OwnerLock is a self-serve system, which means you can set up and start using it completely independently. Our trials show that it takes on average under 15 minutes to set up your brand and your first product, as well as generate 100 PIY (print-it-yourself) tags.

When it comes to creating new PIY tags, the system will generate printable files for you when you select the number of tags you want created. Depending on how you plan to add tags to your products, you may want to print them on iron-on materials, so you can then cut to measure each tag and iron them onto your product. We would advise researching on YouTube on how best can you do that.

If you are not sure and don’t want to experiment, you can order pre-printed tags from us, either as sew-on or iron-on labels.

If your business is doing well and you used up all your free tags, you might get tempted to consider creating a new account so you can benefit from another round of free tags.

Few drawbacks on this: 

1. You would significantly hinder your business in terms of marketing capability as you wouldn’t be able to access all your clients from one central place or learn how they interact with your products, especially if you are looking to understand if some of them have more than one of your products as you plan your segmented marketing campaigns.
2. A critical counterfeiting measure for us is to ensure each brand is represented only once on the platform. So we do not allow duplication of brands across accounts, otherwise we might fall into a risk of unwittingly allowing counterfeit products to represent themselves are originals.
3. Whilst the setup is fast and you can get going immediately upon signing up, we expect that within 30 days we can confirm your personal and business identity otherwise we might suspend your account. Having multiple brands registered to the same address, business or persons is not something we allow as a security measure against counterfeiting.
4. Can you find ways around this? Likely so. But the price of new tags is far more affordable than the loss of marketing power from splitting your customer base across accounts and not being able to observe their behaviour and purchasing powers across all your brands and products.

Let’s be honest: as with any business, yes, that can happen. We are not planning to do it but we can’t know the future. Our business model is built on transparency and trust, and we generate revenues by selling additional optional services. Our vision is to always ensure we offer a fully-sufficient free package for start-ups and small manufacturers.

We developed a lasting cloud-native system with multiple risk-mitigating mechanisms built-in. Whilst we are steadfast on this being a long-term business, among many other risks we took into account, we also recognised the unlikely scenario in which we would for whatever reason have to terminate our services. 

Should this unwanted scenario take place, we have built in a decoupling mechanism which would remotely reprogram tag links from our system towards a web page of your choice (such as your website).

We would also share relevant information with you about your customer base so you can decide what you want to happen when customers scan one of your tags.

In case of this unlikely scenario occurring, we have designed the system to remain operational for an extended period, allowing you for a comfortable transition period of a minimum of one year.

This is common with small businesses, sole traders and start-ups. And it is not a problem. We would complete authentication of your business based on your personal details and you can use the system without issues. 

No. Ownerlock if a web-based system you can access via a browser. Also fully responsive and touch-screen friendly, so it will work seamlessly across all modern devices.

Whilst on our roadmap, the OwnerLock system currently does not utilise blockchain technology.

We opted for this to ensure thorough considerations of what information (and to which extent) should go onto a blockchain as well as what implications of that are to both privacy of end users but also on operations of businesses using OwnerLock in their products. This is crucial as once we add information to a blockchain, it is there for good. So we prefer to ensure the system runs smoothly and is robustly designed without blockchain and only after we have concluded our consultations with businesses and privacy experts would we migrate the solution or parts of it onto a blockchain. That said, our solution is designed from ground-up to be blockchain friendly so that we can seamlessly migrate when ready.

No. It is intuitive to use with a touch screen-friendly interface specifically designed to follow widely-adopted standards on app structures. This allows end users to operate with a familiar interface and find information exactly where they expect it.

Furthermore, our testing is showing that the process of ownerlocking new items strengthens the bond with the brand and elevates the unboxing experience for products.

This can happen but it is important to stress how much of a missed opportunity this is for owners of items that have the ability to be ownerlocked. 

As a business who offers ownerlocking of their products, you should always encourage your customers to ownerlock them by reminding them what the benefits are: ownerlocking the item gives them a peace of mind in case their item is misplaced or stolen as anyone finding it can quickly contact them. 

Highly important to mention that no private information about the owner is ever disclosed to anyone if the owner does not wish so. And this is a default setting. Use of OwnerLock tags as a digital business card is an optional feature users have to manually activate in the app. 

Ultimately, the only mandatory information needed to create an OwnerLock account is the email address.

For this reason, we always recommend use of NFC tags wherever possible as OwnerLock NFC tags can be reprogrammed (only through the OwnerLock system).

For QR code tags, depending on what is possible and suitable for your product, you can consider replacing the old one with the new one or applying a new tag on top of the old one (consider sew-on, iron-on or stick-on labels).

If you are applying the tags on your own, and especially if this is an iron-on tag, we advise thoroughly practicing on scrap materials/products before applying on your end products. Please research thoroughly on YouTube for inspiration. 

You can always order sample tags for testing and practicing. 

We strongly advise that before applying iron-on tags to your fabric-based end products, you thoroughly test adherence of the tags onto the fabric. Even better if you stress-test the tags for a period (or product-depending – wash them in a washing machine a few times).