Frequently Asked Questions

To use the platform, post or search for objects, you must first sign up: you will find it very simple, immediate and free of charges.
Users must create their own account indicating first name, last name and email address in order to receive messages from the platform.
Once you signed up, you'll be able to fill out your profile, possibly with a photo, the phone number and your PayPal Account. At this point you can use our services and become part of the community! For security reasons, you cannot access the database without being registered. To claim a lost item or the return a found one can be arranged with full confidence only if people have a full identification profile and provide their correct data.

To sign up, you must complete all the required fields.
Registration through Facebook is not mandatory but allows you to sign up in an easier and quicker way.
Otherwise you have to fill in your name, last name, email address and choose a password.
If your email address is listed as already used, it means that is already connected to a registered account on the platform. We do not allow using the same email address on different accounts.
If you have forgotten your password, you have to follow the recovery process by clicking on “Log in” and then clicking on "Lost your password?".
If the activation link in the activation email you received does not work, you can copy and paste the activation link in your browser.
For other cases, please contact FindMyLost support at info@findmylost.it.

Yes, the registration to FindMyLost is totally free.
Once you have created your account, you will have access to all the platform features and you can very easily search for or post items.
Later you will still have the option to delete your account at any time.

FindMyLost introduced the function 'Register with Facebook'. This option allows you to:
- Simply login with a click: connecting FindMyLost to your Facebook profile allows you to access the platform quickly and easily.
- Make your FindMyLost profile more reliable: the Facebook data will complete your account FindMyLost.
Remember that if your settings do not allow Facebook to share your e-mail address with FindMyLost, this would compromise the access to the platform’s services.

You can access your account by clicking the button "Sign In" placed in the menu at the top right of the page.
To login you need to fill in the email address and password (you can also check the box "Remember me" if you are the only one to use the computer).
You can also connect to FindMyLost using your Facebook profile. Check out the Facebook Connect feature.
Once connected, you can access your account at any time by clicking on Profile in the menu at the top right of the page.
In your account, you will have access to all the platform's features, such as the configuration of the profile, your found items, messages, notifications, etc.

From your account, you can access and update your contact information.
Important: Since FindMyLost is a platform that puts in contact people who lost objects with the finder, who could be a partner company, it is very important that your contact details are correct so that you can be contacted by email or phone.

You can simply change your password from your Profile page, through the “Change password” link.
To change it you have to indicate the current password and the new password (minimum 8 characters), which must be confirmed before proceeding to validate the changes.
You should choose a password that you can remember easily.

We accept .jpeg, .gif and .png files.
Furthermore, the photos must have certain characteristics.
In particular, you must:
- Be alone
- Be identifiable
- Do not wear sunglasses
- Be in the foreground
- Be smiling always makes you nicer :-)
- Be compliant with good manners
We also reject:
- Drawings and avatars
- Photos taken from too far away
- Blurry photos or too dark ones
- The grimaces
Do not forget that the purpose is to be identified at the meeting point in case you choose the “Pick-up in person” option!
On the other hand, we are so demanding about pictures because they can appear in various parts of the platform, sometimes small (particularly in mobile applications), and you always have to be clearly identifiable.

Adding a photo to your profile is very important.
FindMyLost aim is to put in direct contact those who have lost an object with its finder. It is important and reassuring to see the image of the people with whom we relate. The aim is to be able to match a face to the person we chat with or simply recognize each other at the meeting point.

The phone number is just an extra guarantee. Indeed, the platform provides a very interactive and simple chat that can be used to arrange the return of the item.
Phone numbers are essential to contact you easily, since our service is based on the validity and relevance of the data and on the possibility for all our members to be able to be easily contacted when necessary.

If you found an item and you would like to return it to its rightful owner, we advise you to hand it over to the Lost Property office of the partner company. The staff will take care of it and will post it on FindMyLost so that it finds its rightful owner.
You are able to post the found item on your own only on some of our partners’ platforms.

When logged into the platform, click on "Search item" or "I've Lost" and fill in all fields. Do not forget to enter the exact place (the venue or the address) and the loss date and fill in all mandatory fields.
Try to be as accurate as possible in the description of the object, trying also with synonymous and click on "Start searching".
And remember the search will be made within +6/-6 days range from the inserted presumed loss date. Some of our partners might have chosen to show a different range, therefore we advise you to search also for the days before or after the presumed loss date.

Select the item from the ones that most closely match the description of your item. Click on "view details" to check out the photos and other information related to the selected item.
Select “CONTACT THE COMPANY” to open a chat with the customer care of the partner company.
If you have done the research from the App, check the photos and other information related to the selected item. Then select "This is it!" to start the chat with the customer care of the partner company.

