I bought my M4P from Korea strictly 100% due to pricing and ready availability. I did not want to get stuck paying 50% or 100% or 150% tariffs one day and the only "foolproof" source that I discovered at that time was on eBay and I didn't think the window would be open long. Mine is still unopened and I'm hoping to activate it next Spring.
Buying DJi Drones in other countries
- Thread starter olderrookie
- Start date
Did you simply order this on eBay and have it shipped to an address in the US? If so, how much was the total import import tariffs?
Yes, I simply ordered on eBay and had it shipped to my US address and as far as I know, I never paid any extra fees or tariffs. Not sure if someone else had to pay a fee or a tariff but I highly doubt it; however, this was before September. Please check this thread for the latest details:
totally understood no judgement from me, I am just pointing out why it is not available here. I see the main reasons for most are the same availability being the main one, from two perspectives first being it is pretty much the only way to find one now and two there is a chance for a full ban on buying in the next year.
pre Aug 29th I would guess most had no tariffs, after that day I have not seen any posts about how the order went. I have noticed though that some of the dealers have either raised their prices a little or are charging much more for shipping, especially from South Korea. Also pre Aug 29 the Ebay info about possible tariffs was sort of buried on the page now it is a large blue banner.
You are missing the fact that the country of origin filled out by the Korean eBay sellers was fraudulent changed to either Korea or Taiwan or the U.S., instead of China, and the item descriptions were all fraudulent, and the declared values were all under $800 on purchases of over $4,000. Three separate frauds were committed by the Korean eBay sellers on their U.S. Customs Declaration forms to avoid any scrutiny under the existing tariffs prior to August 29th. The proper tariffs were all 55%. No tariffs were charged because the sellers fraudulently filled out the Customs Declaration forms.
Now, with the expiration of the $800 de minimus exemption for all countries (China expired much earlier), every imported package will require some amount of tariffs, and packages will be scrutinized to make sure the correct tariffs are being imposed. Buyers may, in fact, also have to prove to U.S. Customs the exact amount they actually paid for the item, rather than just relying upon what a seller fraudulently invoices the buyer, while being paid much more.
This isn't a bottle of wine.
It is new $4,000 Creator Combo drone manufactured in China by DJI.
It is not up to the Customs Officer to ask. It isn't a discretionary inquiry.
It is a mandatory written declaration by you.
You are required to declare the Country of Origin in writing on the proper form!
If they find out that you filled out the form fraudulently, your drone will be confiscated, you will have to pay a fine of several times the real value of the drone, and you may also be incarcerated! You are then the one committing Customs Fraud, not the seller.
There is a U.S. Customs Form that must be fully filled out for every imported item. One of the most critical parts of that form is the "Country of Origin." Either you or the seller who is exporting the item to you in the USA must specify in writing on the Customs Form what the Country of Origin is. For a DJI drone, it is always China, no matter where you bought it from!
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Wrong. It was entirely based upon knowing from prior forum members' purchases from the Korean sellers that the 55% tariff would not be assessed because the Koreans were exploiting illegal tariff loopholes based upon the de minimus exemption that they were driving trucks through!
There are multiple sellers in the U.S. from whom you can buy the Mavic 4 Pro today that charge $5400 or more, or you can actually order directly from DJI dealers in Canada and prepay $2200 in tariffs on top of the Canadian $4000 purchase price, and they will ship it directly to you in the U.S.
So, no, it was all about avoiding the 55% tariffs and getting the best price of under $4000 including eBay taxes for the Creator Combo.
Saying I am wrong about the motivations of others, shows off your agenda here more than any real knowledge. If you read my earlier comments, I recently bought a new camera that cost me $500 more to purchase it in the US because of the cost of the tariff, I was never tempted to buy it out of the country for less because I could buy it here, even though it cost more than it should have. To assume why you are the one who knows every persons motives is foolish at best. Prove that buying a DJI product in the US from any vendor was imported in what you would call the legal way, no matter the cost. If it so easy to buy here, why is there no stock at B&H, Adorama, Best Buy, and only at seemly private or very small vendors. It seems you are implying that is because they feel that no one would buy at the price the tariffs would require. Why then is DJI not selling directly in the US.
Please produce a copy of the import form you are so familar with that includes your stated mandatory listing of country of origin. in both a shipping document and the declaration form that a US citizen would fill out flying back home.
I am not disagreeing with the fact that some vendors shipping to the US have possibly misrepresented the value of the item on their import forms. I just think your glee in throwing around the word fraud says something about the agenda here.
Again I will prefaces this with I have not personally bought something out of the country and have flown back with the item and filled out any declaration form, so as to what is required by a traveler today I do not know if it has changed from the last time I did. All it ever asked was a vague description of the item and a value, never I repeat never did it ask country of origin. It may have asked if it was from a country that had its imports banned like Cuban cigars or an item like that was not allowed like a meat product but nothing more. Since I have never been a direct importer I have no idea if the country of origin was required on an importers form. If one thinks about prior to the present administration tariffs were pretty much the same for most countries if at all except for a few. So like I asked before please produce the form showing the requirement.
I guess you do not know much about the value of wine when you say it does not in any way compete with the price of a DJI crator combo. One could i you had the funds and the desire purchse a case of wine euorpe, that had many different countires of origin and spend way more than any DJI Mavic 4 combo.
I also think it is very naive to believe that US customs has anywhere near the infrastructure to examine every shipment to find out the country of origin of the contents within.
