What buying actually looks like: quotes, deposits, 2-month lead times, and freight from China

Applies to: Buyers in the EU and US purchasing Unitree, Booster, or similar; anyone comparing 'announced' robots to actually purchasable ones

The short version

Cheap units (R1, base G1) are e-commerce buys with backorders and $300-$1,200 freight; everything EDU-tier is quote-and-wire-transfer with 3 weeks to 2+ months lead time. EU buyers should demand DDP terms (a mild 1.7% EU duty on robots under HS 8479.50, plus EU VAT: 21% in the Netherlands, varies by member state); US buyers pay about 40% duty on a China-built robot, in force since 24 July 2026. Optimus, Figure, and Apptronik cannot be bought at all.

The facts

01
First filter, purchasable vs announced (as of July 2026): purchasable are Unitree R1/G1/H2/G1-EDU, Booster T1/K1, and 1X NEO (US preorder, $200 refundable deposit, $20,000 or $499/mo); NOT purchasable by anyone outside enterprise partnerships are Tesla Optimus (no public sales, pre-orders, or waitlists; 'pre-order Optimus' offers are scams), Figure 02/03, Apptronik Apollo, Agility Digit (RaaS/enterprise only), and Boston Dynamics Atlas (research platform).
02
Low-end purchase flow: the base G1 sells on shop.unitree.com for $13,500 with shipping quoted at $300-$1,200, customs duties explicitly on the buyer, and the unit listed as backordered; the R1 sold in preorder waves through spring 2026, but that queue is gone: on 24 June 2026 Unitree cut the R1 Air's China price 25% (RMB 39,900 to RMB 29,900, about $4,150) and moved to in-stock, immediate-delivery fulfillment, with the global direct price unchanged at $4,900; it is also listed on AliExpress, the first humanoid distributed that way.
03
EDU/research purchase flow is quote-based: Unitree routes all EDU sales through sales_global@unitree.cc; European distributors (RobotShop EU, MYBOTSHOP/QUADRUPED in Germany, Generation Robots in France) list EDU units as 'price on request', then issue a formal quote, typically paid by bank wire; Top3DShop quotes 3-6 week lead times for G1/H1, while China-direct sellers like OpenELAB quote about 2 months for an on-demand G1 EDU Plus (listed at 44,900 EUR on sale vs 52,900 EUR regular) with no returns except defects.
04
Incoterms decide your paperwork burden: OpenELAB, as an example, ships EU orders DDP (they handle EU import duties and taxes) but non-EU destinations (UK, CH, NO) DAP, where the courier bills you duties and fees on delivery; when comparing quotes, a 'cheaper' DAP price from China can flip after customs; always ask whether the price is DDP to your door.
05
EU import math is mild: industrial robots under HS 8479.50 carry a 1.7% EU import duty under the 2026 Combined Nomenclature (0% only if the unit qualifies as a handling robot under HS 8428.70), so the main add-ons for an EU buyer are that duty and import VAT on the customs value (deductible for VAT-registered businesses), and the VAT rate varies by member state, for example 21% in the Netherlands; an EU-warehoused unit from RobotShop EU or a German distributor avoids the import process entirely and preserves EU warranty handling.
06
