Bought a Use Air 3 from eBay BUT it won't link

[Conservative Nihilist]

I recently bought a used Air 3 from a New York seller on eBay, but I was only a little concerned when the seller casually mentioned during our eBay chat that I'd need to link the drone with the controller he was sending, because, as he claimed, he had used a different controller with the Air 3 he was selling me, yet oddly enough neglected to link the drone with the controller he paired with it for sale to me.

Since the RC controller linking process only takes a couple of minutes on most DJI drones, the mention by the seller that I'd need to carry out the linking process myself after the purchase struck me as odd, but not outright suspicious. Well, the big day came and I took delivery of my new-to-me Air 3, which arrived in pristine condition and appeared virtually new with hardly any signs of previous use. Charged up the controller and flight battery and fired up DJI Fly, only to find that the drone would NOT pair with the controller even after I followed the instructions to the letter multiple times. The drone is bricked and 100% inoperable now, so I am not a happy camper, to put it very mildly, after shelling out nearly $700 for this impressive-looking but clinically dead paperweight.

Watching YouTube videos recently I ran into an account of a scam that is reportedly occurring with greater regularity now than in the past. The way this fraud works is that a seller of a DJI drone releases his drone to a buyer after payment, but WITHOUT unbinding that drone from their personal DJI account so that the new owner can link the drone with its controller. The seller bides his time until that inevitable complaint message arrives from the buyer who finds himself unable to use the drone, and THAT is the point when the seller demands a cash "ransom" from the buyer, in exchange for the seller's removing that drone from their DJI account.

I desperately want to believe that I have not fallen for this scam but it is only when I hear back from the seller and do NOT receive a demand for further payment before this drone can become operable, that I will know for sure I haven't been taken for a ride. If I have indeed been tricked by this seller, this will be the very first time in all my years of buying used DJI drones on eBay, that I lost my entire payment to a dishonest seller.

This particular seller was so helpful and polite that I don't want to believe that he deliberately sold me a dead drone under the pretext I would be able to use it, but then it is only after I see his reply or don't see any reply to my message, that I will know for sure if I lost that $700 outright on this purchase. I'd be curious to hear from any other contributors to this forum who might have encountered a predicament of this nature when buying a used drone from eBay or Amazon. I own several older DJI drones, and it will be a sad day if it turns out that the newest DJI drone I saved up to buy, turned out to be a bait-and-switch scam.

 

[Cafguy]

Did the seller give you real contact info? Can you contact them by phone? If they have gone that far I would rest a little easier. Ebay will refund your purchase if the seller sells you a "bound" Drone. They have a rule that these Drones MUST be sold as FOR PARTS ONLY. Ebay will refund you and pursue the seller for payment.
I hope you did not get scammed. You will have have to wait for Ebay to get a refund if you did BUT you will get it. The controller issue is a little strange BUT I have made many an Ebay Drone purchase and have not lost money yet. The fact that you can contact the seller is a good thing. I will not buy a Drone from an Ebay seller I cannot contact by phone first!

 

[Conservative Nihilist]

Wow, I had no idea that eBay even made it possible for buyers to contact sellers by phone, CafGuy. I'd been under the impression that eBay's dedicated chat feature was the only permissible means of contact between sellers and buyers and that external channels of communication are discouraged.

The seller of this Air 3 was prompt in responding to questions and crucially had earned an eBay customer approval rating close to a perfect 100% based on hundreds of previous online sales there dating back several years, so he does have a reputation to protect and likely just forgot to un-bind this drone from his DJI account before sending it away. To eliminate the possibility that the (USB-C to Apple Lightning) cable I used to connect the Air 3's controller to my iPad might have been the problem, I swapped in three different DJI cables sequentially, but to no avail in my efforts to link the drone with its controller.

The only reason I remain slightly ill at ease is the casual mention made by the seller that I would need to bind the drone to its controller myself on delivery of the drone. Putting myself in the shoes of a seller with a clear conscience about the good condition of a drone that is advertised on eBay, I would have taken the 2 minutes required to link the drone with the controller being shipped along with the drone, rather than presume the buyer had the expertise to carry out that linking process per DJI's detailed instructions. That way the drone would fly right out of the box and earn me another positive customer review on eBay without delay.

