That is great news. black markets should be ephemeral things, only staying a couple of weeks at a station before being forced by authorities to keep a low profile.
Not really, thinking about it, the only places that DON'T need a black market are the anarchy/pirate stations, as with little to no law enforcement, these are the places where illegal goods should be available on the open market, to buy or sell - normal prices for regular illegal goods, and the normal 50% discount for stolen goods, (to reflect the need to "launder" them or something)
Regulated systems will almost always generate their own black markets, as there will always be a selection of the population who likes their narcotics, weapons, etc, but (due to being in a relatively highly policed station) can't just go and buy them from the general store - in these cases the prices for illegal goods should reflect both the galactic and local demand, as well as an extra couple of percent for the difficulty of delivering the goods (i.e. A higher multiplier for high security, high pop, high wealth stations) rather than the current discount rate that currently makes smuggling a bit of a waste of time (pirated/stolen goods of course still receive the 50% discount)
at the moment the presence of black markets seems backwards, and is arbitrarily limited as a gameplay mechanic rather than a simulation feature, I would love to see the whole dark side of ed developed a bit more, would love to see black market access being tied to standing with criminal factions. Doing enough smuggling missions proves your ability to skate past the security forces, building your standing with the local criminals to the point where they grant you a <system name> black market encryption token, allowing you to access black markets in the stations they may have a presence in
