Really simple and cool service; does anything like it exist? I'd imagine you'll eventually take a small % of the reward itself (processed through the site). If people ever marked their item "totally lost" you could also hit them with affiliate marketing replacements.
I think it's a fairly narrow use-case. I'd always just write my name/phone # on a large % of my stuff; but I suppose I would rather put a sticker on some things (phone, wallet, electronics, etc.)
Pretty cool - how long have you been live? And how are you coming up with this 80% "return rate?" Do you have a sense of when things are actually marked "actively lost?" as opposed to "if it ever is... this sticker will come in handy" ?
Ha - this makes me think of the story about Hiram Maxim, the great inventor. http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks09/0900131.txt Search for "§12". The entire book is great too, definitely worth the read.
"THIS WAS LOST BY A DAMNED FOOL NAMED HIRAM STEVENS MAXIM
WHO LIVES AT 325 UNION STREET, BROOKLYN. A SUITABLE REWARD
WILL BE PAID FOR ITS RETURN."
Does RFID work over 10 meters? I thought the issue was that the reader needs to power the tag. If the tag is self-powered, that means it runs out of batteries and that you're carrying something that constantly sends signals everywhere you go.
Directional antennas and high-power radios can increase the range a lot. Access-control RFID readers have low-power radios for obvious reasons: any time someone with the right card walked by, the door would unlock itself.
It definitely is an MVP right now. We are thinking about kickstarting, or something, in the future. First we are making the whole service as smooth as possible for all parties. So we really appreciate all your input. Thanks!
There's plenty of lost item services that use tags, and there have been for many years. I remember being able to buy some tags from London Drugs like 10 years ago.
Great idea. I don't usually watch Dragons Den but one of the few episodes I watched had this exact thing and they said they were already partnering with Sony and that their tags were in the box of every Sony laptop (I think).
I've used waramps key tags since I was introduced to them 6 years ago. I'd like to think making it easy to return lost keys is enough to encourage their return, but the reward offer and support for other devices strikes me as a good idea for high value items.
I thought of this as well (happy customer) but the economics are a bit different: My understanding is that Canada Post absorbs the cost of mailing keys to the War Amps as a deal it makes to support this charity. I also guess that War Amps pays the cost of actually returning the keys and yet comes out ahead, based on expected rates of keys being lost and found (though perhaps Canada Post subsidizes this part as well).
This service is going to have to cover that cost as well as the cost of returning the lost item.
Quite a few supermarkets do it in the US/Canada too. Most people don't know it, though, because it's usually written in fine print on the keychain tags.
I think the worry would be that it might make your item more of a target than a random item. In practice, I doubt that would be true, as it would be more lucrative to the thief to sell your item than to return it for whatever reward you're offering. Also, the thief will probably not relish the prospect of meeting face to face with the victim as they might be recognized.
The idea is nice, I bet it is one of those things people (including myself) will say "Hey I thought of that too" but never did anything with it. You did!
Also, something that holds me back from using your service is that I don't like the design for something like my wallet. It looks a bit sporty so I don't want to stick it on my nice leather wallet or slick laptop. What about creating a few different styles?
Probably because you are seeing we have no SSL yet. Stripe suggests using an SSL, ours is on the way but the stripe payment system is Secured via SSL, so we are not violating their TOS I checked.
Yup I know. Our SSL is in progress. For "Stripe Checkout" their documentation suggests: "we suggest that you also serve the page containing the payment form with HTTPS as well"
Thanks for letting us know. We are on it Our SSL is on the way thanks!!!
Although I don't see a way to test it, I'm guessing that the payment page itself is secure and does use SSL but the sales pages don't. Probably using stripe.com directly instead of hosting the forms locally.
Edit: Okay, I was wrong and right at the same time. The page itself is not secure just http. It does, however, have an iframe with the stripe CC stuff in it. That is served over SSL, so the data is encrypted. The user just can't easily tell.
In Japan? Just take them to the nearest koban (police box). Should be one within a few hundred meters in a city. Whether loser or finder, the entire population is conditioned to use this process, so it works.
Same concept as belon.gs but your site is more clear and better designed. I have several of their tags from a startup event a few years ago but haven't lost anything yet. http://belon.gs/
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 169 ms ] threadI think it's a fairly narrow use-case. I'd always just write my name/phone # on a large % of my stuff; but I suppose I would rather put a sticker on some things (phone, wallet, electronics, etc.)
Pretty cool - how long have you been live? And how are you coming up with this 80% "return rate?" Do you have a sense of when things are actually marked "actively lost?" as opposed to "if it ever is... this sticker will come in handy" ?
"THIS WAS LOST BY A DAMNED FOOL NAMED HIRAM STEVENS MAXIM WHO LIVES AT 325 UNION STREET, BROOKLYN. A SUITABLE REWARD WILL BE PAID FOR ITS RETURN."
In order to demonstrate how you would use the site if you found something. Were you expecting a different reason?
It's a good idea.
Maybe it's much harder to get a new phone to be like your original, so you'd rather pay more to get it back as is.
On the other hand, maybe, getting a new laptop is more desirable than getting an old one back (if you have backups or don't care about what you had).
This service is going to have to cover that cost as well as the cost of returning the lost item.
http://www.ah.nl/sleutelservice
PS - I would pay for a small card and/or keychain.
Also, something that holds me back from using your service is that I don't like the design for something like my wallet. It looks a bit sporty so I don't want to stick it on my nice leather wallet or slick laptop. What about creating a few different styles?
>Do I need to use SSL on my payment pages? >Yes, for a couple of reasons:...
Thanks for letting us know. We are on it Our SSL is on the way thanks!!!
Edit: Okay, I was wrong and right at the same time. The page itself is not secure just http. It does, however, have an iframe with the stripe CC stuff in it. That is served over SSL, so the data is encrypted. The user just can't easily tell.
>Nobody can compete with us! We'll give you free tags and therefore free protection of your item's.
Should be "items", not "item's"
Why can't we all be like Japan...
Iceland? Really? They have angry vulcano's!
"People are returning lost items to owners through GoReturnMe everyday."
Is this true?