I've been playing Starfield for over 30 hours and I finally found a piece of contraband. And once you find your first one, they start coming at you in waves.
So obviously contraband is bad — in the sense that you can't easily get into a settled system without being detected. But how the hell am I supposed to smuggle them in?
This was a bit complicated for me, because I already had contraband on my ship, and I had to spend some money. And to make that money back, I had to figure out who I could even sell this stuff to.
Don't worry, I'll guide you through all the steps on where to sell contraband and how to smuggle it. Some may be easier for you than it was for me.
Where to sell contraband and how to hide it in Starfield
Step 1 - BUY. First things first, you actually need your ship prepared to smuggle. In order to do this, you need to purchase and install a Shielded Cargo Hold and Scan Jammer on your ship. You can acquire these items from Lon Anderssen at the Red Mile on Porrima III in the Porrima Star System.
Step 2 - UPGRADE. You've got the gear, but do you have the poker face? Rank up the Deception skill to decrease your chance of getting caught. The Shielded Cargo Hold and Scan Jammer are great, but don't guarantee non-detection.
Step 3 - SELL. Okay, you've got passed the cargo scan, now what? You can sell any and all contraband to the Trade Authority — I thought this was hilarious, too. There's typically one in every big settlement.
Step 4 - ALTERNATIVE. "I can't afford the upgrades, so should I dump the contraband?" No! You can still sell the contraband without detection — it's just a little out of the way. You can sell your contraband undetected in the Wolf Star System at a space station called The Den. Naturally, it's at a Trade Authority.
It's as easy as that. You don't even have to get all the bells and whistles to sell your contraband, but it does make it a hell of a lot more convenient.