Beijing drone owners rush to sell them before ban

CAUTIOUS: Airspace safety fears were raised in June when an aircraft smashed into Beijing’s tallest building, which seems to have unsettled authorities in the capital

Drone owners in Beijing flocked to designated buy-back sites this week, looking to sell their devices for as much as possible ahead of an impending citywide ban.

New rules in the Chinese capital ban not just the flying of uncrewed aerial vehicles, but the possession or storage of them, meaning owners have until Nov. 15 to get rid of their drones.

At several authorized buyer sites across the city, people were waiting for staff to appraise their drones and negotiate prices.

An employee at a drone reception module in a shopping mall in Beijing inspects a drone brought in by its owner on Wednesday.

Photo: AFP

All sites had a visible police presence, indicating the sensitivity of the new laws.

At the flagship store for the world’s largest drone maker, DJI, in Beijing’s business district, about a dozen people queued on Thursday morning hoping to sell their drones back for a reasonable price.

Users can sell devices at approved buy-back points and receive a government subsidy of 30 percent of the resale value — up to a maximum of 3,000 yuan (US$447.9) — before Oct. 31, and of 15 percent until Nov. 14.

Alternatively, they can recycle them for a subsidy of 200 yuan, or ship them out of Beijing free of charge.

“I think [the ban] is reasonable. I can understand why the government wants to ensure safety and manage the airspace,” a drone owner surnamed Wu said.

“After all, Beijing is the capital,” said Wu, who bought his drone six years ago for about 6,000 yuan.

He was hoping to get at least 1,000 yuan for the sale, which was what he had been given as a preliminary estimate on the official reselling app.

Some were not satisfied.

Zhu, who called himself a drone hobbyist, said the buy-back scheme was “robbery.”

“It’s made me lose a lot of money. This is my private property,” he said, adding that he had sold five drones back, losing thousands on the original prices.

Airspace safety fears were raised in June when a light aircraft smashed into Beijing’s tallest building, killing the pilot and injuring 13 others — as well as briefly disrupting the flight path into one of the capital’s international airports.

The incident, which was heavily censored, seems to have unsettled Beijing authorities, happening just a few kilometers from the seat of the Chinese government.

Beijing cited a need to “safeguard the security of the capital” when it announced the complete ban on drone possession inside the city.

There were 3.285 million drones registered nationwide at the end of last year, China’s Civil Aviation Administration said, but it is not necessary to register drone ownership in most of the country.

Online, many Beijingers posted farewells to their drone collections.

“There’s nothing I can do, thanks for your company,” one user wrote on Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote. “I hope you can keep roaming the skies in the future.”