I'll sit tight for a couple of days and hope the seller will get in touch to confirm the error I suspect on his part, and to let me know he has unbound the drone from his DJI account. My gut instinct about this seller is that he is an honest man who on occasion gets absent-minded in the fine detail of handling his online sales business.

 

[Cafguy]

Wow, I had no idea that eBay even made it possible for buyers to contact sellers by phone,

They dont you must use the contact seller info and tell the seller that it is a condition of your purchase that you be able to contact them just in case the Drone was not unbound correctly I have never had a seller complain about it and they are happy to speak to me by direct Email or phone.
The controller thing is a tad strange perhaps the seller has no idea how its done or maybe they are not aware of the Binding accounts thing it has happened to me and they just went back into their account and re-did it when I let them know it must be done.

 

[Conservative Nihilist]

Insisting that sellers agree to phone contact outside "official channels" is a brilliant strategy that I'd have done well to adopt now and then, looking back over my nearly ten years as an eBay buyer.

All told I haven't lost a dime thus far with all the drones I've bought on eBay, and eBay's only refund to me followed my escalating appeals on just one occasion when a highly skilled hacker faked eBay shipping updates after taking my payment for a Mavic 2 Pro that didn't exist. That incident was an eye-opener but luckily a one-off thus far, knock on wood.

 

[Cafguy]

I have not had a problem with Ebay or any sellers either. Its a great way to get good cheap Drones!
Its really hard to avoid asking for contact info from the seller when dealing with DJI Drones, Thanks to DJI's wacky anti-theft system thingy lol.
You can easily get a paperweight that you or even the seller may have no idea about. An honest seller will understand your worry once its explained to them.

 

[djwak59]

I recently bought a used Air 3 from a New York seller on eBay, but I was only a little concerned when the seller casually mentioned during our eBay chat that I'd need to link the drone with the controller he was sending, because, as he claimed, he had used a different controller with the Air 3 he was selling me, yet oddly enough neglected to link the drone with the controller he paired with it for sale to me.

Since the RC controller linking process only takes a couple of minutes on most DJI drones, the mention by the seller that I'd need to carry out the linking process myself after the purchase struck me as odd, but not outright suspicious. Well, the big day came and I took delivery of my new-to-me Air 3, which arrived in pristine condition and appeared virtually new with hardly any signs of previous use. Charged up the controller and flight battery and fired up DJI Fly, only to find that the drone would NOT pair with the controller even after I followed the instructions to the letter multiple times. The drone is bricked and 100% inoperable now, so I am not a happy camper, to put it very mildly, after shelling out nearly $700 for this impressive-looking but clinically dead paperweight.

Watching YouTube videos recently I ran into an account of a scam that is reportedly occurring with greater regularity now than in the past. The way this fraud works is that a seller of a DJI drone releases his drone to a buyer after payment, but WITHOUT unbinding that drone from their personal DJI account so that the new owner can link the drone with its controller. The seller bides his time until that inevitable complaint message arrives from the buyer who finds himself unable to use the drone, and THAT is the point when the seller demands a cash "ransom" from the buyer, in exchange for the seller's removing that drone from their DJI account.

I desperately want to believe that I have not fallen for this scam but it is only when I hear back from the seller and do NOT receive a demand for further payment before this drone can become operable, that I will know for sure I haven't been taken for a ride. If I have indeed been tricked by this seller, this will be the very first time in all my years of buying used DJI drones on eBay, that I lost my entire payment to a dishonest seller.

This particular seller was so helpful and polite that I don't want to believe that he deliberately sold me a dead drone under the pretext I would be able to use it, but then it is only after I see his reply or don't see any reply to my message, that I will know for sure if I lost that $700 outright on this purchase. I'd be curious to hear from any other contributors to this forum who might have encountered a predicament of this nature when buying a used drone from eBay or Amazon. I own several older DJI drones, and it will be a sad day if it turns out that the newest DJI drone I saved up to buy, turned out to be a bait-and-switch scam.

I’ve bought 3 DJI drones off eBay with no problem, BUT, they’ve always been from DJI authorized sellers. Good luck with everything.

 

[Mrprop365]

Did you make sure that all the software was updated?

