Contraband can be found all over the universe in Starfield, from abandoned factories, to 'Unknown' markers, and even the beaches of Paradiso can hold some treasure of a 'questionable' legality. Finding these ill-gotten goods is the easy part but offloading them safely is where the trouble comes in. Luckily, these items can be sold for quite a bit of easy money if you know how to handle them.
Anytime you fly a ship into one of the bigger city areas of a planet, generally UC Territory but others as well, you'll be scanned by some authorities. These scans check for any sort of illegal goods on your ship and you will lose those goods and pay a bounty, or do some jail time, if found. It is worth noting that stolen items will not be noticed by these ship scans, just contraband which is denoted with a little yellow icon next to the item in your inventory.
Hiding Contraband
To sneak contraband into settlements without any fuss you'll need to spend some money altering your ship. Shielded cargo can be purchased at some of the more 'shady' merchants in certain systems. The fastest one to find is at The Key in the Kryx system which holds the band of pirates known as The Crimson Fleet, a rebel collective of outcasts that works against the system.
There are different ways you could approach ing the Crimson Fleet, but one of the easiest ways is to simply the UC in New Atlantis and infiltrate the Crimson Fleet as an undercover agent. This only takes about three missions until you have access to The Key and all the vendors inside of it.
Staying involved with the Crimson Fleet also helps with planet exploration throughout Starfield as many of the abandoned Factories and Outposts have Crimson Fleet . If they know you, they won't fight and you can easily loot an area with no pushback.
Once access is granted to the Crimson Fleet Ship Services vendor, you can buy new "Shielded" Cargo parts for your ship, as well as Shielded Boosters that increase the chance of getting away with the contraband. These parts are not infallible though and there is still a chance that the authority ships could find your contraband. The percentage will show up on the screen as you move into these scanning ports and is based on the amount of contraband stored, as well as your purchased parts.
Selling Contraband
Selling it becomes reasonably straightforward once you've successfully smuggled the contraband past the scanners on a big city planet. Make sure you keep the contraband on your ship and only sell it directly from the ship's cargo hold. You don't want to be caught walking around with contraband on your person. Most independent shops will happily buy contraband from directly off of your ship. The Trade Authority shops within bigger areas will also gladly buy contraband without much fuss.
As an alternative, if you are a member of the Crimson Fleet, or acting like a member, you can always fly directly to The Key and sell your contraband there. There are no scanning ships in the area and the Crimson Fleet always welcomes a fellow pirate.
Contraband is certainly an easy way to make money fast in Starfield but isn't the most common thing lying around. However, whenever you do come across some illegal paintings or some 'questionable' substances, it's always good to get rid of them quickly, and quietly.
