Show HN: Lost & found tags

Now what I would REALLY pay for, and what I thought/hoped was, is stickers had location tracking so I could find them with my phone, i'd put them on my keys, wallet everything. I think THAT, packaged into an very easy service, could be a brilliant business.

Could I ask about the user testing you did on this?<p>Intuitively, if I lost something valuable, I would feel that people would be more inclined to make an effort in returning it if they saw a name (and hence a person) attached to it. Emotionally, that seems to be more powerful of a draw than a code. I guess in my case, I would think the additional vulnerability from having my name and e-mail address on it would not outweigh the perceived drop in likelihood someone would return my precious item.<p>I&#x27;d love to hear whether that&#x27;s just me, and whether that&#x27;s just perception (of having a lower return rate) vs. reality.

This is very reminiscent of <a href="http://www.tagbak.net" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.tagbak.net</a> which adds in a &quot;reward for return&quot; for the honest finder (which is a great idea). IIRC, TagBak is trying to work with vendors to include tags with phones instead of selling tags to end users... interesting to think about which strategy is more effective.

Free shipping creates an arbitrage opportunity: buy 20 tags for 0.5 GBP&#x2F;each. Mail them to the shipper, for a little bit extra (0.3GBP maybe? don&#x27;t know what postage is in the UK.)<p>You can now have items shipped for $0.8GBP&#x2F;each.

A great idea, in principle, but £5 for 5 stickers? It&#x27;d cost me 10p to print 10 stickers with &#x27;lost@mydomain.org&#x27; on... which I might well do, now I&#x27;m thinking about it.

Your site has several links to &quot;LoseProof store&quot;[1] but I just get redirected to the home page.<p>Also, I think you should be very explicit about telling people these are stickers. And possibly talk about how well they stick. I don&#x27;t put stickers on things so these are not for me. I am probably not alone.<p>Lost &amp; Found seems to be a bit of a crowded space these days... so good luck.<p>[1] <a href="https://loseproof.com/store" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;loseproof.com&#x2F;store</a>

Or if you could just generate a QR code and print on a sticker saying &quot;if lost, please scan for return details&quot;. The QR code takes you to your own website with return details or a mailto: link.<p>Not 100% fool proof and depends on those who find it having a smart phone but its a cheap hack.

It would be great if you always knew where all the objects you own are. For example, if you know you still have some nice LP&#x27;s in the basement, but you can&#x27;t find them, you should be able to take al look at your phone and see exactly where they are. (They might show up at a friends place :) Or, if you know there should be some clothes for your kid in a particular size, the app should list all of them available, and show in which box the are exactly.<p>Not doable yet I guess, but definitely something people will want.

I like the idea but good samaritans in this world becomes scarce, especially for electronics.<p>I believe it is best to use services like Find my iPhone&#x2F;Droid, and the likes if you lose your precious device. At least you can lock&#x2F;wipe&#x2F;send your details if your device is found and still have a little chance of having it returned.<p>Also I think sticker tags like that are not really effective in a world where everything becomes location&#x2F;people&#x2F;things aware. The natural evolution is &quot;tag 2.0&quot; (eg. TheTileApp)

This is exactly like TrackItBack, which you&#x27;ve probably heard of? I came across them since they had some pretty awesome airline mile bonuses. I never used the stickers (I still have them); all I remember was thinking to myself &quot;damn these are some expensive stickers.&quot; (The miles promo was so good that it made sense to buy them even if you wouldn&#x27;t use them).<p>..<p>I just searched for them and found that they&#x27;re out of business. Other competitors seem to be idstickers and foundit, though I know nothing of them.

Why can&#x27;t I just put my (e-)mail address on the device? The person who finds it just needs to give it to the next post office and tell them the receiver will pay for it.

Re: pricing table -<p><pre><code> Protect unlimited items 10 LoseProof tags </code></pre> This doesn&#x27;t really compute. So is it &quot;unlimited&quot; or is it &quot;10&quot;?

Interesting service - looks a lot like <a href="http://www.stuffbak.com/sb/default.aspx" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.stuffbak.com&#x2F;sb&#x2F;default.aspx</a>.<p>I&#x27;ve had StuffBak for years and really like the idea of tagging my device but in the end, it really boils down to having a finder that is honest enough to return your device.

<i>Maybe your iPhone has a passcode lock, or your diary has only got your name in. If they got lost, how would you get them back?</i><p>On Android, there is an option called &quot;Show owner info on lock screen&quot; that lets you put whatever text you want on the lock screen. I use &quot;jon@jrock.us&quot;. Is there really no iPhone equivalent?

So what happens if someone (a loseproof member) finds the items but decides not to return it ?. It can help muggers too , why the need to mug someone directly, become a loseproof member and you will get to know the approximate location of the item. And then he looks for it for a day , finds it and sells it .

Hmm, seems like something product manufacturers should pay for not consumers - see <a href="http://www.knomobags.com/uk/register-your-knomo/" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.knomobags.com&#x2F;uk&#x2F;register-your-knomo&#x2F;</a>

As with the last time this was posted you can also just register your items for free here: <a href="https://www.immobilise.com/view.php" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.immobilise.com&#x2F;view.php</a>

Nice job on the site and branding. Personally I don&#x27;t see writing &quot;Please call 555-1212 if found&quot; as a security problem that needs solving, but there are probably some who do.

These things need: Bluetooth Low Energy profiles, and Infinergy 800mhz energy-harvesting antennae. Then they&#x27;ll be worth 5 bucks.

Found a typo on the FAQ page under the question &quot;Can you guarantee my stuff will be safe?&quot;:<p>&gt; your stuff will get back to you should the worse happen.<p>worst.

Just get 100 stickers with your email address, put it on your things and hope for the best...

For a moment I thought it was RFID stickers and I got excited.

Is anyone else&#x27;s tongue tripping on the name? I keep saying &quot;LooseProof&quot; in an effort to make the syllables use the same vowel sound (English US speaker).<p>The web page is nice, but this stage in my life I feel like I&#x27;ve got too much stuff. Losing it is one convenient way to rid myself of some of the mass. The things I really care about aren&#x27;t conducive to stickers ... I think my wife and kids would object, but maybe I could find somewhere inconspicuous. Everything else I&#x27;d hate to lose I have redundancy for (family photos are on Flash drives in multiple locations).<p>Maybe my definition of &quot;Love&quot; has become more refined than it used to be?