 

[Conservative Nihilist]

Did you make sure that all the software was updated?

The thought of an overdue DJI firmware update being the culprit to blame for this locked drone crossed my mind, but since I am unable to link the drone to its controller, I have no way to determine whether or not its firmware is current.

Haven't heard back from the seller yet but I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping he's already looking into how this predicament can be resolved without the drone having to be returned. The seller went out of his way to be helpful when I had questions about the general condition and the delivery of the drone, so I remain optimistic that I won't wind up with a permanently bricked Air3.

 

[Mrprop365]

The thought of an overdue DJI firmware update being the culprit to blame for this locked drone crossed my mind, but since I am unable to link the drone to its controller, I have no way to determine whether or not its firmware is current.

Haven't heard back from the seller yet but I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping he's already looking into how this predicament can be resolved without the drone having to be returned. The seller went out of his way to be helpful when I had questions about the general condition and the delivery of the drone, so I remain optimistic that I won't wind up with a permanently bricked Air3.

That's what DJI assistant is for. You plug the drone into a computer and upgrade from there

 

[mavic3usa]

Wow, I had no idea that eBay even made it possible for buyers to contact sellers by phone, CafGuy. I'd been under the impression that eBay's dedicated chat feature was the only permissible means of contact between sellers and buyers and that external channels of communication are discouraged.

Ebay makes it possible for the actual buyer to reach out to the seller for a completed purchase by telephone if the seller chooses. Otherwise it isn't possible for potential buyers and sellers to call each other by phone officially thru the process. However, it is not an official record so it is always better to use the chat function so the eBay authorities can see what is being discussed if necessary.

Since the RC controller linking process only takes a couple of minutes on most DJI drones, the mention by the seller that I'd need to carry out the linking process myself after the purchase struck me as odd, but not outright suspicious. Well, the big day came and I took delivery of my new-to-me Air 3, which arrived in pristine condition and appeared virtually new with hardly any signs of previous use. Charged up the controller and flight battery and fired up DJI Fly, only to find that the drone would NOT pair with the controller even after I followed the instructions to the letter multiple times. The drone is bricked and 100% inoperable now, so I am not a happy camper, to put it very mildly, after shelling out nearly $700 for this impressive-looking but clinically dead paperweight.

Do you not see how you are mixing up the terminology? You are interchanging binding and linking and it is confusing....to you as well as the seller. All of this is covered and explaining online but if you misuse the terms, it won't be solved. To me it makes sense if the seller obtains drone equipment that is almost like new, they don't want to tamper with it by trying to upgrade software, link the equipment, or do anything with it that would show it to be more used than it is. That's a good way to break something and then end up having to fix it before you sell it. Only DJI links drones to controller brand new from the factory; not the job of individuals especially if they didn't come that way to them.

You call it pairing the drone with the controller.
You call it the linking process.
You can it unbinding....
Which is it? There's a difference; details matter....especially when you go to look up the instructions to try to accomplish what you are doing.

The only reason I remain slightly ill at ease is the casual mention made by the seller that I would need to bind the drone to its controller myself on delivery of the drone. Putting myself in the shoes of a seller with a clear conscience about the good condition of a drone that is advertised on eBay, I would have taken the 2 minutes required to link the drone with the controller being shipped along with the drone, rather than presume the buyer had the expertise to carry out that linking process per DJI's detailed instructions. That way the drone would fly right out of the box and earn me another positive customer review on eBay without delay.

You WILL have to bind the drone and controller yourself. Nobody else can do that for you. You cannot expect the seller to bind your drone using the DJI account "[email protected]"; only you can do that. But then you mention the buyer should have taken 2 minutes to "link" the drone. To me, that sounds like you haven't reached the part where you believe the drone is still bound to the seller's account. If that were true and it is still bound then it is likely the drone and the controller are still linked (because unlinking is not very common), but since they are not linked (according to you), then you need to take the 2 minutes to link them yourself; not a big deal. Why aren't they linking? Maybe for the same reason why the seller didn't link them. You haven't mentioned which controller is involved; maybe they are not compatible or software updated. Since we don't know the history of the drone and the controller, it's impossible to speculate why not Again, in my opinion, if you are selling your own used drone, going thru the link process as a seller is not a common step because it's usually already done. Otherwise, it's not a common process unless you are the pilot actually going to do the flying. I know what I am doing when I sell drones but not all sellers would know to do this (charge the batteries, figure out the linking process, connect everything for you). DJI process is not perfect and the Fly App is often painful especially when you are outside the menus that deal with ordinary flying.

