With the Supreme court’s 5 to 4 (along party lines) to disallow the non collection of sales tax for internet orders, you now have a much bigger reason to purchase from the DJI store since the store is still controlled in China, outside the U.S. borders.
As of 06/21/18, most internet companies or companies that have an internet sale option, will now be forced to collect sales tax. This has been a issue of contention between states and the internet as state all feel that they should be granted the right to collect sales tax even on sales that are outside of the state, go figure. For years companies like Apple, IBM, or Lenovo which had a sales office in all 50 states, had to collect sales tax on internet sales. Or Best Buy, which again has location in most of the 48 states, possibly all 50. So online orders always had sales tax added.
But stores like B&H photo, Adorama or any internet direct merchant, (except Amazon) would only charge sales tax on sales that were within their home office. For example B&H Photo only charged sales tax for sales within the state of New York. Now they will be forced to collect sales tax for all 50 states. So for example, a $1.500.00 purchase before would only have shipping added, now I would have to pay an additional $150.00 for my local sales tax.
Maybe not a huge deal for many purchases but lets put an Inspire 2 drone into a cart. Here you are looking at at least 6K, possibly 8K for a complete setup. So now that sales tax would make the sales $6,600 or 8,800.00. Much higher.
So companies like Phase One, which sells digital backs at a price point of $38,000.00 will have some serious thinking to do, as the sales tax on such a back would be $3,800.00. That’s a lot.
Back to the DJI store. I have mixed thoughts on the DJI store, due to my recent experience with my purchase of a Phantom 4 Pro Vr 2.0. No problem with the purchase, that went like clockwork, but when the drone failed after 2 days, it took 30 days to get my full credit. But now I have to admit, the DJI Store is looking much more appealing as U.S. vendors start to rollout sales tax implementations in the next few months. The DJI Store is quick on sales, and shipping and they don’t charge for shipping. My Phantom 4 Pro Vr 2.0 shipped all the way from China, it was clear on the package where the box had cleared customs. I guess now I will check with my favorite internet suppliers and if they have implemented sales tax, I will go back to the DJI store.
Just something to consider for anyone with a Drone purchase coming in the next few months.
The debate as to if the Supreme Court did anything but rule along party lines, that’s for another time.
Written for paulcaldwellphotography.com please contact me before any attempts at a reprint of this article.
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