Hey all,  I bought a Mini 2 near new (was able to purchase care refresh) but when i got into the app and try to bind the controller, it says its bound to another account.  how do i go about unbinding the old owners account?

Hello there rondizz. Thank you for reaching out and for giving out these information. After the DJI drone is bound with an account, it can also be removed from the account. To remove the DJI Drone from the account, there is no need to connect the drone. But only the bound account can operate this function. Here is the path: Profile>Device Management>Account and Device>Remove device from account. Thank you.

DJI Stephen Posted at 4-2 00:34
Hello there rondizz. Thank you for reaching out and for giving out these information. After the DJI drone is bound with an account, it can also be removed from the account. To remove the DJI Drone from the account, there is no need to connect the drone. But only the bound account can operate this function. Here is the path: Profile>Device Management>Account and Device>Remove device from account. Thank you.

what if i am unable to contact the original owner?  how can i unbind the account then?

rondizz did you see the thread https://forum.dji.com/forum.php? ... 3&page=1#pid2709381
Did you buy this via a shop or something? I am just wondering why you can not contact the original owner?

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 4-2 01:04
rondizz did you see the thread https://forum.dji.com/forum.php? ... 3&page=1#pid2709381
Did you buy this via a shop or something? I am just wondering why you can not contact the original owner?

Yes I did see that thread, tried everything I could find out there.  Though when I tried assistant I couldnt do much not a lot of options.  Anyways I already tried to contact the original owner but he hasnt answered me.  I got it off of FB market place...and it is not stolen or found as I was able to buy the care refresh for it.

rondizz Posted at 4-2 04:52
Yes I did see that thread, tried everything I could find out there.  Though when I tried assistant I couldnt do much not a lot of options.  Anyways I already tried to contact the original owner but he hasnt answered me.  I got it off of FB market place...and it is not stolen or found as I was able to buy the care refresh for it.

How did you pay? If Paypal etc. do they offer any protections for facebook purchases?
Did you go to the original owner's home to purchase the drone?
Did the owner leave a memory card in the drone? If so it is possible that a fair few of any videos left on the card are shot near or over their home.

Unfortunately if you can't get in contact with the seller I think you are ........ed

I would watch to see what happens in the other thread, though I think Cloudbase is in a better position then you and has the option t return their drone to Amazon.

Drone was near new he had flown it one time in his house....i paid cash, met him at a neutral location. Not sure what that information has any solution to my issue.  The seller is about 2 hours from me and Im more than likely not going to make that trip if will answer my DM.  I just wanted to make it simple .  Already contacted DJI support too.  I'm looking if anyone has this issue and was able to resolve it, without the original owner.  Hopefully he will reply to message.  Was hoping to fly a little today hehe.

rondizz Posted at 4-2 05:53
Drone was near new he had flown it one time in his house....i paid cash, met him at a neutral location. Not sure what that information has any solution to my issue.  The seller is about 2 hours from me and Im more than likely not going to make that trip if will answer my DM.  I just wanted to make it simple .  Already contacted DJI support too.  I'm looking if anyone has this issue and was able to resolve it, without the original owner.  Hopefully he will reply to message.  Was hoping to fly a little today hehe.

If you had paid via Paypal etc. and they offer any protection on facebook purchases they could have 'asked' the seller to remedy the problem or refund you etc. but as you paid cash you don't have them watching your back.
Alternative solutions......you might want to investigate whether the drone can be flown using a different controller. I do not know if the binding of the controller to the seller's DJI account also creates a binding between the drone and the controller.
If another controller will work ebayed controllers are not that espensive the last time I looked and it may be your only option.

I can fly the drone with the original controller.  As I had to prove it was in good working order for care refresh.

I did wonder how you got the care refresh then forgot about it.
If I may ask, is the troublesome controller an alternative controller? If not and it is the original controller I am curious and, if I may ask, why are you trying to bind it?

Controller works perfectly.  I want to bind it to my account for care refresh since it's under my account for dji when I purchased the care.   

Ah ok, best of luck.

Thanks I'm actually talking to him via chat.  He's kinda lazy and doesn't want to do it ...lol

If not too late screen capture the chat, it just might give you some weight with DJI.

Oh I got it all no worries.  Ya I even offered to use his email and request a pw reset to something easy then I'll login and unbind then log out and do another pw reset and he can change it to whatever.  Tried to make it as easy as possible for him to be honest.  Wish I had spotted this when I purchased the care refresh but with work I was sent away for some training

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 4-2 12:20
If not too late screen capture the chat, it just might give you some weight with DJI.

