How to smuggle and sell contraband in Starfield

If, like me, you keep accidentally picking up contraband in Starfield, you'll want to get rid of it before you try to visit any of the settled systems. Getting caught with contraband lands you right in jail unless you want to try and fight security forces off. If you're a Space Scoundrel and get caught and jailed for having contraband, you'll end up with an interesting proposition to infiltrate the Crimson Fleet as a bit of a criminal yourself.

If you'd rather learn how to operate your own drug ring undetected or at least earn yourself a few extra credits and avoid detection, then here's what you need to do.

Where to sell contraband 

Contraband isn't just confined to drugs in Starfield—though, unfortunately, space cops aren't a fan of the hard stuff unless you're in designated areas on Neon, in which case, have as much Aurora as your system can handle. 

An item of contraband will be marked by a yellow indicator in your inventory. Most planets don't have a security patrol but if you want to jump to one of the settled systems like New Atlantis, you'll want to shift your contraband to avoid a fine and jail time. If you have the Dream Home trait, you can dump your contraband there for safekeeping until you decide what you want to do with it. You can also store it on any outposts you have built.

Interestingly, you can sell contraband at Trade Authority kiosks, as long as you can land on a planet where you can find out. The Den in the Wolf system is another safe place to fence off any hot goods.

How to smuggle contraband 

To smuggle contraband into a settled system, though, that's a different story. You can invest in the Deception skill as it'll make it less likely for scanners to find your contraband and will reduce the risk of getting caught from 10% at rank one to 50% at rank four. 

You can also use a shielded cargo hold to store it in, though make sure you take it from your inventory and put it into your ship's cargo hold via the little computer near your cockpit. There's also a scan jammer you can buy which, as you'd expect, increases the chance of scans failing to detect anything shady. 

Red Mile

If you head to Porrima 3, which is in the system near Alpha Centauri, you'll find a gent called Lon Anderssen at the Red Mile who will sell you a shielded cargo bay and a scan jammer. It'll cost you nearly 6000 credits all in to get both, but it's definitely worth it if you want to smuggle Aurora. 

Crimson Fleet, The Key

Jasmine, a.k.a. Jazz, Durand also sells a shielded cargo hold, though you might want to try and infiltrate the Crimson Fleet first so that you don't get attacked. Space Scoundrels will have an easier time with this, too. 

Mantis

Completing the Mantis quest rewards you with a cool ship, the Razorleaf, that also comes with a shielded cargo hold, as well as a bunch of other cool gear.