They can be found as naturally occurring on planet surfaces or within caves such as Albumen Pearls, Vortex Cubes and Gravitino Balls. Gathering these items on the surface (but not in caves) will alert the Sentinels.
Tradeables can also be found in Cargo Drops, found by Frigate expeditions, given to players for the duration of Mission Board delivery missions, or awarded upon handing in certain missions to the Mission Board.
Each star system with an Economy sells up to five tiers of market items based on the system's wealth (system Sell/Buy modifiers are applied to base price, which is 105% of base value for market items):
5th Tier tradeables are always available regardless of system wealth. Their base value is 1,000.0 , and system Sell/Buy modifiers have approximately 100% effect on their price in space stations.
4th Tier tradeables are always available in medium and high wealth systems and sometimes available in low wealth systems. Their base value is 6,000.0 , and system Sell/Buy modifiers have approximately 80% effect on their price in Space Stations.
3rd Tier tradeables are always available in medium and high wealth systems. Their base value is 15,000.0 , and system Sell/Buy modifiers have approximately 60% effect on their price in space stations.
2nd Tier tradeables are always available in high wealth systems and sometimes available in medium wealth systems. Their base value is 30,000.0 , and system Sell/Buy modifiers have approximately 40% effect on their price in space stations.
1st Tier tradeables are available only in high wealth systems. Their base value is 50,000.0 , and system Sell/Buy modifiers have approximately 20% effect on their price in space stations.
System Sell/Buy modifiers have increased effect on Trading Post market commodity prices (~55-75% greater Sell modifier effects and ~150-350% greater Buy modifier effects).