US import math is hostile: layered Section 301 and 2025-2026 tariff actions at one point nearly tripled the G1's US price from ~$16,000 to ~$40,000 (Interesting Engineering, spring 2025) and a 90-day US-China pause followed in May 2025, but the rate has been settled and high since 24 July 2026, when a China-built robot went to about 40% of customs value (2.5% MFN base under HTS 8479.50, 25% Section 301 List 1, and the 12.5% Section 301 forced-labor duty that took effect the same morning the temporary 10% Section 122 surcharge expired, so the widely predicted drop to 27.5% never happened); that stack assumes HTS 8479.50, while CBP's December 2025 ruling on AgiBot humanoids (NY N356154, A2 Ultra and X2 Ultra) chose 8479.89.9599, which also draws the Section 232 aluminum-derivative duty at a reduced rate until 31 December 2027, so have a broker confirm the classification before relying on any single figure; that forced-labor action covers 60 economies rather than targeting robotics, so it also put EU-origin machines on a combination rate of about 10% and Japanese or Korean ones at about 12.5%, where all three previously paid only the 2.5% base; US resellers bake tariffs into fixed USD prices (G1 Basic $17,990 at RoboZaps/botinfo listings), so a fixed-price US reseller quote is tariff insurance. Separately, since 28 July 2026 the FCC (Public Notice DA 26-786) added foreign-produced advanced robotic devices, humanoids included, to its Covered List, which denies a covered device the FCC equipment authorization required before it can be imported, marketed, or sold in the US, effectively shutting a NEW foreign-made humanoid out of the US market while an already-authorized model like the current Unitree G1 (FCC ID 2A5PE-YUSHU008) is grandfathered and stays legal to import and sell, an import-authorization barrier rather than a tariff that changes none of the duty rates above.
07
Export paperwork from the China side is the seller's job but shapes your timeline: humanoids ship crated as freight (a 35-47 kg robot plus flight-case-style crate) and the batteries fall under UN 3481 lithium rules, so the crate moves as Class 9 dangerous-goods air or sea freight needing a DG-capable carrier and a dangerous-goods declaration; a loose spare battery ordered alongside is cargo-aircraft-only and is the usual cause of a refused booking. Securing that DG capacity is where multi-week lead times come from even for in-stock units.
08
Deposit norms: consumer preorders use small refundable deposits ($200 at 1X); Chinese platform-robot resellers typically require full payment or a substantial wire deposit at order for on-demand builds (OpenELAB's no-return policy on on-demand items is representative); no confirmed standard percentage exists across vendors, so get the payment schedule in the quote (null on a universal number, it varies by dealer).
09
Buyer checklist for an EU buyer: (1) demand DDP-to-door quote in EUR, (2) confirm EU-based warranty/repair path vs Shenzhen round-trip, (3) confirm lead time in writing (3 weeks to 2+ months), (4) confirm what is in the crate (robot, ONE battery, charger, RC is typical; hands almost never), and (5) verify CE/conformity documentation now, since the Machinery Regulation 2023/1230 becomes mandatory January 2027.

