The Best Ways To Sell Stolen Goods In Skyrim

For when you have a pocket full of someone else's sunshine.

It's not always easy being a thief in Skyrim. Sure, the people are extremely easy to rob. Yes, there are valuables left all over the place. You can indeed fill your pockets with thousands of septims worth of other people's property in one morning. The trouble is, when you have put baskets on the head of every shopkeeper and emptied everyone's house, what do you do with it?

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The 'stolen' mark pops up next to the loot in your inventory, indicating that you have a problem. Most merchants won't touch it. You can't wear it all, and you can only use at most two weapons at once. If the guards catch you, they'll take it all away. Fortunately, there are options. A bit of work will reveal numerous ways to offload your ill-gotten gains and start making crime pay.

This one is restricted to a few objects, but is worth considering if you've been lifting from hunters, mines, or blacksmith shops. Items crafted from stolen materials will become legitimate. This includes leather, which can be made into fully legal leather strips, or hides that will become legal leather.

Stolen ore can be smelted into ingots and stolen ingots can be turned into weapons, armour or building materials to avoid them being traced back to a crime.

Tonilia is the first Thieves' Guild fence that you're likely to encounter. Fences are particular merchants who will let you offload goods that are earmarked as stolen. She can be found in the Ragged Flagon, the gloomy tavern at the end of Riften's Ratway. She doesn't just offer her services to anyone, however. You will need to be a member of the Guild to do business with her, or any of the other fences.

Related: The Elder Scrolls: The Thieves' Guild, Explained

Once you're in with the Thieves' Guild, she will have 1000 septims to buy with, an amount that can increase up to 4000 once the Guild has achieved appropriate amounts of influence in various holds.

Mallus Maccius will become the easiest way to offload stolen goods in the Whiterun area. First, you have to get him out of his job as owner Sabjorn's put-upon assistant and into the management of the Honningbrew Meadery.

Placing Mallus in authority is done through the 'Dampened Spirits' quest. On instruction from Maven Black-Briar and with assistance from Mallus, you break into the meadery and do a bit of sabotage. The result will be a mildly-poisoned Guard Captain, Sabjorn in prison, Mallus running the place, Maven off your back, and you being able to finally offload all the gold necklaces in your pockets.

Niranye is an elf who trades out of Windhelm Market. She once acted as a fence for the Thieves' Guild, and she will again, but there is a group standing in the way. A rival group of criminals, The Summerset Shadows have blackmailed her into working for them.

A quest of the same name as the group, 'Summerset Shadows', will become available when the Guild has enough influence in Windhelm from smaller jobs. In the quest, you'll be charged with questioning Niranye and eliminating the rival group. After that, the Altmer merchant will happily take your stolen goods.

Gulum-Ei is a shifty Argonian, normally found drinking in Solitude's tavern, The Winking Skeever. As part of the Thieves' Guild main quest 'Scoundrel's Folly', you'll be charged with finding out who he is doing business with. He will depart his spot in the Inn and you will need to trail him down to the East Empire Company and through to the back. Following the lizard man into the cave will reveal all sorts of shady deals he's been up to while working at the warehouse, and he'll be a lot more cooperative once tracked down. Spare him and let him work his debt off.

Gulum-Ei is not only a useful fence for Solitude, but he is placed close enough to the Temple Of The Divines that you can pick up the blessing of Zenithar and get better prices easily. Handy!

Enthir is a woof elf who works at the College Of Winterhold, and is known for his ability to acquire all kinds of hard-to-find items. There is a reason he's so good at it, the man is on good terms with certain people in the Thieves' Guild. Unfortunately, the people he's on good terms with won't show their faces until you're a little way into the Guild quest line.

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Once 'Hard Answers' is completed, Enthir will offer his help as a buyer, and you will be able to trade with him if you're in the area. Very helpful if you're a mage that moonlights as a robber.

You might recognise Endon's family from the rather alarming introduction you get to Markarth. His wife Kerah runs the silver stall just inside the gates, where the stabbing attempt happens. Aside from that, Endon is probably less shifty than most people you're likely to do business with. He comes to the Thieves' Guild when they have some pull in Markarth. He's a bit desperate. Bandits have taken an irreplaceable silver mold from him, but no legitimate authorities will help.

On taking the 'Silver Lining 'quest, you can sneak or fight their way into Pinewatch and find the mold, something that will delight Endon. In turn, he will happily accept stolen goods in return. Who said the Thieves' Guild don't help the community?

There are three rotating Khajiit Caravans in Skyrim. They move from city to city, but are not permitted to pitch up within the walls. Why? The people of Skyrim have some rather unpleasant preconceived notions about the cat people. They think they're all thieves, and that they traffic illegal goods. Perhaps if they were treated with less suspicion, then it wouldn't be as easy to talk them around into dealing in stolen goods.

When the Thieves' Guild has become sufficiently well known, Tonilia will ask you to deliver some rather illegal moon sugar to caravan owner Ri'Saad. This will be enough to make a deal, and he will spread word to the other caravans to take illegitimate goods off your hands.

What is better than any trick or fence? Being able to trade any good with whomever you want. How is that done? With the 'Fence' perk. Taking the perk allows you to trade with any merchant as if they were in the Thieves' Guild's pocket, and you don't even need to be part of the Guild to make use of it.

The downside of the perk is that its requirements are pretty hefty. With a 90 in speech needed, and a fair amount of investment into the tree, you will already have had to prove yourself a smooth talker with a lot of Skyrim beforehand.

Next: Skyrim: Best Perks Ranked

Meriel Green is an article writer, 3D artist, and frequent game jammer. She writes for TheGamer and GameTyrant, and is often found tinkering with character rigs to export into game engines. She has yet to understand coding, even on a conceptual level.