Lastly you have ignored why it is difficult to buy a DJI product here in the US, it is not the tariff, one could argue that is because of the unsubstantiated silent ban by US Custom's claim with no evidence that DJI is in violation of the UFLP
Secondly the decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C, said that the recprical tariffs you are so concerned with are illegal, or is it fraud on US consumers
It is completely up to the US customs official to ask if they care to where the watch you declared was made it. All that was required before now was, is it allowed to be imported and what was the value of the item.
If this administration has changed the forms that is a change in the last 6 months.
The last time I brought back items that had to be declared all bought in South Africa but made in other African countries there was no question or need to verify where they were from. I just had to declare that none were made with Ivory.
As to not declaring and confiscation of the item. I am very familiar with that experince.Many years a go traveling with a rather foolish friend, while returning back fro Tijuana my firend tried to cncle that he had bought a cheap switch blade knife, none of uf knew of his stupity until it was discovered by the customs offical. Upon discovery it was conficscated and he was given a fine of triple the value of the knife, and the worst part is it had to paid in cash. Bad luck for me I was the only one with enough cash on hand to pay the fine.
For years I traveled all around the world for work recquiring me to go through four custom inspections every time because I traveled with a lot of equipment on a carnet. That meant a visit to US cutoms to have my forms filled out for expoting the equipment, then the country I traveled to a visit to their cutoms for the temprorary import form to be signed off on amnd then a repeat of the same in the opposite way on my return. Most every trip I bought something personal that I had to declare if the value was more than the limit, never once was required to list the country of origin.
Again if there has been a change I would like to see it
Just did a search products for sale based on your comment about availability to purchase in the US. Found maybe 10 Mavic 4 Creator combos supposedly in stock , only two that seem to be from some form of a store, the rest seem like individuals, ranging in price from $4,400 to $5,600. Then there is Adorama at $5,500 backoredered, B&H at $4.650 out of stock and DJI that does not even list it at this time. Let's not forget no DJI drones are in stock at DJI at the moment.
When the last uninterupted drone launch for DJI came out I do not remember people talking about ordering any from another country even though there still was a duty on Chienese direct imports.
I think it is very presumptuous to say that everybody just wanted to avoid the tariff. Yes there was no tariff for items under the stated value of under $ 800 except China until the August 29th.
I still stand with my comment that while some may have sought to save on the price impact of the tariff, not all many just wanted to get one in whatever way that it was possible.
I bought a RC2 Pro contoroller for mu Air 3, from an EBay vendor here in the US, beacuse I did not want to take the risk of dealing with customs. In the end I have no idea how that vendor imported the conttroller which is also true for all the other DJI proucts listed for sale here in the US.
There is no normal way to buy any form of DJI drone in the US at the moment.
When the last uninterupted drone launch for DJI came out I do not remember people talking about ordering any from another country even though there still was a duty on Chienese direct imports.
I think it is very presumptuous to say that everybody just wanted to avoid the tariff. Yes there was no tariff for items under the stated value of under $ 800 except China until the August 29th.
I still stand with my comment that while some may have sought to save on the price impact of the tariff, not all many just wanted to get one in whatever way that it was possible.
I bought a RC2 Pro contoroller for mu Air 3, from an EBay vendor here in the US, beacuse I did not want to take the risk of dealing with customs. In the end I have no idea how that vendor imported the conttroller which is also true for all the other DJI proucts listed for sale here in the US.
There is no normal way to buy any form of DJI drone in the US at the moment.
The mention of a watch triggered a thought.
If you went to a foreign country and bought a very expensive watch, then wore that watch as you came back into the states, didn't declare it, what would be the chances that a customs official would even give it a second thought?
No, I'm not asking if it would be, technically, illegal or the penalties, place of origin, declarable cost, etc. Just the chances that it would be triggered.
If you went to a foreign country and bought a very expensive watch, then wore that watch as you came back into the states, didn't declare it, what would be the chances that a customs official would even give it a second thought?
No, I'm not asking if it would be, technically, illegal or the penalties, place of origin, declarable cost, etc. Just the chances that it would be triggered.
more than likely not unless one was subject to a secondary search. Supposedly they are trained to see the tells that people show when they are not telling the truth or show signs of nervousness
So, FWIW, I have a drone on the way from "another country".
Tracking shows it's in Canada. That's not the country it shipped from.
The seller paid all tariffs.
Tracking shows it's in Canada. That's not the country it shipped from.
The seller paid all tariffs.
How does one go about confirming that the seller paid the tariffs other than taking their word for it? Is there some sort of documentation or does it show online?
One cannot confirm until the item is in the hands of the recipient.
However this seller has a very high rating and none of their reviews mentions anything about the recipient paying tariffs.
And, if somehow they are skirting the tariffs, I don't care. I think tariffs are stupid and just a tax on the citizens by entities that are supposed to be the servants of the citizens and not the masters.
Ok, that's fine. I thought you had a way of confirming beforehand; maybe something we can use to help us feel better before receiving an unexpected bill.
I will update when I receive the package.
I don't know if the tariff would be COD or if I'd get a bill.
It feels less about people gaming the system and more about pure availability at this point. When stock is this scarce, most folks are just trying to get their hands on one however they can, whether that means paying a markup, grabbing from a reseller, or rolling the dice with imports.
Depends on how it is being shipped. For example, FedEx will notify you that it's in customs and send you a link to the paperwork you'll need to fill out. The paperwork doesn't list the fee, only who you are as the "importer". Once filed, FedEx pays the fee, delivers the drone and sends you the bill. So surprise! - a week or two after you get the drone, you get the bill for the tariffs AND FedEx's fees for covering the cost for you.
UPS may do the same, I don't know.Other carriers may let it sit until contact is made with customs to pay the tariffs before it is released.
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