Heya thanks for your comments and advice.  UPDATE it has been handled, was able to get his email and did a pw reset for him and he gave me pw, signed in and unbound the M2.  Logged out and back in with my credentials and binded everything YAY! and its a nice day today here in CA....i suppose i should go out now and fly a little bit hehe.

Brilliant, party time.

I would like to add that I'm also running into this problem (2022-05-30) and it's RIDICULOUS. DJI needs to fix this ASAP.

Bought the Mini 2 from a big webshop in Europe (not Amazon) as a "returned item in great condition". It was indeed in great condition, I doubt it was ever flown, it had all the stickers on it and everything. But as it turns out it was already bound to another DJI account. I think the previous buyer did this because I think the app prompts you to do it when you start it up, even if you don't have or want Care Refresh warranty.

So now I'm in the position that I can't get this undone unless I can somehow get in contact with the previous buyer and get him to undo it. I can't purchase Care Refresh (which luckily I didn't want anyway), but what worries me more is that IF the previous owner reports the drone as a "fly away" I think my aircraft will be remotely disabled/bricked. Also I'm not sure if the previous owner can spy on me by having access to my flight logs or something.

DJI keeps saying "contact the previous owner or seller", but they don't get that big webshops like this who outsource their returns to other company's have NO IDEA who the buyer was. Even if they did, they would NOT get involved in an issue like this because it's a privacy issue and too much hassle. They'd rather have you return the drone and destroy it, which is the advice I got from them. Just return it.

Now I can send DJI proof of purchase and they will not undo the binding, but contact the previous buyer per email and ask them to undo it. Will see how that goes. If I'm lucky this will work. But yeah this system is flawed. What if you bought it cash from a person (flea market or something)? What if the previous owner doesn't respond? DJI needs to figure this out.

r0bb Posted at 5-30 04:09
I would like to add that I'm also running into this problem (2022-05-30) and it's RIDICULOUS. DJI needs to fix this ASAP.

Bought the Mini 2 from a big webshop in Europe (not Amazon) as a "returned item in great condition". It was indeed in great condition, I doubt it was ever flown, it had all the stickers on it and everything. But as it turns out it was already bound to another DJI account. I think the previous buyer did this because I think the app prompts you to do it when you start it up, even if you don't have or want Care Refresh warranty.

Why does DJI need to address this? The binding is there to protect owners from theft.

This is the problem with buying used. You actually don't know what you've gotten into until it's too late.

When I was looking to purchase a Mini 2, I had considered buying an 'Amazon renewed' Mini 2. But upon reading reviews, it seems even Amazon renewed was problematic. I am sure there are sellers out there who would give a smooth transaction but I didn't want to take a chance.

As far as still having the stickers on and appearing 'new'....check out videos on youtube, there are many that have never removed the stickers. There are now running jokes about people flying their drones with the yellow and black stickers still attached. So that's not really an indication of  how 'new' the item is.

I almost was in a similar situation when I got my Mini 2. I was an Android user, and after reading of all the problems with the DJI Fly app, I decided to buy a used iPhone. It is a iPhone SE 2020 and they wanted $100 USD. It was a cash deal and went very smoothly. I went to thank them on facebook afterwards and found that she had blocked me. I thought for sure I was going to have problems. It has been six months and I am now using it for not only my Mini 2, but also as my cell phone. I got lucky. I have had zero issues and it's a great phone. But....it could've turned out very badly for me. As I said, I got lucky.

Again, this isn't a DJI problem....this is the seller's problem

dnddad324 Posted at 5-30 10:26
Why does DJI need to address this? The binding is there to protect owners from theft.

This is the problem with buying used. You actually don't know what you've gotten into until it's too late.

So your argument is that it's fine for companies like Tesla, Apple or DJI to make reselling their products hard or impossible by locking out new owners remotely, basically killing the second hand market and forcing everybody to buy their newest products.

Well, I'm not sure what the law (in Europe) currently says about this, but I do know this is a topic of debate just like "right to repair" is in the US.

DJI Stephen Posted at 4-2 00:34
Hello there rondizz. Thank you for reaching out and for giving out these information. After the DJI drone is bound with an account, it can also be removed from the account. To remove the DJI Drone from the account, there is no need to connect the drone. But only the bound account can operate this function. Here is the path: Profile>Device Management>Account and Device>Remove device from account. Thank you.