Watching YouTube videos recently I ran into an account of a scam that is reportedly occurring with greater regularity now than in the past. The way this fraud works is that a seller of a DJI drone releases his drone to a buyer after payment, but WITHOUT unbinding that drone from their personal DJI account so that the new owner can link the drone with its controller. The seller bides his time until that inevitable complaint message arrives from the buyer who finds himself unable to use the drone, and THAT is the point when the seller demands a cash "ransom" from the buyer, in exchange for the seller's removing that drone from their DJI account.

I desperately want to believe that I have not fallen for this scam but it is only when I hear back from the seller and do NOT receive a demand for further payment before this drone can become operable, that I will know for sure I haven't been taken for a ride. If I have indeed been tricked by this seller, this will be the very first time in all my years of buying used DJI drones on eBay, that I lost my entire payment to a dishonest seller.

Cafguy has already explained the eBay policies regarding this. If you follow the rules of eBay during the transaction, a "fraudster" won't be able to scam you with a drone that cannot be unbound. The problem has been covered many times over the years it's likely the seller is unaware of this "secret" DJI process and doesn't exactly know how to respond to you especially if it's a second-hand drone. If the seller got this drone from a 3rd party and then sold it to you, the seller will be unlikely to unbind it and has passed the problem along to you. The seller could be working on figuring out what he can do about it since he unintentionally sold you a "bill of goods" but he's not going to just tell you right away "my bad, send it back; I'll eat this." However, if this is a scammer and you never hear from him, you can blame DJI for implementing a process that facilitates this and makes this all process; it's not a matter of IF but WHEN.. (I have nothing more to say about that particular topic)

This particular seller was so helpful and polite that I don't want to believe that he deliberately sold me a dead drone under the pretext I would be able to use it, but then it is only after I see his reply or don't see any reply to my message, that I will know for sure if I lost that $700 outright on this purchase. I'd be curious to hear from any other contributors to this forum who might have encountered a predicament of this nature when buying a used drone from eBay or Amazon. I own several older DJI drones, and it will be a sad day if it turns out that the newest DJI drone I saved up to buy, turned out to be a bait-and-switch scam.

You cannot go out of process if you have a dispute or a complaint. The official dispute process is logging the conversation online, the time limits are applied for replies, and everything is captured. It's 2024, there is no waiting to see if somebody replies and then trying to figure out if they are enjoying the holidays or ignoring you. I suggest you start the official eBay dispute process (if you haven't already) and then log all the conversations from there before anyone says anything offline that you wish would be repeated during the dispute. I believe the eBay messaging process is a valid alternative for non-dispute activities but it's probably better to open a dispute and start the clock. It doesn't hurt. I think you already know this since you mentioned you have been involved in a few and have been on Ebay long enough to know.

My gut instinct about this seller is that he is an honest man who on occasion gets absent-minded in the fine detail of handling his online sales business.

Agreed, not everyone is cut out for the online sales business especially when it comes to handling complaints and post-sales activities and support. Everyone who sells a drone is not a drone expert and it will probably take some time for them to figure out what to do. It is always helpful to give the seller *accurate* description of the problem since not many people have done this before. If the seller's account is bound to the drone, it's easy. Ask him (and show him) how to unbind it and he doesn't need the drone to do it. If he still can't do it, just ask him to reply "Yes, ok" to the email/phone call from DJI asking his permission to unbind it for him. I don't know much about the Air 3, it's been a long long time since I owned it but I find it hard to believe a drone/controller that is bound won't allow it to link to a different drone. But who knows, DJI does some strange things.

Insisting that sellers agree to phone contact outside "official channels" is a brilliant strategy that I'd have done well to adopt now and then, looking back over my nearly ten years as an eBay buyer.

