay fines promptly – Clearing bounties leaves a clean slate to continue contraband sales.

Avoiding unwanted entanglements with authorities requires caution and planning. Master covert transport and sales tactics.

5. Manage Inventory Space

A major challenge when moving large quantities of contraband is inventory space. Some tips:

• Use cargo ships – Invest in vessels with massive cargo capacity to haul your illicit stash.
• Stash goods at a safehouse – Store excess contraband at a personal base when inventories are full.
• Loot high value items first – Prioritize rare artifacts, mods, and drugs over common items.
• Sell often – Don’t let unsold contraband pile up clogging cargo space. Make regular sales runs.
• Scrap for parts – Break down low value contraband for crafting materials to free space.
• Abandon junk contraband – Toss out common stolen junk cluttering up cargo holds.

Careful inventory management ensures you have room to keep looting high value contraband most profitable to sell.

6. Launder Your Earnings

Now that you’ve cashed in your contraband, you need to hide the source of your newfound wealth. Here’s how to launder those illicit credits:

• Mix dirty money – Blend credits from contraband sales with income from jobs and bounties.
• Invest in businesses – Purchasing trade hubs and settlements hides credits in property.
• Convert to rare goods – Buy expensive items like void opals making credits harder to trace.
• Gamble – Play high stakes games and exchange chips to get “clean” winnings.
• Hire cronies – Pay companions and crew wages to justify large cash withdrawals.
• Report gambling winnings – Fudge tax paperwork to make credits appear legitimately earned.

Take these steps to cover your tracks and retain access to banking and legitimate trade. Stash reserves of laundered credits and goods acquired through front businesses and gambling to fuel your ventures. Soon you’ll be a rising mogul in the bustling Starfield underworld economy.

Moving large volumes of contraband while avoiding legal entanglements takes skill. But follow these tips to maximize profits:

• Find reliable illicit buyers like the Trade Authority and Red’s Repo
• Adopt smart sales tactics to drain vendors’ credits
• Invest perks and upgrades to improve profit margins
• Transport goods stealthily using shielded containers
• Manage inventories carefully when stockpiling loot
• Launder earnings by mixing with legit income

Mastering the intricacies of the illegal trade economy takes time but the profits are well worth the effort. Careful planning and execution will allow you to cash in big time on your contraband haul and gain influence in the seedy underbelly of Starfield. Just don’t get greedy and know when to walk away without catching the notice of space authorities. Use your newfound wealth to access new opportunities beyond the reach of the average spacer. With some wisdom and restraint, a contraband fortune can be your ticket to making a name for yourself among the stars.

By using shielded cargo holds, selling specifically at The Den, and patiently waiting for vendor credit replenishments, you can successfully sell even large amounts of contraband without issue. Just be ready for it to take time and multiple transactions. But with this guide, you’ll be able to turn all your illegal Starfield goods into cold hard credits.