It looks like SpaceX is trying to crack down on unauthorized resellers of Starlink dishes by imposing a new fee that can jack up the product’s price.
A new customer support entry on Starlink.com quietly mentions that the company is rolling out an “outside region fee” for Starlink dishes purchased in one market but used in another.
If you purchased a Starlink Kit from an unauthorized reseller, it is possible that the Outside Region Fee may apply to your order,” the support entry warns.
The fee—which ranges from $200 to $300—will appear if the Starlink dishes are “activated outside of the region they were originally sold,” the company added.
The support entry adds that customers can avoid the fee by making sure they purchase the hardware from Starlink.com or an authorized reseller “within your region.”
SpaceX didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But it’s no secret that Starlink dishes have ended up in markets such as Russia, the Middle East, and parts of Africa, where the satellite internet service has yet to officially launch. In March, one New Jersey man was arrested for buying at least 675 Starlink dishes, possibly for resale purposes.
The trafficking has also included sending hundreds or thousands of Starlink dishes to military groups in Sudan and Russia. In response, SpaceX has been working with the Pentagon to shut down Russia’s use of Starlink in contested areas of Ukraine.
The wording of the outside region fee also suggests it might target consumers who attempt to buy a Starlink dish at a discount in one market only to use it in another. For example, SpaceX has been offering the portable Starlink Mini dish in certain Latin American countries for only $200, a huge discount from the $599 cost in the US. As a result, some consumers have floated the idea of buying a Starlink Mini dish in Colombia, only to then ship it to the US or Canada.
