You should be able to place small items on the seat without any problem. If you need to put heavier items on the seat, such as a briefcase, you'll need to keep the belt latched. You might want to have the seat calibration checked. It's very likely that the seat sees a few pounds of weight even though the seat is empty. If this is the case, even small items placed on the seat will put it over the limit, and cause the chime to activate. A simple re-calibration should fix it.