If as search result you have got an item that corresponds to what you have lost, you can get in touch with the finder through the integrated messaging system and answer the control questions.
You can then claim it back from Web by clicking on “Send a return request”. You can also send proofs of ownership through the “Attach file” function of the messaging system, such as a past photo of the lost item, a proof of acquisition, and so on.
The customer care service of the partner or the finder will then receive a notification of your request, and will choose whether to approve it or not. If he approves your request, you will then be able to choose the return method.
To claim the item back from the App, click on "This is it!"" and select the image of “shaking hands” that you can find on the top right of the chat. Fill the form that will appear automatically with the name and surname of the recipient and the recipient address.
You can also submit an evidence of ownership through the function "Attach file". You may a photo of the item took in the past, a complaint document or a proof of purchase.
The finder will receive an email notification about your return request and if he deems it appropriate he will approve your request. At this point, by clicking on the image of the shaking hands, you can choose the return method and get your lost item back.

If you did not find what you were looking for, you can keep searching in the system typing a synonymous. Be aware that if you fill in all the fields you get a more precise result. If you leave the category blank you get a wider result.
Moreover, if you did not find what you were looking for, you can activate an alert and you will be notified if, in the following 30 days, someone publishes an object with the same features as the ones you inserted.

Before returning an item to the owner, we recommend asking a series of control questions to verify the identity of the owner and the ownership of the item.
For technological devices such as smartphones, we suggest asking for the IMEI of the device or more details on it (e.g. The image in the screensaver; colour of the cover, etc.).

FindMyLost has an effective integrated messaging service.
In order to protect the email addresses of all our members and to avoid you any hassle connected to an improper use of your contacts (SPAM, etc.), we developed an intuitive messaging system that allows you to get in direct contact and to easily answer to our users.
Through this service you can manage your messages: view received messages, sent messages, attachments, etc. It offers all the main functionalities of a regular messaging service.
The confirmation or refusal of your return request and the communications of the partners’ customer care services will be communicated to you through this messaging service.

The partner companies require a recovery fee in order to maintain the continuity and efficiency of the service. It is possible to pay it either:
- Directly at the pick-up point, e.g. the lost property office of the partner, in case you chose the “pick-up in person” option as the return method
- Through PayPal in case you chose the “Shipping” as the return method

After confirming the property of the item and receiving such confirmation for the return request, it’s possible to choose to have your item shipped with courier instead of choosing the pick-up in person method. In this case, you will have to pay for the shipping fees as well.

If you chose to have your item shipped, you can track the shipment through our partner’s platform or link you received via email. If you didn’t receive your item, we suggest you contact the courier customer care.

In order to solve this problem, FindMyLost users can choose to pick-up their item in person and therefore personally go to the Lost Property office of the company or to the meeting point with the finder in order to collect their item or have it shipped to a different location.

In case you chose the pick-up in person, you may have to pay only the recovery fee at the pick-up point of the company.
On the other hand, if you chose the shipping, you will have to pay for both the shipping, and possibly for the reward to the finder or the recovery fees through PayPal.
You will be automatically redirected from our platform. Once you access PayPal, you can choose to pay either with your PayPal account or with your credit card number.

If you're in one of these situations:
- The company has not approved the return request;
- The item you received is not yours;
- You were not able to cancel your return request by the platform prior to shipping;
- You want to report a problem you had during the return process;
- The item has been damaged during shipping.
It is important that you report these issues using the "Contacts" section.

For a proper functioning of FindMyLost, dangerous or illegal behaviours are not allowed including extortion, publication of stolen items, and undue appropriations of not own objects.
No exchange of contacts or money is allowed outside of the tools made available by the platform. Any behaviour of this kind will result in an immediate ban.
We remind you that when you registered to FindMyLost, you accepted the Terms & Conditions of use.

If you do not receive email notifications from FindMyLost anymore, you'll need to check that:
- Your email address has been properly typed;
- FindMyLost messages are not classified as SPAM or junk mail;
- That you authorized Facebook to share with us your email address.
It can also happen that you do not receive messages from FindMyLost due to a temporary problem of your ISP or Internet connection. If the problem persists please contact us at info@findmylost.it and we will solve it as soon as possible.

Before you decide to close your account, could we help you?
If you have simply changed your phone number or email address, you can easily modify them from your profile page.
If you have a problem, maybe we can first try to solve it together. Our Customer Service will reply to you as soon as possible.
If you really want to close your account, you can do it easily from your profile page by clicking on ‘Delete your account.’ In this case the action is irreversible: all your personal data will be deleted from our servers. If you didn’t get any item back.

It’s possible to access to FindMyLost from your mobile phone. One of our first concerns was to allow everyone to be able to check if their item has been found or to post an item found even when you cannot use a computer.
From your phone, you can access the mobile version of our platform, since pages are set to be displayed correctly on your phone's screen (indeed, our platform is web responsive from smartphones).