Sources

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What buying actually looks like: quotes, deposits, 2-month lead times, and freight from China

Applies to: Buyers in the EU and US purchasing Unitree, Booster, or similar; anyone comparing 'announced' robots to actually purchasable ones

The short version

The facts

01
First filter, purchasable vs announced (as of July 2026): purchasable are Unitree R1/G1/H2/G1-EDU, Booster T1/K1, and 1X NEO (US preorder, $200 refundable deposit, $20,000 or $499/mo); NOT purchasable by anyone outside enterprise partnerships are Tesla Optimus (no public sales, pre-orders, or waitlists; 'pre-order Optimus' offers are scams), Figure 02/03, Apptronik Apollo, Agility Digit (RaaS/enterprise only), and Boston Dynamics Atlas (research platform).
02
Low-end purchase flow: the base G1 sells on shop.unitree.com for $13,500 with shipping quoted at $300-$1,200, customs duties explicitly on the buyer, and the unit listed as backordered; the R1 sold in preorder waves through spring 2026, but that queue is gone: on 24 June 2026 Unitree cut the R1 Air's China price 25% (RMB 39,900 to RMB 29,900, about $4,150) and moved to in-stock, immediate-delivery fulfillment, with the global direct price unchanged at $4,900; it is also listed on AliExpress, the first humanoid distributed that way.
03
EDU/research purchase flow is quote-based: Unitree routes all EDU sales through sales_global@unitree.cc; European distributors (RobotShop EU, MYBOTSHOP/QUADRUPED in Germany, Generation Robots in France) list EDU units as 'price on request', then issue a formal quote, typically paid by bank wire; Top3DShop quotes 3-6 week lead times for G1/H1, while China-direct sellers like OpenELAB quote about 2 months for an on-demand G1 EDU Plus (listed at 44,900 EUR on sale vs 52,900 EUR regular) with no returns except defects.
04
Incoterms decide your paperwork burden: OpenELAB, as an example, ships EU orders DDP (they handle EU import duties and taxes) but non-EU destinations (UK, CH, NO) DAP, where the courier bills you duties and fees on delivery; when comparing quotes, a 'cheaper' DAP price from China can flip after customs; always ask whether the price is DDP to your door.
05
EU import math is mild: industrial robots under HS 8479.50 carry a 1.7% EU import duty under the 2026 Combined Nomenclature (0% only if the unit qualifies as a handling robot under HS 8428.70), so the main add-ons for an EU buyer are that duty and import VAT on the customs value (deductible for VAT-registered businesses), and the VAT rate varies by member state, for example 21% in the Netherlands; an EU-warehoused unit from RobotShop EU or a German distributor avoids the import process entirely and preserves EU warranty handling.
06
US import math is hostile: layered Section 301 and 2025-2026 tariff actions at one point nearly tripled the G1's US price from ~$16,000 to ~$40,000 (Interesting Engineering, spring 2025) and a 90-day US-China pause followed in May 2025, but the rate has been settled and high since 24 July 2026, when a China-built robot went to about 40% of customs value (2.5% MFN base under HTS 8479.50, 25% Section 301 List 1, and the 12.5% Section 301 forced-labor duty that took effect the same morning the temporary 10% Section 122 surcharge expired, so the widely predicted drop to 27.5% never happened); that stack assumes HTS 8479.50, while CBP's December 2025 ruling on AgiBot humanoids (NY N356154, A2 Ultra and X2 Ultra) chose 8479.89.9599, which also draws the Section 232 aluminum-derivative duty at a reduced rate until 31 December 2027, so have a broker confirm the classification before relying on any single figure; that forced-labor action covers 60 economies rather than targeting robotics, so it also put EU-origin machines on a combination rate of about 10% and Japanese or Korean ones at about 12.5%, where all three previously paid only the 2.5% base; US resellers bake tariffs into fixed USD prices (G1 Basic $17,990 at RoboZaps/botinfo listings), so a fixed-price US reseller quote is tariff insurance. Separately, since 28 July 2026 the FCC (Public Notice DA 26-786) added foreign-produced advanced robotic devices, humanoids included, to its Covered List, which denies a covered device the FCC equipment authorization required before it can be imported, marketed, or sold in the US, effectively shutting a NEW foreign-made humanoid out of the US market while an already-authorized model like the current Unitree G1 (FCC ID 2A5PE-YUSHU008) is grandfathered and stays legal to import and sell, an import-authorization barrier rather than a tariff that changes none of the duty rates above.
07
Export paperwork from the China side is the seller's job but shapes your timeline: humanoids ship crated as freight (a 35-47 kg robot plus flight-case-style crate) and the batteries fall under UN 3481 lithium rules, so the crate moves as Class 9 dangerous-goods air or sea freight needing a DG-capable carrier and a dangerous-goods declaration; a loose spare battery ordered alongside is cargo-aircraft-only and is the usual cause of a refused booking. Securing that DG capacity is where multi-week lead times come from even for in-stock units.
08
Deposit norms: consumer preorders use small refundable deposits ($200 at 1X); Chinese platform-robot resellers typically require full payment or a substantial wire deposit at order for on-demand builds (OpenELAB's no-return policy on on-demand items is representative); no confirmed standard percentage exists across vendors, so get the payment schedule in the quote (null on a universal number, it varies by dealer).
09
Buyer checklist for an EU buyer: (1) demand DDP-to-door quote in EUR, (2) confirm EU-based warranty/repair path vs Shenzhen round-trip, (3) confirm lead time in writing (3 weeks to 2+ months), (4) confirm what is in the crate (robot, ONE battery, charger, RC is typical; hands almost never), and (5) verify CE/conformity documentation now, since the Machinery Regulation 2023/1230 becomes mandatory January 2027.

See how this plays out per machine in the catalog.

Browse robots