Just a personal comment, I will not accept phone calls from a buyer. There isn't anything that can be said over the phone that cannot be said online in official messages. It's 2024, a phone call is not required to do business with anyone around the world and if someone insist, they are either super old school or *they* are the scammer. Bought and sold a ton on Ebay and never had to speak to someone over the phone about it: Member since: May 04, 1998

 

[Conservative Nihilist]

Mavic 3 USA sir I appreciate your having taken the time to post this highly informative response to my predicament. I agree that I have been inconsistent with using the correct terminology when I described this issue in my initial post. The term "binding" refers to the initial process whereby a purchaser of a brand-new DJI drone "registers" the drone online as their exclusive property, while "linking" refers to the process whereby any drone, be it new or used, is paired with a compatible controller.

While describing the problem I faced in linking this drone to the controller that was shipped with it, I should have re-read my post more carefully to ensure that I didn't use the terms "binding" and "linking" inconsistently.
Mr.Prop365 mentioned a consideration that could well solve this Air 3's connectivity failure that I did not take into account all along, despite having flown DJI drones for going on 5 years. I wrongly presumed that a DJI drone would have to be linked with its controller before any firmware updates could be performed. Thanks to this timely reminder from Mr. Prop365, I will in a few moments now try to update the firmware of the Air 3 and its RC-N2 controller, using DJI Assistant2, in the hopes that this observed failure of the drone to link with its assigned controller is indeed because of a firmware incompatibility between the drone and its controller.

If a simple firmware update doesn't make possible a linkage between the drone and its controller, I would like to thank you, Mavic 3 USA, for including the following insight that I'd been hoping to hear, and which I quote here in boldface "Ask him (and show him) how to unbind it and he doesn't need the drone to do it. If he still can't do it, just ask him to reply "Yes, ok" to the email/phone call from DJI asking his permission to unbind it for him." Because I reside in the boondocks of a Third World country where the regular postal system is unreliable, to put it mildly, the prospect of safely returning this drone to the seller stateside was a daunting one, to put it mildly, so learning now that the drone is NOT required to be present for the unbinding process is music to my ears.

I now have a clear course of action to follow, thanks to the responses considerately offered by you and by Mr. Prop365. I will first attempt to update the firmware on the drone and the controller using DJI Assistant 2, then if that fails to resolve the impasse, I will contact the seller using eBay's chat feature, asking for his permission so I can directly furnish DJI with my purchase documentation whereby DJI can unbind the drone from the account of the previous owner, who I know might NOT be the seller, such that I can finally link the drone to the controller.

I'll report back to this forum as I navigate this maze for the benefit of anyone who encounters a similar roadblock after buying a used drone online. Once again Mavic3USA sir, I am grateful for your taking a moment to explain the aspects of the linking and binding procedures whose nuances I hadn't fully understood until now. I thank you kindly, sir, and I will hopefully have some good news to report here soon.

 

[Conservative Nihilist]

While trying to narrow down on the reason this Air 3 won't link with its controller, I discovered that I needed to download a newer version of DJI Assistant 2 than the one I'd used in the past for my DJI Go4 drones, and I also found out that the copy of DJI Fly that I have, which works perfectly with my Mini 3, required an update so that the Air 3 appeared in its list of compatible drones. I was unable to update the controller's firmware, however.

Another possible cause of the linkage failure was put to rest when the seller finally got in touch and assured me that he HAD unbound the drone from his DJI account before shipping, and that the RCN2 controller shipped with the Air 3 was in fact the original controller sold with the drone back when it was new. These disclaimers by the seller let no doubt that the seller is in no way responsible for the failure of this drone to link with its controller, despite my earlier misgivings expressed here.

When I connect the controller to the newly updated DJI Fly app on my iPad Mini, I now see the correct serial number of the controller, BUT the drone will not link to the controller, so all the drone's data in the DJI Fly app is filled with the usual N/A notation. Barring any inspiration that strikes me in the near future, my conclusion is that this Air 3 was working perfectly as advertised by the seller before it changed hands, but is no longer operable now, possibly due to an impact sustained aboard the flight that took it continents away from its previous home in New York.

