With so many people experiencing everything Oblivion Remastered has to offer for the first time ever, it’s no wonder that there are plenty of players getting confused by certain game mechanics. Worry not, as we’ve all been there before back when we still had pixelized YouTube tutorials to show us the way.
If you’re wondering how to sell stolen items, which are the ones with red hand icons in your inventory, I’ll show you three different ways you can do so as well as everything else you’ll need to know to access them.
Minor faction side quest spoilers ahead!
Method #1. Joining the Thieves Guild
The intended method for selling stolen items is to first join the Thieves Guild, as membership gives you access to various fences. To do this, you first need to find them by going to the Imperial Waterfront and waiting behind the Abandoned Shack at late night (around 11 PM to 12 MN).
There, you’ll meet Armand Christophe, along with two other individuals. Talk to him about the Gray Fox and you’ll be able to ask him about joining the Thieves Guild. If he refuses to say anything to you, try persuading him until his disposition goes up first. Bribing him once is usually enough if you don’t want to do the minigame.
May the Best Thief Win
Now, your objective for the recruitment quest is pretty straightforward, and you cannot fail it even if you lose the contest. Basically, you have to steal Amantius Allectus’ diary before the other two recruits can get it.
Your only competition here is the elf, who will immediately make her way there as soon as you start quest. To save you some time, fast travel over to the Temple District, which is the zone just beside the waterfront.
Methredel will be sprinting alongside you no matter what you do, so either follow her or try your best to overtake her until you reach the house just to the south of the gate leading to the Arboretum. Refer to this map image below if you want to see the exact spot:
Once inside, turn to your right and head towards the desk next to the wall. This will contain Amantius Allectus’ diary, as long as Methredel didn’t get to it first.
In the event that she beats you to it, you can actually steal it from her by either trying to pickpocket her or taking it from her house at the waterfront. You have about a day to do this before she delivers it to Armand, so just wait for an opportunity to open her chest once nobody is around.
That’s how I remember doing it the first time I played the game all the way back in 2006, because she beat me to it even though I followed a guide! If she manages to give it to Armand, the game doesn’t lock you out of joining the guild. You’ll just have to go through another side quest, but this time with no competition and a target that’s easier to find.
Selling Stolen Items to a Fence
Once you have delivered the diary to Armand, you are now officially a member of the Thieves Guild and have unfettered access to fences that your current rank allows you to sell items to. Your only choice at the start is Ongar the Fence, whose house is in Bruma.
As you sell more items to him, you’ll eventually get a notification that Armand might have a new job for you. This is how you raise your rank within the guild, which will eventually unlock new fences who hold even more money.
If you ever forget where any of the fences are in the game, including Ongar, all you have to do is ask Armand (or the other Doyen later on) and he’ll remind you.
Also, you can keep stolen items by buying them back. This is essentially how you “launder” items, though you’re gonna want some extra cash ready.
BONUS TIP: If you’re willing to mod your game, there are ways to make miscellaneous items have realistic sell values, which consequently makes it easier to rank up in the Thieves Guild. More information in my list of 6 must-have mods for Oblivion Remastered.
Method #2. Selling to an Irresponsible Innkeeper
Now, in the event that you don’t want to join the Thieves Guild, your only other option is to sell it to one of few very specific types of merchants (possibly the only one, really). One of them is Manheim Maulhand, who is the owner of the Inn of Ill Omen.
Below is a map image showing you exactly where you can find it. It’s along the road to the northwest of Bravil.
However, one thing to note about this merchant is that while he does buy stolen goods, you will need to have a Mercantile level of 50 to sell every item type to him. Otherwise, you can only sell potions and raw ingredients, which are hardly the type of thing you steal anyway.
He also only has a maximum gold of 50, so trying to sell anything above that will be a bit of a waste. However, this is more than enough for selling cheap items, since merchants in this game do not run out of money. The displayed value in the barter screen is just the most they’ll be able to pay for each transaction.
With even higher mercantile levels, you’ll unlock perks to invest in the shop and increase his maximum gold. At that point, though, you’re probably much better off just selling to higher level fences in the Thieves Guild.
Method #3. Mods (PC or Steam Deck Only)
If you don’t intend on joining the Thieves Guild nor do you want to train up your Mercantile skill to at least 50, you could consider modding the game. Oblivion modders are hard at work porting over mods from the original or cooking up new stuff that alter certain gameplay mechanics.
For this mechanic in particular, you can try Shady Sam Buys Stolen Goods. This makes Shady Sam, a vendor who loiters outside the walls of the Imperial City, a pseudo fence with a lot of money on hand. Honestly, just based on his name alone, it makes sense.
You can search around a bit more and you’ll probably find one that just lets you treat any merchant as a fence if that’s more your speed, though I personally prefer this immersion-friendly approach.
How to Install “Shady Sam Buys Stolen Goods”
Just so you know, most mods are installed this way as well unless their instructions say otherwise. After you download the .esp file, just put it in the following folder:
…The Elder Scrolls IV- Oblivion Remastered\Content\OblivionRemastered\Content\Dev\ObvData\Data
Once it’s in there, open the “Plugins.txt” file in the same folder. Add a new line at the very bottom and type or copy & paste the name of the mod’s file there. In this case, it should be: ShadySamBuysStolenGoods.esp
When you’re done doing all of that, it should now be working once you launch the game. To be sure, look for Shady Sam and see if he’ll buy your stolen items. If you can’t find him, go to the Chestnut Handy Stables just outside the Imperial City and walk along the city’s walls to the north and you’ll stumble into him eventually.
Those are all of the ways to sell stolen goods in Oblivion Remastered. If you’re still feeling a bit lost or if I got something wrong, let me know in the comments below! If you need help with lockpicking, here’s a quick video guide for you:
