DJI Ships SkyPixel Winner Her Prize Through A Third Country After US Customs Holds Original For Six Months

Southampton drone photographer Joanna Steidle finally received her SkyPixel prize drone this week, more than a year after she won it, and only because another SkyPixel creator in Europe agreed to act as an international relay point. Steidle won a Top 10 Photo Award in the DJI SkyPixel 10th Annual Photo & Video Contest for “Another World,” a top-down shot of cownose rays approaching a school of menhaden off the Southampton coast. The prize was a Mavic 3 Pro combo.

She never got it. In a thread posted to X on April 21, 2026, Steidle laid out the timeline. The drone and a glass trophy sat in US Customs for six months, got flagged for return to China, and ended up in an Arizona warehouse that no one could pry them out of. A year of escalations through her Congressman, her New York State Assemblyman, and US Customs and Border Protection went nowhere.

DJI’s response two months ago was to offer a replacement: a brand-new Mavic 4 Pro combo with the RC Pro 2 controller. The unboxing photo she posted shows a 512GB Creator Combo, a package that retails globally for around $4,400. The catch is that DJI has no legal way to ship it directly to a US address. Another SkyPixel creator, @DronographerEU, received the drone in Europe, filed the paperwork, and forwarded it on. Steidle paid $750 in shipping and tariffs. She didn’t receive the batteries, which require an import certification she doesn’t hold, or the glass award, which is presumably still in Arizona.

The Mavic 4 Pro Has Been Unavailable In The US Since Launch

DJI launched the Mavic 4 Pro globally on May 13, 2025 and confirmed the same day it would not be sold through its US store. We covered the absence in our launch coverage. A cumulative 170% tariff on Chinese-made drones, Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act customs holds, and the FCC’s suspension of new DJI equipment authorizations kept the flagship out of official US retail for nearly a year.

Pilots improvised. Some drove to Canada. Gray-market resellers listed Fly More Combos on Walmart for around $3,190. Friends in Europe or Korea shipped units directly. Every one of those routes loses DJI USA warranty coverage. Steidle’s path is a version of the same workaround, with the manufacturer organizing the relay instead of a random eBay seller. She already owns nine Mavic 4 Pro batteries, so the missing cells didn’t sting. Most future US winners won’t be that lucky.

The Customs Hold Predates The FCC Covered List Decision

Steidle’s prize was seized before the FCC added DJI to its Covered List. The drone hit US Customs in 2025, when UFLPA enforcement against DJI packages was already routine. The regulatory backdrop has only hardened since. As we reported on December 22, DJI landed on the FCC’s Covered List by automatic trigger, one day ahead of the NDAA Section 1709 deadline, after no federal agency completed the required security review. DJI sued the FCC in the Ninth Circuit on February 20, 2026, in a case docketed as 26-1029. The litigation is active but has not unwound any import restriction.

Steidle Reframed A Warranty Nightmare As A Customer-Service Win

The striking detail in her thread is the tone. Steidle closed by telling her followers she would “forever be one of DJI’s biggest fans” and daring any US company to match that level of support. When a customer spends a year and a half on a warranty claim, the end point is usually a complaint, not gratitude. Steidle is a working SkyPixel creator and long-time DJI ambassador whose marine photography we’ve covered for years. DJI tracked this case through a Customs seizure and a year of agency correspondence that ended in a deadlocked Arizona warehouse. The company then sent a more valuable replacement through a third country. The alternative was leaving a top-10 global contest winner empty-handed in the market that generates the most drone media coverage on earth.

DroneXL’s Take

I’ve been tracking the Mavic 4 Pro’s US availability problem since our launch coverage last May. Joanna’s thread is the first concrete example I’ve seen of DJI itself arranging the workaround, coordinating a relay through another SkyPixel creator in Europe because the company cannot legally ship directly to an American customer. Walmart resellers, Korean eBay listings, and Canadian border runs are old news. A DJI-arranged international relay is new.

It also says something about how DJI is reading the US market after the Covered List decision. The company just announced a $200,000 SkyPixel prize pool for 2026, with Mavic 4 Pro units still among the awards. If every American winner requires a custom international shipping arrangement, DJI is signaling it will honor those prizes case by case no matter the cost, rather than quietly substituting cheaper drones that can clear US Customs. That is a brand decision, not an operational one.

By the end of 2026, expect at least three more public accounts from US-based SkyPixel winners walking the same third-country relay route. Any American pilot planning to enter the 2026 contest should read Joanna’s thread before submitting.

DroneXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo.