Show HN: Please Return Me - Recover your Lost Stuff

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3073337

by BadiPod • 15 years ago

10 11 15 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Please review my startup Please Return Me.

http://pleasereturn.me

Please Return Me is a service which helps recover your lost stuff.

We provide attractive labels (in 6 colors) which you place on your valuables like cell phones, wallets, keys, etc...

Gallery: http://pleasereturn.me/gallery

If you ever lose your stuff, we charge $30 for recovery and a minimum $20 reward for the finder.

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We are giving labels away for free locally to try and collect data on returns and registrations. Our labels are available online for just $4.99 per sheet. Each sheet has it's own unique serial number registered to you.

If you have any marketing ideas, we'd love to hear those too. Please review!

Thank you HN!

BadiPod5• 15 years ago

http://PleaseReturn.Me

dgunn3• 15 years ago

This is awesome. I love the idea. It's very likely I'll be signing up soon. What do the different colors of the stickers mean? If nothing, you should let people know that the colors mean nothing. Also, on the order screen (that's right, I already tried to order) the boxes are filled with php error messages. Gotta love php.

[edit] I just told my cofounder about this. He bought labels immediately. He also had the php errors.

BadiPod5• 15 years ago

Thanks for the feedback, I fixed the PHP error.

The colors don't mean anything, just personal preference- not unlike iPod nanos.

We shipped out the labels your cofounder bought earlier today.

What is your business out of curiosity?

dgunn3• 15 years ago

I let Matt know to be expecting his labels shortly. We're a marketplace for dinner parties. Think the Airbnb model applied to dining instead of lodging.

_ud4a• 15 years ago

very cool idea. the logistics around setting up the shipment from founder to owner must be a big pain on your end! but overall i love the idea and will check it out. do you guys offer your services in canada as well?

BadiPod5• 15 years ago

Yeah, anywhere in the World.

caw• 15 years ago

I don't know what I would put the labels right now but if I think of something I would definitely use the service.

2 things: 1) Do returners have any knowledge of the reward value before they send it off? I can see it going two ways - someone not sending something in because of the value of the item vs reward or users trying to get away with the minimum payment of $50 because the other person doesn't know how much the reward will be.

Still, if someone had a sticker on something like this I'd probably return it regardless of the reward.

2) Typo on order page. "the'll hold up. "

I love the design of the stickers.

I could see an expansion being tamper proof stickers for an extra fee. Yours are laminated, but I might want something (for corporate assets or something) that can't be removed.

BadiPod5• 15 years ago

Thank you for your feedback.

1. About the reward; the returner does not know what the reward will be, however we do mention that there is a minimum $20 reward.

The business is built around the idea that the general public is good. They generally want to return someone's lost stuff. What we've found so far is that the label just makes the process possible, and painless.

That's why we have the "Good Karma" badge :)

2. Thanks, I have fixed the typo.

3. About the expansion with tamper proof stickers, that's certainly a possibility. We haven't done much corporate business yet, so we're not sure the demand for that sort of thing. Our early customers have mostly been individuals.

Thanks again for the feedback.

meric• 15 years ago

Changes are -> Chances are, in the paragraph below on your website.

We have a proven 75% recovery rate for valuables which is pretty darn good. Changes are, you're going to lose something valuable eventually.

No one is perfect. (Not even you! :)

Show HN: Please Return Me - Recover your Lost Stuff

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