Sell Your Used (or Broken) Drone For The Most Money: 8 Things To Consider.

Let me guess: you are looking for a little help to sell your used drone. Every time another UAV is released you want to have the latest and greatest. You crave the extra range, the bigger camera sensor, the fancy new obstacle avoidance system…

Alternatively, you may have recently crashed your drone, and want (or need) a new one to replace the broken one.

But your spouse won’t let you have two drones, so you decide you need to sell the old one.

Of course you want to get the most money possible out of your old drone to narrow the gap between the purchase price of a shiny new one and your used machine.

We get it.

We are drone operators and drone shop owners ourselves and have dealt with many customers over the past years in the exact same position as yourself.

Although we have sold many drones for customers on consignment, the amount of money you can get for a used or crashed drone is generally better if you sell it yourself privately.

To recoup as much of the cost from your used drone as possible we have compiled these 8 tips to make sure you get the absolute most money possible towards that new UAV.

8 Tips to Sell Used (or broken) Drones For the Most Money Possible

Sell Early.

Folks such as yourself that probably keep up to date on the latest and greatest drones will typically know well before the general public when a new model is due to be released.

For example, the recent leaks regarding the DJI Mavic 2 have come out long before the model has actually been released to the general public (who probably won’t have a clue about the Mavic 2 until it hits store shelves later this year).

If you can bear to go without a drone for a few weeks now may be the time to put together a solid listing on DroneTrader before it becomes saturated with other folks looking to offload their preowned drones (which typically drives down the price).

List it in Multiple Locations.

In the used car market, you will see the same vehicle listed in multiple locations: Craigslist, Autotrader.com, Cars.com etc. Some car buyers prefer to only shop on one classifieds site so it helps when sellers cross-post on multiple sites for increased exposure.

Likewise in the preowned drone market, it is important to get the maximum amount of exposure for your drone classifieds listing so there is a higher chance of interested buyers seeing your ad.

Often times you can list it on DroneTrader and simply copy and paste the ad link into multiple other classified sites, Facebook groups etc. (For a list of sites you can sell your drone on click here).

Include Original Factory Packaging.

Although the packaging adds little value to the cost of the drone it may help sell it quicker. Having the original box, accessories (cables, adapters, manual etc) and receipts is important to many buyers as it likely shows a more conscientious seller.

It is also a convenient way to pack and ship a used drone if you are selling on a site such as eBay where the buyer may not be local.

Part Out Your UAV.

If you have a perfectly functioning UAV it may not make sense to part out your machine and sell it off separately. However if it has been crashed and can only be used for parts, it is often much easier to sell off parts individually.

For example, on a used DJI M600 Pro Hexacopter some of the individual components have fairly significant value (A2 Flight Controller and IMU, the GPS Puck, the arms, motors etc).

Let’s say you are looking for $1500 for your crashed M600 as-is. Unfortunately not many people are looking to spend $1500 in one shot for a parts rig.

However, there may be several people interested in buying a A2 flight controller for $400, a few folks  interested in picking up some spare arms for $150 a piece, someone looking to buy a centre frame for $400 etc.

Add up all the parts separately and you will undoubtedly end up with more money than you would if you had sold it all in one piece.

If you don’t like working on drones yourself, you may be able to pay your local drone shop to part it out for you (an experienced drone tech should be able to disassemble the average drone in under an hour).

Sell the Accessories Separately.

Similar to parting out your broken drone, selling off the accessories you have for your UAV separately can help with increasing the total dollar value you can get for your machine.

When purchasing a used drone, people will primarily look a the UAV and how many flights it has on it (again, this is similar to the used car market where people mainly look at make/model/year/km, and adding winter tires, fancy rims etc does not really add to the overall sale price).

If you sell off your drone case, extra batteries, filter sets etc. all separately you may be able to get a higher total dollar value for your drone vs selling it as one complete package.

Be Sure To List Any Remaining Warranty the Drone May Have.

This can be a BIG selling point for a potential buyer.

Transferrable warranty can add significant peace of mind for someone who is in the used drone market. Although it may not add a lot of value to the overall cost of the drone, it will most likely help it sell quicker than a similarly spec’d drone without any warranty.

Take Sharp Photos On a Clean Background.

This is discussed in more detail in another post (http://blog.dronetrader.com/selling-your-used-drone-make-your-listing-stand-out/) and is important when trying to make your listing stand out against other listings.

Make Sure the Drone Is Clean and In Good Condition.

It is normal for a UAV to be covered in splattered bugs, fingerprints etc after flying it for some time. Before listing your drone, spend a few minutes cleaning it up and making it look presentable.

You probably don’t need any fancy cleaning solutions- something as simple as baby wipes can do a great job cleaning up a dirty machine (be sure to spot test prior to cleaning your whole drone!).

Just think…if you were purchasing a used car would you be willing to pay a little more for the sparkling clean, detailed one vs the identical model that is dirty with cupholders full of garbage? The same applies when you sell your used drone!

Keep these tips in mind when you are ready to put your used drone up for sale, and you are much more likely to sell off your drone quickly!