
Show HN: I lose things constantly, so I built this service - madchops1
http://GoReturnMe.com
======
bdcs
Can you add in how much the service charges? If it is 0$ then make it that. I
get the feeling* that you're going to hold my items for ransom after someone
finds them. I suggest you make it obvious that you're not a bad actor.

* I think the negative connotation comes from your logo's dollar sign, $. It looks like a scammy pay-day loan or something. I'm not saying to change your logo, or your website sucks -- it looks awesome! -- I'm just letting you know my take on it.

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ozh
I'll say it: the logo should not show $, it's not about money, it's about
getting things returned. Money is just a tiny part of the process. The
incentive to get new customers is not "$".

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GBiT
You show picture on website with ID 123456. Right now if I enter this number
I'm getting error. You should make it DEMO.

~~~
mynameisvlad
... Why? I don't think at any point did they actually imply that's a real tag
ID. You'd get an error if you put in DEMO, as well.

~~~
jaunkst
Still not a bad idea when its moving past the MVP

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madchops1
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!

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whymsicalburito
My headphones came with a service like this.
[https://www.rewardtag.com/](https://www.rewardtag.com/)

~~~
ultimatedelman
well this is awkward...

~~~
mynameisvlad
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.

~~~
thumbtackthief
Yeah, there were plenty of coffee shops before Starbucks. Just make your
reward tags the best!

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ams6110
Small typo on the "How it works" page:

 _You make up your own reward value per item. If someone find 's your item you
can choose to release the reward or not._

Should be "finds"

Yeah it's a nitpick but for some reason these kinds of things really catch my
eye.

Edit: Heh... and right above that: _Nobody can compete with us! We 'll give
you free tags and therefore free protection of your item's._ Guess my eye
isn't as sharp as I thought.

~~~
thumbtackthief
Also says "item's". We may be pedantic, but I tend to not trust services that
don't have proper grammar and spelling. To me, it makes me wonder what else is
sloppy and may come back to bite me.

Nice idea though; good luck!

~~~
2muchcoffeeman
The "123456" tag seems to work now.

But then the first thing you see is a tab about creating an account. The
reward information has errors in the text:

"You've found _an_ someone's stuff."

I think you should show reward information first rather than try and get new
users. I also think the whole thing needs to be more concise for the person
returning the item. Bullet list of steps that are easily actionable.

 _Edit: Formatting_

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TeMPOraL
The website says:

 _" People are returning lost items to owners through GoReturnMe everyday."_

Is this true?

~~~
TeMPOraL
So? One day and 9 upvotes later, still no answer to that question. Doesn't
breed much confidence, tbh. ;).

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makmanalp
Ha - this makes me think of the story about Hiram Maxim, the great inventor.
[http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks09/0900131.txt](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."

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quotemstr
I'm a bit confused --- other than the pretty pre-printed labels, how is this
service better than offering a reward and paying it directly myself?

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z5h
[http://www.waramps.ca/faq/keytags.html](http://www.waramps.ca/faq/keytags.html)

~~~
mosselman
A Dutch supermarket does this too with the discount card you can attach to
your keys (or put in your wallet).

[http://www.ah.nl/sleutelservice](http://www.ah.nl/sleutelservice)

~~~
mynameisvlad
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.

------
sensecall
Looks great! We released something similar last year -
[https://loseproof.com](https://loseproof.com)

Did you do much research into rewards vs. no rewards?

~~~
avalaunch
I was wondering about that as well - intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation - which
would work better.

Did you do any research into it?

I'd also be curious if including the reward amount on the tag would increase
or decrease the likelihood of an item being returned. Or does it decrease the
likelihood if the reward is under a certain amount but increase it otherwise?
And if that's the case, what's the amount, and is it a percentage of the
item's value, or is it a constant?

It would be fun test.

------
mosselman
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?

~~~
Jemaclus
Or a business-card-thingy that slips into my wallet?

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avalaunch
Nice idea. When someone finds an item, what happens next? It wasn't clear from
your site. They enter the tag number and then they're connected with the
person who lost the item? Or do they send the item to you and you forward it
to the person who lost it? Or something else entirely?

Also, I really think you should consider changing your logo (and matching
color scheme). As another commenter mentions, it looks like a pay-day loan
logo which has some pretty negative connotations. In addition, you've geared
the logo towards the person finding the lost item, when ultimately, your
customer is the person with items they're afraid they might lose. For them,
you're selling peace of mind, but your logo is not at all reflective of that.
You don't really need to worry yourself too much about the people returning
lost items as the mention of a reward should be enough to motivate them to
visit your website and return the item, if they weren't already inclined to do
so.

