Beginning on July 6, 2018, the US Government started imposing a 25% duty on a small subset of items and components that we import from China. These duties replace the existing duties on products, which previously already ranged between 0% and in excess of 12% depending on the item being imported.
Rather than imposing a fee on all FPV and RC products we sell, we are taking a more accurate and responsible approach. We feel charging a blanket fee is unfair to the customers who may be purchasing items made in other countries including the USA, purchasing the many items that are not covered by the 25% duty, or purchasing items that were imported and on the store shelves before the additional tariffs were added. We, therefore, are taking measures to make sure the prices of items are only increased if absolutely necessary.
Instead of charging our customers an additional fee on all items, we are taking the following measures:
- Closely inspecting and researching every single incoming shipment to verify that the HTS codes used by the brokers are 100% accurate. Often, if it isn’t clearly stated on the shipping invoice, brokers will pick HTS codes with mildly similar descriptions just because it is easier, but that often isn’t accurate. Examples of common errors for products that should not receive the additional 25% tariffs are lithium batteries, some sizes of brushless motors, cameras, antennas for video systems, video goggles, props, hand tools, and more. Some items that do receive the additional tariffs are ESC’s, RC transmitters and receivers, antennas for RC use, and more. Many of these items already had tariffs up to around 10%. Although some of our suppliers and manufacturers import items into the US themselves and then ship to us, we are verifying every single shipment that we ourselves are importing is filed with the correct HTS codes and the correct full values of the items.
- We will only raise prices on the items that received the additional 25% duty, and even then only when absolutely necessary and as little as possible. As previously stated, we believe it is unethical and against the intent of the duties to charge a fee on all products, which may include products manufactured in the USA and other countries. Also, we will make every effort to absorb as much of these hopefully temporary fees as possible rather than pass them on to customers, even if it means that our profits will be temporarily reduced on some small number of products. It is inevitable that we will have to increase the prices on some items, but we will make every effort to avoid that rather than increasing the price.
It has always been our goal to have the best products at the fairest prices for our customers, and we are always looking for opportunities to keep our retail prices as low as possible so more people can enjoy this wonderful hobby we all love. Going forward we will continue to do all we can during this hopefully temporary time of increased duties to maintain our low prices.
Sincerely,
Tim Stanfield
President
Ready Made RC, LLC, The Best in FPV Since 2009