What to do Before Selling Your Drone? Read This First!

We all love our DJI drones because they give us a ton of fun. But there may come a time when we might need to sell our drone because we need the extra cash or simply because we are upgrading to a new one. However, there are few things you need to do before you sell your drone. So, what are the things you need to do before you are ready to sell your old drone?

**You need to first deregister your DJI drone with the FAA, reformat your SD card, record your flight data, clean up the drone, take photos of your drone, and pack the drone and its accessories properly. Then you are ready to publish your drone for sale in an online marketplace. **

There is usually a good market for DJI drones, so you will be relieved to know that it won’t be too difficult for you to sell your drone. Although the sale is likely to go smoothly, there are still things you need to do before you are ready to sell the drone. We’ll help you walk through those things to make sure your drone is ready to be sold to a new owner.

Do I need to do anything to my drone before selling it?  #

Plenty of different drones enter the market on a regular basis as drone flying is quickly becoming more popular every year. This means that there are some companies that are upgrading their drone models or are releasing new ones regularly. And, in the case of some people, they may have started out with the most basic DJI drone models but are now planning to upgrade to a new one if they feel like their skills are now ready for it.

If that is the case for you, you might be thinking of selling your drone to make a bit of extra cash out of it, especially when a model upgrade is in order. Your first thought now might be to take pictures of it and post them online so that you can sell the drone. But, the fact of the matter is that there are still a number of other things you need to do first before you are ready to sell your drone. So, what do you need to do if you want to sell your drone?

1. Deregister the drone #

First things first, you need to make sure that you deregister your drone (which we will be talking about later). Deregistering your drone means that you are no longer claiming it under your name in your drone registration account with the FAA. 

However, you only need to deregister your drone if it is registered under a Part 107 registration account. If you registered as a Recreational Flyer, your drone’s serial number is NOT linked to your account, so you don’t need to deregister it. Simply remove your FAA registration ID number from the outside of the drone.

2. Clear and reset your SD card #

Next, if the SD card is going along with the drone in the sale, you need to wipe out the SD card after saving all of its recorded flight details. You need to not only wipe the SD card out but also make sure that you saved the photos because those photos are your property and you don’t want them getting into someone else’s hands. Meanwhile, recording the flight details will make selling the drone smoother because some people might ask you for the drone’s flight details.

3. Clean your drone and collect all accessories  #

After that, it is time for you to clean your drone up and gather all of its accessories and box in one place. That is also a good time to take photos of it so that prospective buyers will be able to see a clean drone with all of its accessories. This will convince them that the drone is still in good condition and that all of its necessary accessories are still there.

4. Box the drone and post a sales notice online #

Once you have taken photos of it, it is now time for you to pack the drone properly but make sure you can still take it out of the box at any given moment in case a prospective buyer wants additional photos. After that, you may now post your drone in an online marketplace.

How do I reset my DJI drone before selling it?  #

As we said, you need to make sure that you reset your DJI drone before selling it because you want the drone to be as much of a clean slate as possible for the new owner so that he will feel like he is starting anew with a fresh drone. But how do you reset a DJI drone?

You need to have a Windows or Mac OS computer ready so that you can install the DJI Assistant program on it. This program is necessary for you to be able to properly reset the drone to its original factory settings.

Turn your drone on and plug it into the computer with the DJI Assistant program. Open the program and wait for DJI Assistant to detect that your drone is connected to the computer. Select the desired drone and go to Firmware Update, which will allow you to select Restore Factory Defaults. Click confirm and you will see a process bar that will show you the progress of the restoration. After that, your drone’s settings will now be restored to their original factory settings as if the drone were fresh out of the box.

Can you deregister a DJI Drone?  #

If you have a drone that is over at least 250 grams in weight, you probably already know that you are required to register that drone with the FAA. The point is that your drone should have its own registration number with the FAA and such a number is connected with your name. But because you are now looking to sell the drone, you need to deregister to disconnect it from your name so that the new owner would be able to register it under his name. So, can you deregister a drone?

Yes, you can deregister a drone. If you are a licensed drone pilot, all you need to do is to go to the FAA DroneZone website and then log into your Part 107 account using your credentials. There, you will see in the dashboard where you can manage your sUAS inventory. Click on that and you will be able to see all of the drones registered under your account.

On that page, look for the drone you are planning on deregistering from your account. Once you have done so, all you need to do is to click the ‘Cancel’ on that entry so that it will be deregistered from your name and can now be registered under a new account.

As mentioned above, if you registered as a Recreational Flyer, you will not need to deregister your drone, as it is not specifically linked to your account. If you log in to your Recreational Flyer account and try to find a list of sUAS inventory, you won’t find it, since you don’t have to list your drone’s information when you register.

Where can I sell my DJI Drone? #

Finally, we have gotten to the part where you need to sell your drone in a marketplace that should provide you with a big enough audience. Online is the best place to sell your drone because it allows you to connect with people in your locality. And when it comes to online marketplaces, eBay might be a good choice but we would also like to recommend Facebook Marketplace or Facebook Groups.

The good thing about Facebook Marketplace is that it allows people to simply search for a drone model for your entry to pop up. Depending on the person’s browsing algorithm, your entry might immediately appear the moment the person enters Facebook Marketplace. Of course, specialized Facebook Groups for drone selling are just as effective because people are already in that group to look for drones for sale.

Take your pick of marketplaces to sell your drone. You can even choose multiple different marketplaces to create a listing. However, once you sell your drone through one of those marketplaces, make sure to remove your entry in the other sites so that it won’t end up confusing people regarding the availability of your drone.