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pkfrank
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" ?

~~~
madchops1
We actually did a test run earlier this year. Our metrics are pulled form our
experience during the test run and worthy consumer data sources.

------
jodi
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/](http://belon.gs/)

------
lucb1e
It asks me for a state to ship the stickers to. I don't live in a state.

------
Semaphor
CODE-No.com [0] has been doing this in Germany for quite some time (and from
the looks of it they are by now active in all of Europe)

[0] [https://code-no.com/](https://code-no.com/)

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TelmoMenezes
Doesn't this create a new incentive for people to steal your stuff?

~~~
spain
If they were willing to steal they'd probably hold it for as much ransom as
they'd like.

~~~
judk
This provides a clearly certified contact info and opening bid to streamline
the random process.

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huhtenberg
They were selling keychains and stickers exactly like this for several years
now. I saw them sold in Canada and they are also sold in every post office
here in Switzerland. I'm yet to see a single person to be actually buying
them.

The only difference in your case seems to be that you are targeting online
audience and it might be more receptive to the idea, but otherwise I'd say
it's a pretty crowded space already.

~~~
hmsimha
One difference I can see is that if someone tries entering an ID of something
they've found to check the reward, it notifies the owner automatically.
Someone who's 'found' a wallet or phone might want to check the reward amount,
and then feel obligated to follow through with returning it once they realize
the owner has already been notified. This contrasts with a contact number, as
the person in possession of said item might decide they'd rather keep it than
phone the owner when the reward is unspecified.

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mikeg8
I think this is very clever, I've never seen anything like this. Great work,
your site does a nice job of explaining itself quickly.

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firebones
Marketing idea: create a case study where you buy a bunch of crap, label it,
lose it in various places and then blog the results of how long it took to
return and what came back and what didn't.

You wouldn't have to spend a lot if you did it with items with fictional
sentimental value or old generation throw away technology.

~~~
avalaunch
I was actually thinking about that line of marketing too. He'd still need to
give out decent rewards though for each item.

------
madchops1
Thanks everybody. Your response and input is awesome. I will implement as many
of your good ideas as possible!

------
NickNam
What happens when I sell the phone? Can you take the tags off? Or am I
obligated to use the service if someone sends it back (as the new owner)? Also
what happens if in the time that I lost the item, I've replaced it. Then do
you keep my phone? Sell it?

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antihero
The we got tags box has a typo "We have tags that are disigned for all types "

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cmaxwe
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).

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aftbit
I'm amused that the average reward for tablets is higher than phones, and the
average reward for phones is higher than laptops.

    
    
      Phone $100-200
      Keys $40-100
      Wallet $40-100
      Tablet $200-500
      Laptop $40-100

~~~
mynameisvlad
Laptop being the lowest makes sense from a business perspective. The cost of
returning a laptop is much larger than a phone.

~~~
pdenya
How does that justify a lower reward price even from a business perspective?

~~~
shurcooL
Probably because people are paying more for not having to deal with restoring
their stuff.

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).

------
drstewart
A small typo on the how it works page:

>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"

~~~
madchops1
Thanks!

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triptych
Would be great if you had some way like RFID to scan for those tags, so that
when you lose your phone in your house, you can quickly locate it :)

~~~
lucb1e
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.

~~~
sbierwagen
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.

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goeric
It's like Bungie tags but gamifies it with a reward. Love it. That simple
incentive will for sure increase the rate of return. Congrats!

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ianwalter
I had this idea a couple of years ago. I'm so glad someone's making it happen,
good luck!

PS - I would pay for a small card and/or keychain.

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smegel
Pretty sad we need to pay people to do the decent thing. I would be happy to
reunite someone with their lost item.

Why can't we all be like Japan...

~~~
ams6110
So you find a set of keys. How do you return them, if they aren't tagged
somehow?

~~~
lovemenot
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.

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mattypov
This is AWESOME! All you pay is shipping for tags? BEST idea I've seen all
day. Ordering mine now for my forgetful ass!

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franko10000
Helping people and getting $ for it. I can't wait till those get big and I
find phone or keys.

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mgninad
Dose GoReturnMe take a cut out of the rewards or we need to pay a fee to
receive the lost items?

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mosselman
I am amused by "Our system is safe and secure because we use: stripe".

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PeterWhittaker
Typo on the front page: "notice there is a reward if they reurn it".

~~~
madchops1
oh shoot thanks

~~~
elliottcarlson
The period before the time on the twitter post makes it look like the posting
was .9 days ago - doesn't seem to be a carry over from the tweet either.

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mattryanharris
Just got my tags :) looking forward to sticking this on my phone and laptop!

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nate9ei
Wow, what a fantastic idea. I'm gonna be ordering a few myself.

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abritishguy
Currently violating stripe's ToS

~~~
twothamendment
I'm way to lazy to find out why. Please tell the rest of the class why.

~~~
mkremer90
No SSL?

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abritishguy
Yep

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gary_host
Great idea

