Where does Amazon acquire DJI drones?

[KLJ5]

Hi everyone. I'm writing on behalf of my 73 year old ex-wife who has innocently been victimized with her purchase of a 2nd hand DJI Mini 3 Pro from Facebook Marketplace. I'd really like to have some feedback that doesn't involve blame or 'shoulda, woulda, coulda', so thanx in advance for that. As stated above, she purchased the Mini 3 Pro and several months later subsequently decided to sell her Mini 3 Pro and upgrade to the Mini 4 Pro. She advertised the Mini 3 Pro on Marketplace and sold it for $800. The buyer called her a week later and informed her that the drone was bound to an email address - not hers and not that of the person who originally sold her the drone. She hadn't been previously educated on binding and so knew only that what had transpired wasn't right. She decided that the honorable thing to do would be to refund the money she had received in the sale and retake possession of the Mini 3 Pro. She contacted the person from whom she'd bought the drone and asked if he had the original bill of sale from Amazon. He did and he provided to her his bill of sale totalling $1,301.69 Cdn. As things unfolded, she called DJI and explained the situation. DJI informed her that the drone had been bound 2 months prior to Amazon selling it. They told her that Amazon owns the drones it sells to the public. DJI informed her that they would try to communicate with the owner of the email address shown as the address to which the drone was bound. They did that and were told that the person who owned the email address said they'd never owned the drone, and that it wouldn't be ok to unbind it. DJI then says that they're not willing to unbind the drone even though it was apparently never owned by the email addressee due to "privacy issues". Amazon won't talk directly to my ex because she wasn't Amazon's customer, but they say something is very wrong with the drone having been bound prior to its sale by Amazon. The bottom line is that my ex is now stuck with a drone she no longer will use and that she won't sell. Is there anything in this story that you folks reading this think doesn't add up? I sure do. Thanx for any helpful comments that maybe can be applied in this situation - like where did Amazon get this already bound drone and how did it get bound prior to being sold?

 

[mavic3usa]

Nope, everything makes sense (even though it is wrong). Someone is going to be screwed because of this well-known "issue" and it's just a matter of "whom" not "if" gets left holding the bag. I read your entire paragraph and I understand it well what you wrong. But I can only weigh in on what little I'm given here. Obviously there are too many owners and too many change of hands for this to be resolved outside of DJI but it's not easy to declare this as as illegitimate sale because most buyers and sellers are simply unaware of the binding process and the ill-effects it has. So, the "paperweight" continues to pass hands until someone raises the red flag. Unfortunately it's the often the most vulnerable buyers who usually becomes the victim so anyone who thinks DJI puts this binding process into place to stop the bad guy and protect that innocent are naive; DJI is mostly screwing over the honest and innocent drone buyers with their ill-conceived "permanent" and likely illegal locking scheme. But of course, KLJ5 could be simply another one of those hundreds of "innocent" posts we see here from time to time from someone with a "sad story" asking the expert drone community if there is a secret back door or a workaround or a trick to social engineer the codes out of DJI. But I doubt it; this appears to be sincere but the answer is still the same, there's nothing you can do about it for now.

As a last resort, a couple of things come to mind. If you paid with a credit card or paypal, you might have some recourse depending on the timing, etc. I know you didn't ask for this but others reading might take heed, if you buy second-hand and you ask for a bill of sale at that time and you are presented with a $1300 bill of sale which you are being asked for only $800 a couple of months later, might be a red flag. What I find strange is the fact this drone was apparently sold on Amazon while already bound and it appears DJI is trying to make that issue? Because DJI has been known to unlock drones when a reputable merchant unknowingly sells the drone already locked. This could be another avenue you may want to address this. I've never heard of "it's not my drone but it's not ok to unbind it" that's ridiculous. Not your drone then you don't have a say! If DJI sends a email to the "owner" and the owner replies "not my drone; never was"....then unlock it DJI. Otherwise it sounds more like someone is not being candid.

That's my take on this. I would never ask you to pass the drone off to someone else, let it be their problem, but you can always sell the drone AS IS or for parts with full disclosure so it's not a total loss. There are hackers out there. Good luck to you.

ETA: Also you should know that everything you see when you go to amazon.com is not always sold by Amazon. Your purchase must say "Ship and sold by Amazon" or equivalent otherwise it is likely you could be buying your drone from someone other than Amazon so all bets are off at that point. You will need to check with Amazon to see what rules apply.

 

[MARK (LI)]

What does not make sense to me is that you say The bottom line is that my ex is now stuck with a drone she no longer will use and that she won't sell. ......indicating that she did use it in the past.....how did she do that if it was bound to a different account ? Also I believe the drone is bound to a dji account....not an email...any one else clear on whether it is email, or dji account?

Also ...how did the lady pay the person from whom she purchased it?....if by credit card or pay pal.....check with them to see if there is any protection

 

[Macinfo]

If I recall the process correctly, which I may not, if your going to un-bind a drone your selling, you need to do it in the Fly App while connected to a powered on drone. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

If this is the case, and DJI really won't help someone that purchased a drone in good faith from a seller that may have totally unaware to unbind it, that's just poor customer service. I am sure that drones are stolen and sold perhaps all the time.. and thats the pits too.. But who is DJI protecting here?

Maybe I miss the point of the binding process? In the box there should be a large print notification that spells out binding to start and unbinding if you sell, if they read it at least a little bit and are remotely honest, they'll make sure its unbound before selling it.

But if you go to fly, get prompted to bind and then set and forget, because there's no added info for when the drone may be sold, and if the seller needs the drone to unbind it, its just a bad process and DJI should fix it.