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[TJJ]

+100 with Pirates.
Smuggling investigation..... -130 rep with Pirates.
The most I'd done on the Pirate's black market was buy a few weapons  (a pair of Gauss Cannons being the largest purchase that I remember)

+6 with Hegemony
Trade with pirate base in Hegemony system.... -50 rep with Hegemony.
All I'd done was offload a bit of fuel (it was in high demand) for ~40k profit; a pittance in relation to my current fleet's maintenance costs.

I appreciate that the rep system is placeholder, but this seems to highlight that it doesn't scale up with the player's economic capacity.

[CopperCoyote]

Early on i sometimes fiddle with the black market, but once my rep gets above welcoming I stop even looking in the black market. No reason to tempt myself with things that end up costing several hours.
The only exception is the Independants. I don't care if i tank their standings for a while, and it's the best place to get pirate buffalos (other than at pirate bases but that is too risky too).

[Serenitis]

Personally, I don't bother with the black market at all.
It just creates far too much hassle, rarely has anything I'd consider close to tempting/useful (I saw a pair of Medusae once), and using it forces you to avoid just stomping on the pirates - which is something pretty easy to avoid once you're established, but early game not doing it slows you right down.
I tried that a couple of times and it was really tedious and quite frustrating.

[Histidine]

using it forces you to avoid just stomping on the pirates

You can trade with the black market regardless of your relationship with the pirates.