Thanks, solution worked for me. I was able to unbound mini 2 from first owner account and bounds it too mine. Thanks for the path. Marek

djiuser_jx7jPrJSQUhp Posted at 5-31 12:47
Thanks, solution worked for me. I was able to unbound mini 2 from first owner account and bounds it too mine. Thanks for the path. Marek

Hi there Marek. You are very much welcome and thank you for sharing these information with us.  If you have any inquiries or any concerns with DJI. Please feel free to post it here at DJI Forum. We are all here to help and assist you. Thank you.

r0bb Posted at 5-31 03:52
So your argument is that it's fine for companies like Tesla, Apple or DJI to make reselling their products hard or impossible by locking out new owners remotely, basically killing the second hand market and forcing everybody to buy their newest products.

Well, I'm not sure what the law (in Europe) currently says about this, but I do know this is a topic of debate just like "right to repair" is in the US.

I can understand both positions, DJI do not know if its stolen.
Then there's buyer who bought it in good faith.

There is a way shops can mitigate this and that's by checking the products prior to refunding.

As they are a shop and obviously an authorised reseller, then proof of purchase should be all that's required from the buyer for DJI to rectify this on their end. After all, the proof is there. Although the nous should really be on the seller to get their original customer to resolve this, but if they have their refund already, they have no incentive to play ball if they do not want to, and there will be some that don't. Its at that point i feel DJI should be able to step in if the authorised seller has done all they can.

For private sales, if a buyer is with the seller then the buyer needs to make sure they can bind it to their account or to go through the binding with the seller. If the seller is not willing to do this for whatever reason, walk away.
If its an online sale then the buyer needs to show proof that its been unbound.

These are just my thoughts, that's all...

as dji deceives and scams users, it is incomprehensible that things like this happen, at 1.7 meters and the technical service says 10 cm and the insurance does not cover it, they are liars

Bashy Posted at 6-1 22:39
I can understand both positions, DJI do not know if its stolen.
Then there's buyer who bought it in good faith.

I agree 100%. DJI absolutely needs to be willing to rectify the account binding issue when sufficient proof is provided and no other solutions are possible.

It's like a hidden defect that most buyers and even sellers don't know about because you will only find out in certain circumstances or if you actively know about this issue and look for it.

Same issue here: I bought a "second chance" mini 2 from webshop CoolBlue (Netherlands) and could not get it to work because the "aircraft is still bound to another account". Contacted Customer Support which couldn't (or wouldn't) contact the previous owner. They first offered to pay my money back, but I said that wasn't satisfactory, because they sold me an unusable product (and should have known/checked that). I shouldn't have to pay for their mistake (I bought it with a 10% discount because it was secondhand). So then they offered to replace it with a new one at a 5% discount.
I totally agree that DJI should not have to offer any other "unbound function" than the current situation (only the original owner can do it) because it's a good anti-theft protection.
So be aware when buying a secondhand drone: make sure it's not bound to any account.

I just want to update this situation for future reference, because I'm sure people with the same issue will find this thread like I did.

DJI support offered to contact the previous owner for me (who returned it to the webshop) to ask them to unbind the aircraft from their account. They asked me to wait for a response. After about 10 days they came back and told me there was no response and that's the end of it. The aircraft will be bound forever to this account now.

I specifically asked DJI what the exact consequences are for me. They said I can't get DJI refresh. There are no privacy issues, the previous owner can't see my flight logs. But when I prodded about what if the previous owner reports it stolen or lost, they were a bit more vague and told me I should keep my invoice as proof or purchase.

Considered keeping it, but: a) it's still kind of a bad feeling b) still slightly paranoid that previous owner might have it blocked c) it makes reselling the aircraft later a lot harder. So I'm returning it. Told the webshop the drone should probably be destroyed, because nobody is going to want this anymore...