In retrospect and with perfect 20-20 hindsight, I would have done better to buy a brand new Air 3 with no controller for just $50 more than I paid for this unbound used Air 3 with a controller, and thereby saved myself a the entire cost of the drone that is now an outright loss through NO fault of the seller. The $700 I spent on this conversation piece drone may seem like a significant amount from my own miser's perspective, but people drop orders of magnitude more cash at 'Vegas Blackjack tables on a single hand of cards without batting an eyelid, so all told I have no regrets for the useful lessons I take out of this debacle.

When I finally score a brand new Air 3 later on, I'll be back to share my thoughts about that new toy that may even replace my Mavic 2 Pro as an all time favorite DJI drone. Before I throw in the towel completely with the Air 3, I'll ask over at the DJI forum just in case there is anything else that will resolve that drone-controller linkage roadblock I have hit now.

 

[Conservative Nihilist]

Finally got the drone's controller firmare updated but the drone remains bricked. I'll store the drone out of sight for now and maybe get back to pondering what went wrong one of these days when I again develop a curiosity.

The upside is I have three Air 3 batteries and a charging hub, along with an RC-N2 controller that MIGHT be functional, so my next Air 3 purchase need only be a brand new drone with nothing else. I like the capabilities of this drone, and won't be deterred by the comedy of errors that unfolded with this particular purchase.

 

[Conservative Nihilist]

I have some good news to share at last and it is that I FINALLY got the drone to pair with the controller. There is but one solitary YouTube video that shows right at the very end the exact steps involved in the Air 3's controller pairing process, and barely 2 minutes ago I got that drone to pair and show me the camera view at long last.

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I own over ten old DJI drones, but none of them proved as perplexing to put to use as this Air 3. Now to go out for a short test flight. I jumped through many hoops to resolve this baffling controller linkage problem, but it was all worthwhile now that I have OFFICIALLY joined the esteemed ranks of the Air 3 Brethren, with all rights and privileges implied.

In conclusion, my sentiments are as follows: YeeeeeeeeeHaaaaaaw !!.

And with that, all protocols have been duly observed, and all is well in the known universe once again.

 

[mavic3usa]

Glad you persisted in getting the issues resolved. You posted faster than I could respond but I was going to say keep trying at it because there really isn't a such thing as a bricked DJI drone unless it is damaged or unless we are talking about the actual "binding issue" which appears to be common and pretty straightforward (and didn't appear to be your problem). Linking the drone and the controller can be a pain sometimes (even with new drones that becomes unlinked and need be re-linked), the process is sometime stubborn but glad you got thru it.

 

[Conservative Nihilist]

Flying this Air 3 is a blast. I've never seen a drone climb so explosively fast in sport mode. This thing is the Porsche 911 of the camera drone world. My primary purpose for acquiring this drone is to fly autonomous waypoint missions that stretch out for country miles out here in the remote tropical backwaters far across oceans from from unfriendly FAA skies.

The observed 33-minute battery life of the Air 3 means it will be capable of covering 15 miles round trip on waypoint missions flown at 30 mph, which is absolutely phenomenal for a drone with a stock OEM battery. That said it won't be long before after-market (true) 40 minute batteries become available for the Air 3 on Ali Express. What an amazing time to be alive. Every man is now a UFO pilot who flies with the eagles.

I was so relieved and elated to find that even after I reluctantly accepted the most recent DJI firmware upgrades for both the drone and its controller, I did NOT subsequently discover that DJI had stealthily disabled the "continue mission" menu option after RC signal loss mid-flight on DJI's saved waypoint missions, as had been very recently sprung on Air 3 drone operators residing in the EU.

To retain that "continue mission" capability I intend to ignore all DJI firmware update prompts for the rest of all time, just to be on the safe side. If I am ever asked what final words I'd like carved on my headstone, they would be something along the lines of "All things considered, I'm still better off having avoided DJI firmware updates."

 

[mavic3usa]

I usually take all firmware updates but only after others have reported their findings for about the first month. There's no way DJI will stop the "continue mission" function since other drones do it and that would be to their disadvantage. There's nothing wrong with it but I guess they were forced to do so with the strict EU rules....you know, a place where there are a lot of one-way no return nefarious drone suicide missions going on.

Looking forward to good things to come too; I'm stuck on Mavic 3 Pro....waiting for Mavic 4 Pro.