You’ve registered your gear and maybe you’ve even upgraded to Lenstag Pro but your desire to help the cause only grows. Here is the #1 way to help that doesn’t require anybody to sign up for anything if they don’t want to (though that is always encouraged).

Check the Stolen Gear List Prior to Any Used Gear Purchase

That’s it. The main reason gear theft is prevalent is because selling stolen gear is profitable. You can protest this practice by not purchasing from it. You could also be saving yourself a world of trouble by doing everything you can to ensure you’re not in possession, however unintentionally, of stolen gear. Property that’s worth as little as between $250 and $500 can count as a felony in some areas.

If a deal seems too good to be true, then it is. It’s not worth it. Implore your friends to always ask sellers for item history, including serial numbers, so that you can check its status against Lenstag first. Even people who aren’t registered with Lenstag can check their serials with Lenstag (though if you want to check a serial on your phone, you’ll have to load the Stolen Gear List on a browser and it might be quicker to just have the Lenstag app installed). Note that the Stolen Gear List web page can take a while to load.

Other Ways to Look Up Stolen Gear and Creating Lenstag Verified Links

If you can’t wait for the Stolen Gear List to load and you can’t access/don’t have the Lenstag app, you can also text to find stolen gear. If you’re looking to sell, registering on Lenstag gives other buyers peace of mind. Create your own Lenstag Verified links from your inventory page of your account.

To find out your Lenstag Verified link via the app, go to the item you want to sell and toggle the Lock/Unlock button. Unlock will prompt Lenstag to email your item’s Lenstag Verified link.

Avoiding and preventing the purchase of unverified gear is the #1 way to help Lenstag and your fellow shooters. If you’d like to contribute even further to the cause, you can upgrade to Lenstag Pro anytime from the bottom of your gear dashboard page of your account. Lenstag Pro gives you quicker image theft alerts from Lenstag Rescue, access to professional business documents, and supports things like server space. The bulk of the service, like gear registration, personal record-keeping, and stolen serial lists, remains free on Lenstag.com.