DJI should really allow the account binding to be reset. If I can show proof of purchase and they contact the previous owner and ask them if it was lost/stolen or simply returned, then at that point there really is no reason to not unbind it at my request.

rondizz Posted at 4-2 15:10
Oh I got it all no worries.  Ya I even offered to use his email and request a pw reset to something easy then I'll login and unbind then log out and do another pw reset and he can change it to whatever.  Tried to make it as easy as possible for him to be honest.  Wish I had spotted this when I purchased the care refresh but with work I was sent away for some training

Did you have any luck after this?  I’m in the exact same situation and the guy is not going to help me remove and unbind his account once he got my cash….

rondizz Posted at 4-2 05:53
Drone was near new he had flown it one time in his house....i paid cash, met him at a neutral location. Not sure what that information has any solution to my issue.  The seller is about 2 hours from me and Im more than likely not going to make that trip if will answer my DM.  I just wanted to make it simple .  Already contacted DJI support too.  I'm looking if anyone has this issue and was able to resolve it, without the original owner.  Hopefully he will reply to message.  Was hoping to fly a little today hehe.

There is really no solution other than the owner removing the bind.  This is a security feature.  The fact the owner is NOT getting back to you, seems really shady.  I would think if this was legit they would be more than happy to resolve this.  

I think they should have a system where you put in s/n and your proof of purchase then they unlock it

henry1cats Posted at 6-28 08:24
I think they should have a system where you put in s/n and your proof of purchase then they unlock it

What constitutes proof of purchase?
Emailed-in electronic copies of receipts can be forged.
If bought from a shop etc. then perhaps an email direct from the 'shop', be that literally a High St shop or a www shop, to DJI via an email address that DJI is 'aware of' saying that the drone was a returned drone that had been resold, or an email from the email account to which the everything is bound saying that the drone had been sold etc., but other I can't think of anything that would be safe for DJI to accept.


In fact there was a thread or post, either here or on Mavic Pilots, where the original owner of a drone had had a flyaway or something and the drone was, unwillingly, longer in their possession. The original owner was contacted by DJI who said that someone, in possession of the drone, had contacted them to have the binding undone and DJI were checking the situation.
What should DJI do?
Maybe the person attempting to unbind the drone bought the drone in good faith from someone else and could provide a receipt but at the end of the day the drone had still been lost by the original owner and belonged to either the original owner or, if the original owner was paid out by insurance, DJI/the-insurer.

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 6-28 11:33
What constitutes proof of purchase?
Emailed-in electronic copies of receipts can be forged.
If bought from a shop etc. then perhaps an email direct from the 'shop', be that literally a High St shop or a www shop, to DJI via an email address that DJI is 'aware of' saying that the drone was a returned drone that had been resold, or an email from the email account to which the everything is bound saying that the drone had been sold etc., but other I can't think of anything that would be safe for DJI to accept.

you do have a point with proof of purchase being faked but on the other hand, flyaways can be reported to DJI and that drone will be grounded as stated by DJI. As for stolen drones, the same could be done if DJI wants and all of this could be linked with s/n and would protect the original owners and second-hand owners alike.

Agreed but I think it is unlikely that DJI will add the facility to ground stolen drones, which is a great shame.
Saying that makes me think the thread/post I mentioned concerned a flyaway that had been found by someone other than the owner. I now have a vague notion that I have read that Flyaway does loss, as in it disappeared from where I last remember putting it, or theft.

Another update. After I returned my last DJI MIni 2 because is was "already bound to another account", I bought 3 more used ones from Amazon. Why you might ask, well Amazon Warehouse sold them in the low €300 range because of a glitch and I figured I had little to lose. I actually got 2 opened ones and 1 sealed one with only a damaged box. The 2 opened ones where BOTH bound to another account. So this issue is pervasive.  It makes sense, because the app requests you to bind your aircraft to your account first thing when you start your new drone up.

I guess our opinions about this issue, even though interesting, don't matter so much. Once big warehouses catch on and find out they have to trash all returns (or send them back to DJI factory) because reselling them causes too much trouble, they'll make DJI fix this issue. Like if Amazon, Bestbuy or Mediamarkt call DJI up or even drop these drones from their inventory you can be sure DJI will scramble to find a way to unbind the drones. There is zero chance this is not blowing up in their face soon.

Same here....
I purchased a 2nd hand Mavic3 on Gumtree here in Australia. I now want to have the Mavic in my name but it looks locked to the original owner who thus far is not contactable.
Amy way to reset this drone?

Rotor360 Posted at 6-30 16:35
Same here....
I purchased a 2nd hand Mavic3 on Gumtree here in Australia. I now want to have the Mavic in my name but it looks locked to the original owner who thus far is not contactable.
Amy way to reset this drone?

