Although large ship-building corporations like Corellian Engineering Corporation and Kuat Drive Yards manufacture and sell light freighters at a generally affordable price, there are always individuals who, through ill fortune, or poor financial decisions, find they cannot afford either an outright purchase or loan arrangement to purchase even a second-hand stock freighter. These individuals will frequently turn to black market suppliers, who source ships from equally shady builders. On many a poor world, a cottage industry has sprung up to build space-worthy vessels from parts sourced from several different starship, all welded together and wired up to be able to navigate both real and hyperspace, albeit less efficiently as ships made by legitimate shipyards.

Light freighters put together in these back-alley shops typically comprise of the main hull and cargo compartment of one type of freighter, this being the easiest to procure in one piece, allied to the propulsion units and engines of another, together with key components from yet more units. Tying all these disparate parts together requires significant structural reinforcement, with additional ducting, trunking and bulkheads taking up room that reduces the normal cargo capacity of the base models. The different power plants, engines, wiring and need for wider safety margins tends to reduce both sublight and hyper speed. The sub-optimal power supply arrangements also lead to reduced shield efficiency and lower power reserves for weapons, but although they're considered an "ugly" variant, a Salvage-class Light Freighter can still be useful, especially as they tend to be much more tolerant of second-hand or substandard parts than the original models they are built from. They are generally also easier and cheaper to maintain as long as the builders preserve the specs to facilitate repair by other parties, something that doesn’t happen as often as most pilots would like.