Banned, in stock, four-day shipping: DJI's blocked cameras arrive from Oregon

A reporter at The Verge ordered a DJI Osmo Pocket 4 Pro, a camera that cannot legally be imported into the United States, and it arrived four days later from a fulfillment center in Oregon, packed into a FedEx baggie by a cross-border logistics company called Blue Ocean ^[1][5]. The purchase matters less than the logistics: the rule stopped the border crossing and did nothing about the warehouse ^[1][4].

The price was $659.28 after discounts for the Pocket 4P Vlog Combo with the Mic Mini 2 and FrameTap remote, which The Verge notes is less than it paid for the Osmo Pocket 3 combo in 2023 ^[2][3]. The publication says the Pocket 4 and Pocket 4 Pro are listed on Temu, AliExpress, eBay, Mercari, Amazon and Newegg with fast free shipping and no exposure to tariffs or seizures, because the stock is already inside the country ^[4].

The legal position is not ambiguous. Without FCC certification, a device with a radio cannot be imported, marketed, or sold in the United States ^[8]. Both cameras cleared the FCC before the December 2025 foreign drone ban, but were certified within 30 days of it, which let the FCC use 47 CFR 2.962(f) to strip those certifications ^[6]. The FCC repeatedly declined to explain on the record how it applied that rule ^[7]. DJI confirmed to The Verge that the cameras are banned ^[5]. So the domestic listings are not a customs loophole; selling and marketing are prohibited on the same footing as importing ^[1].

Enforcement is the gap. The ban does not confiscate hardware people already own, and is meant to block new units arriving, but The Verge's assessment is that the FCC lacks the manpower or focus to do it ^[9][10]. A DJI spokesperson, replying anonymously from the company press address and declining to give a name, said DJI complied with the FCC determination, never released or distributed the products in the US, and has no involvement in third-party sales ^[11][12].

There is a usable audit signal here. The unit The Verge received booted with Chinese menus, and neither the box nor the regulatory screen showed an FCC ID ^[13]. That is what an unauthorised import looks like on a desk, and it is checkable by anyone running an asset inventory.

The scope of the restriction is narrower than the noise around it. The December drone ban also incorporated a prohibition on communications and video surveillance equipment from DJI and Autel Robotics ^[15], and only DJI, Autel, Huawei, ZTE, Hytera, Hikvision and Dahua fall under the camera ban ^[16]. HoverAir, also known as Zero Zero Robotics, announced FCC certification for its Versa, a camera that becomes a drone with propeller wings, and public records show it certified by stating its camera is not on the Covered List, which is accurate ^[17]. Separately, DJI technology has kept turning up in gadgets repackaged by firms such as Xtra, which ships near-identical cameras in the US; neither company would confirm or deny a relationship, and Xtra now faces a US ban of its own ^[14].

Watch whether the FCC moves against listings and marketplaces rather than shipments, since that is where the inventory sits ^[4][8]. Watch the Xtra action as the test of whether repackaging is treated as evasion ^[14]. And if your device policy relies on procurement friction, assume the friction is gone.