Nope, the account binding is not on the drone, it's on the servers of DJI and they refuse to resolve the issue, but they will e-mail the previous owner for you. Chances of previous owners cooperating are not that high I think.

Hi DJI.

I am Angelo Garcia from Philippines.
I recently bought a brand new dji mavic mini 2 fmc unit from Camerahaus Philippines. During demo/testing of unit by the Camerahaus saleslady, she accidentally bound the drone unit to a DJI account of her previous customer. Unfortunately, she logged it out and cannot access that DJI account anymore (the owner of the account forget also tge password and cannot open his email). I've been asking for replacement, but they said they can repair it. Which I doubt.

Can you suggest if I am entitled to have it replaced since it is like they sold me a drone that is bound to other dji account and cannot be unbind.

Attached is the receipt of my purchase. And screenshot.(July 14, 2022 puchase).

Also the SN and the profile si attached.

Hope you can help us resolve this.

r0bb Posted at 6-30 03:14
Another update. After I returned my last DJI MIni 2 because is was "already bound to another account", I bought 3 more used ones from Amazon. Why you might ask, well Amazon Warehouse sold them in the low €300 range because of a glitch and I figured I had little to lose. I actually got 2 opened ones and 1 sealed one with only a damaged box. The 2 opened ones where BOTH bound to another account. So this issue is pervasive.  It makes sense, because the app requests you to bind your aircraft to your account first thing when you start your new drone up.

I guess our opinions about this issue, even though interesting, don't matter so much. Once big warehouses catch on and find out they have to trash all returns (or send them back to DJI factory) because reselling them causes too much trouble, they'll make DJI fix this issue. Like if Amazon, Bestbuy or Mediamarkt call DJI up or even drop these drones from their inventory you can be sure DJI will scramble to find a way to unbind the drones. There is zero chance this is not blowing up in their face soon.

Hi DJI.

I am Angelo Garcia from Philippines.
I recently bought a brand new dji mavic mini 2 fmc unit from Camerahaus Philippines. During demo/testing of unit by the Camerahaus saleslady, she accidentally bound the drone unit to a DJI account of her previous customer. Unfortunately, she logged it out and cannot access that DJI account anymore (the owner of the account forget also tge password and cannot open his email). I've been asking for replacement, but they said they can repair it. Which I doubt.

Can you suggest if I am entitled to have it replaced since it is like they sold me a drone that is bound to other dji account and cannot be unbind.

Attached is the receipt of my purchase. And screenshot.(July 14, 2022 puchase).

Also the SN and the profile si attached.

Hope you can help us resolve this.

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 6-28 11:33
What constitutes proof of purchase?
Emailed-in electronic copies of receipts can be forged.
If bought from a shop etc. then perhaps an email direct from the 'shop', be that literally a High St shop or a www shop, to DJI via an email address that DJI is 'aware of' saying that the drone was a returned drone that had been resold, or an email from the email account to which the everything is bound saying that the drone had been sold etc., but other I can't think of anything that would be safe for DJI to accept.

Hi is this resolved already?

Hi DJI.

I am Angelo Garcia from Philippines.
I recently bought a brand new dji mavic mini 2 fmc unit from Camerahaus Philippines. During demo/testing of unit by the Camerahaus saleslady, she accidentally bound the drone unit to a DJI account of her previous customer. Unfortunately, she logged it out and cannot access that DJI account anymore (the owner of the account forget also tge password and cannot open his email). I've been asking for replacement, but they said they can repair it. Which I doubt.

Can you suggest if I am entitled to have it replaced since it is like they sold me a drone that is bound to other dji account and cannot be unbind.

Attached is the receipt of my purchase. And screenshot.(July 14, 2022 puchase).

Also the SN and the profile si attached.

Hope you can help us resolve this.

Let me also update my case one last time. I asked DJI again for help with unbinding the account from my DJI Mini 2, which I bought from Amazon Warehouse. They contacted the previous owner and after about 5 days to one week they e-mailed me and closed the case because the previous owner didn't respond. However after 2 weeks I log in and the account binding has been removed!

I guess the previous owner took some time te respond or maaaaybe DJI support did it after all, because I told them this issue is not acceptable and I wanted to send the drone in for repairs because of this issue. But yeah, contact support and cause a stink is what I recommend. I mean be polite, but firm that you want it fixed. If they don't solve the issue for you, at least it lets them know this issue is causing trouble for everybody and they might implement a process to solve this issue for new owners.