The fees depend on the weight and dimensions of your item, and on the eventual presence of tariffs in the case of shipments towards or from foreign countries.

Click on "Proceed" and then on "Select a return method". There you should be able to choose the delivery method and proceed. Remember to put the right shipping address as any further edits will not be accepted by the system.

The system always accepts the first address that you input as recipient address. If you put a wrong address and you already paid the related fees, you should contact our Customer Care, sending an email to info@findmylost.it.

If your claim-back request has been rejected, it means that the characteristics of the item described do not match the one of the item found. If you encountered any issue with the platform, please send an email to info@findmylost.it attaching screenshots possibly.

Click on "View Item", go on "Change delivery method", then select "Express courier". Here you need to fill the form to update the recipient address. You might have to pay the Recovery Fee via PayPal, and the associated shipping fee.
If the recipient address corresponds to your home address, then you should choose "Residential Address". If it corresponds to your work address, then you should select "Business Address".

This option is not possible as you already paid the related fees and there is no refund for it.

Some of our partner companies may require that the user pay a recovery fee. This fee is determined by the partner company and it’s aimed at covering operating costs derived from the service provided. This recovery fee may vary with respect to the item category. FindMyLost operates as a pure intermediary, thus it cannot mark down or cancel these fees.
If you need more information, please contact the partner company.

If you activated an alert, you will be notified if, in the following 30 days, someone else logs an object with the same features as the ones you searched for. The alerts notifications are based on an algorithm that identifies each key word separately. Thus, we suggest that you pay attention when choosing the key words on which you want to activate the alert to avoid receiving too many unnecessary notifications.
For instance: if you activate an alert for "black sportive bag", you will receive a notification as soon as someone else uploads on the platform an item named "Black", "sportive" and/or "bag".

The "attach a file" box is identified by the image of a paper clip.

You can send a proof of ownership to the customer care of the partner company or to the finder through this feature.

You should keep sending messages to the customer care of the partner company. If they still not reply to your messages, you may want to send an email to info@findmylost.it.

After asking a series of control questions regarding the found item features via the integrated messaging system to the owner and having asked for a proof of ownership, you can approve the return by clicking on "Accept return request".

If you are in Italy, and you haven’t returned the item to the rightful owner yet, please drop it off as soon as possible at the Lost Property office of the company where you found I or in alternative at the Municipality where you found it, in order it to be disclosed as required by law, according to articles 927 and 928 of the Civil Code.
We remind you that not dropping off the item found to the Municipal Office integrates a violation of the law, punishable under Article 647, 1st paragraph of the Criminal Code.
If within 12 months from the publication of the finding the rightful owner hasn’t reclaimed the lost item, it will become your own property, as required by art. 929 of the Civil Code.
If you are not in Italy right now you should follow the local Lost Property Legislation.

Offering a reward to the finder is not mandatory but is strongly recommended. In fact the finder has determined its preferences with respect to the award at the moment of the item publication (if monetary reward or no reward).
It’s a good manner to thank the commitment taken by the finder offering a monetary reward.
The Italian legislation also provides that the owner must pay a reward to the finder, if they requested it, of about the tenth of the market price of the item or of the monetary amount found (Art. 930 Civil Code).

FindMyLost, for handling the matter and to guarantee its community the continuity of the service, asks its users to pay a small fee, for the livelihood of the site, the app and the management team.

The system suggests a standard reward around 10% of the value of the object with a minimum of € 5.
FindMyLost determines the object’s market value according to a standard table, which classify items by category/class.
Here are some reasons that explain FindMyLost’s choice:
- The Italian legislation provides that the owner must pay a reward to the finder, if they requested it, of about the tenth of the market price of the item or of the monetary amount found (Art. 930 Civil Code).
- The reward recommended by FindMyLost is calculated to find the right balance between the commitment made by the finder and the owner's needs: the finder is rewarded for the commitment made while the owner thanks the finder rewarding them as an act of good manners.
- The reward suggested by FindMyLost can be modified upward but not under the minimum of €5. This is because the owner may be so polite to offer a higher amount.
For precious items or if the reward calculated by the platform does not match the real value of the item, we suggest you to contact info@findmylost.it for a specific evaluation."

Inserting the PayPal address on your profile will facilitate the payment of the reward from the owner, once you have returned the item.

It’s important to report any ad that violates our rules or is of dubious nature.
Our team regularly checks the ads publication and related photos. However it is possible that an ad has escaped our surveillance. We therefore thank you, on behalf of the entire community, to signal any ad that you think fails to meet the Terms & Conditions of use.
It’s in this way that every day we build FindMyLost community; trust and reliability are essential.
In this case, please report the abuse to FindMyLost indicating the description of the ad and we will intervene as soon as possible.