Black market

The black market, also called the underground market, was an illegal means of dealing goods and services, outside of the eyes of the government where goods not publicly sold or traded could be found and purchased. Virtually every planet had a black market of some kind. Many forbidden droids, drugs, weapons, and other technological innovations could be found on the black market, as well as banned music and entertainment, bootleg holos and Twi'lek slave girls. On repressive or religious planets, items like alcohol or caffeine would be available only through the black market.

Even planets allied to the Alliance to Restore the Republic during the Galactic Civil War were known to have black markets containing pornographic holos, alcohol, or expensive clothing not carried in the Alliance Commissary.

Black-market technology was often employed by pirates and other criminal organizations such as the Zann Consortium. Although the technology was effective, it was sometimes outdated. Also, the users would have to be careful, as it was a crime to possess illegal items.

Items were usually classified in three categories: F (Fee) - A special fee or permit was usually required to purchase these items. The fee ran from 5 to 50 percent of cost of the item and averaged 10 percent. Records of these transactions were kept to track who owned such items. The black market would prevent the names of the purchasers from getting into such records. This was helpful for acquiring items that would go to the Rebellion. In addition to the above mentioned, armor and hunting blasters were included with this group, but required a fee and permit on Imperial-dominated worlds. R (Restricted) - These items were only accessible with a local or Imperial license, involving a background check and high fee (100 percent of the item's cost or higher). The background check and fees could be avoided with the black market. Items included most combat weapons, blaster pistols, blaster carbines, ship-mounted weapons, and grenades. X (Illegal) - Possession may have violated local law, Imperial law, or both. These items would only be available through the black market. Items included thermal detonators, stormtrooper armor, spice, and anti-Imperial holos.

Planets such as Corellia, Coruscant, Eriadu and Thyferra all had thriving black markets.

Goods did not necessarily have to be illegal or restricted to be sold on the black market, as some vendors would try to avoid taxes or notifying authorities.

Certain goods that were normally not mass produced and not available for sale, such as lightsabers, could end up being sold and bought on the black market. An example was Ahsoka Tano's stolen lightsaber.

Text and facts from the “Black market/Legends” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.