Barcode Basics

Using Barcodes on Amazon

by

The barcodes supplied by Barcode Savers are suitable for Amazon individual seller listings, private label listings and Amazon FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon).   Our customers have been informed by Amazon Seller Support that “barcodes can be purchased from any external or third party supplier and used to list your products, however the barcode must be valid and you can validate your barcodes on these sites:”  

https://formvalidation.io/guide/validators/ean

GS1’s Check Digit Calculator

Our barcode numbers originate from the Uniform Code Council (the same system as GS1) and come supplied with correctly generated calculated check digits.  They will therefore pass Amazon’s integrated validation forms and can be used to list products on Amazon.

Limitations with using Amazon Brand Registry

Please note if you’re intending to list your products under the Amazon Brand Registry platform there are a few methods used by Amazon to verify your brand ownership. One such method of verification is checking your product codes against GS1’s GEPIR database for your brand name.  Although the barcodes we supply originate with the UCC (now known as GS1) we cannot upload your brand or company information to GS1’s GEPIR database. Unfortunately no barcode re-seller can provide GEPIR registration. To have your brand appear on GS1’s GEPIR you would need to join GS1 and pay annual license fees to maintain your barcodes. Therefore if you’re intending to apply for Amazon’s Brand Registry platform you should consider obtaining your numbers directly through GS1.

Workarounds  –  Generally direct GS1 membership for the brand registry is preferable. However if you’re using third party re-seller supplied codes on Amazon Brand Registry you may be required by Amazon to provide a) “a letter from the manufacturer/your brand stating that the GTIN you are using to list this product is valid” or b) photographs of your product displaying the GTIN/barcode on the packaging.

Note – Amazon’s Brand Registry platform is very selective and generally intended for larger well established brands. To be eligible your brand will need to have a registered Trademark.  To find out more information about Amazon Brand Registry and their eligibility rules visit https://brandservices.amazon.com/eligibility/

Ready to purchase barcodes for Amazon? Buy Barcodes here.

How to Open the ZIP Folder

by

Our barcode packages are delivered instantly to your email address upon completion of checkout.  We send all your barcode numbers, images, certificate and OCRB font inside a Zip Folder.  If you’re not familiar with opening zips refer to these instructions.

Step 1. Download the zip folder from the automated email sent to the email you used during checkout.  The barcode package will be attached to the email and named according to package size eg. 1_Barcode_Number.zip

Step 2. Find the location where you downloaded the zip folder on your PC/MAC.  Typically this will be in your “My Downloads” folder for PC or “Downloads” for MAC.   When the file is downloaded to your PC/MAC locate it and follow the below instructions to fully access individual files.

Step 3. To access the contents of the zip simply right click on the folder once downloaded and select “Extract Here” or “Extract All” and the folder will unzip fully. If you are using a Mac simply double click on the original attachment (attached to the automated email) to open. If you have any further issues extracting the zip file please refer to the following links for both Mac and PC.

PC: https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/help/14200/windows-compress-uncompress-zip-files
MAC: http://www.winzip.com/mac/en/zip-for-mac.html

Once you have extracted the folder you will see the images in the folders for example EAN-13 > JPEG for the JPEG images or EAN-13 > EPS for the EPS images etc.

Note: To correctly display the OCRB font in programs such as Illustrator or Photoshop install the OCRB font on your computer.

How to register your barcode

by

Some of our customers ask how their product data is “encoded” into the barcode or if their barcode needs to be registered on a global database.  To be clear there is no information inside the bars and no centralised database.  The vertical black and white bars simply represent the sequence of numbers shown below.  When a scanner reads a barcode the number sequence is instantly recognised by the store’s POS system rather than being typed manually. If the store has an entry in their system matching the number it will then return product information such as price, name and size.

Barcodes are simply a globally unique number that is first assigned to your product by you. The number is later recorded in a retailer’s sales/inventory system when they accept your product for the first time.  So once you incorporate your barcode into your product’s artwork/labels the barcode number has already begun doing it’s job of representing your product in the supply chain.  If you have purchased a block of barcodes you will need to keep a record of your code assignments to avoid duplication.

Each new retailer/distributor will enter the barcode into their system when the product is introduced and input the price, description and company information.  There is no centralised database that will make your product details appear in every store. Even GS1’s GEPIR database does not store product data (only company info) and is not integrated with stores.  Further most GS1 National Product catalogues only integrate with a limited number of retailers.

There are a couple of methods when supplying your product and barcode information to retailers. One by submitting an Excel Sheet to your retailer demonstrating your barcode assignment where additional information (price/company/reorder code) can be included. In other cases, you’ll be required by your retailer to fill out a product information or vendor form linking your product information to your barcode number.  Either way the retailer will transfer your product information into their sales system thus allowing your product to be scanned at POS and tracked by store inventory software.

For e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and Ebay, a field for Product ID is used to supply your barcode number.  This will occur when listing your product for the first time.

For your product’s barcode to be scanned by smartphone apps, you will need to register your barcode number and product information with a company that maintains a database that is subscribed to by the app developers.  Additionally listing your items with free sites such as the ones linked below will increase the online visibility of your codes & products.  Similarly entering your product info on Amazon, Ebay & Google merchant listings will have the same effect of allowing Google to index your numbers.

https://gtinlookup.org
https://gtinsearch.org