Getting a UPC Barcode

Haven’t you wondered where the UPC barcodes we see in products come from? I have and thanks to Kelly Spors of the Wall Street Journal, I now know the process for getting a UPC Code. [ARTICLE LINK]

Universal Product Codes (UPC) are given out by GS1, a nonprofit group responsible for setting standards for international commerce. A company must pay $750 to join GS1 and then an annual maintenance fee of at least $150. Once a company joins GS1, they are given a unique identification code and barcode(s) for use on their portfolio of products. (You can fill out a GS1 membership form online here.)

Kelly gives small businesses a smart tip to getting a UPC on the cheap. Buyabarcode.com resells discarded/unused UPC barcodes from less than $100. A small business doesn’t have to join the GS1 in order to get a UPC barcode. However, the drawback to this route is that most major retailers require their product suppliers to have their own company-specific ID code. But if you only sell to independent retailers or through your own means, using a discarded/unused UPC identification number will work just fine.

And now we all know how to get a UPC barcode.

Comments

[Pat Nerr]

love it... way better than SKUs

[Stephen Macklin]

If you're interested in the sample:
0 - refers to the type of code symbology - in his case UPC A.

12345 would be the manufacturer's unique ID

67890 is a product identifier that references the product name and price in the retailer's database

The 5 is called the check digit. It is determined by running all of the other numbers through a formula. Most barcode software will generate this number automatically. If two different calculations yield the same check digit you have the numbers right.

[Susan Gunelius]

This is such a helpful post for small business owners, John. Thanks for posting it! I'm going to share it on MarketingBlurb, too! I remember back in college I did a paper in one of my marketing classes about barcodes, but there was not a website back then, nor did I come across the info about getting cheap barcodes. It hadn't even occured to me that barcodes would get discarded. So interesting!

[Betsy]

I notice you have some manifesto links; none of these are the Quirky/alone manifesto. Come on!

[Brian]

Nice post. Once you have your UPC code and need to put them on labels, you can find blank barcode labels at this site that can be printed with a basic barcode printer and ribbon. This way a small business owner can run lots of labels to price mark their products.

[David Arp]

Another site which offers individual UPC with printed labels is www.singleupc.com The cost is $75 for 1000 labels and includes the UPC. Good site.

[John]

Sorry to say but there is some misinformation in the comments above. First, company prefixes are 6-9 digits, not 5, and the 6th position is not a standard indicator digit. UPC-A codes are 12 digits, with 11 digits being unique, the 12th being calculated by the previous 11 and constitutes the check digit, ensuring proper barcode format (otherwise people could just put random numbers together). The 5 digit example above is not referring to a UPC-A, but rather a UPC-E, an abbreviated UPC used by specific distributors and large manufacturers for extra small packaging like chewing gum.

Furthermore, barcodes are not "discarded" as is referenced above. There are several companies offering subset numbers of their company prefix because they have a legal right to do so if they purchased their company prefix from the not-for-profit UCC (now called the GS1 and it is NOT non-profit) prior to August 2002. When you purchase from a reseller like that, you are not buying "discarded" numbers, you are still buying unique numbers originating from the GS1/UCC that the reseller is transfrerring ownership to you forever.

The reseller with the best prices, customer service and guarantees is EZ UPC at http://ezupc.info.

You can get singles for $24.49 and the prices go way down to as little as $6.29 each for 100 numbers, plus they appear to be the only reseller that provides barcode files for the numbers in both UPC and EAN format for international use, as well as using the GS1 standards compliant file format of a Vector EPS.

Furthermore, if a barcode reseller goes "belly up" as someone else referenced, that has nothing to do with any UPCs you may have purchased from them, because you have a contract that shows you now own those numbers. They own their company prefix for life from the GS1, so even if they go out of business, the prefix and it's subset numbers will remain intact.

[Leighton Hargreaves]

Thanks for this useful thread!

I'm a musician, we're self-releasing a single and an album, and hope to get these products into major record shops.

Barcode resellers seem a much cheaper option for us, but I'm concerned about this statement from upthread: "most major retailers require their product suppliers to have their own company-specific ID code".

Does this mean that it's a bad idea to use a barcode from a reseller?

Any insights will be vastly appreciated!

Thanks

[Marko]

Hi Leighton:

I'm a musician and have bought several UPCs from a reseller and it is not a problem. I did my homework and uncovered the urban legend of sorts that retailers care about or require "company-specific ID codes". That is simply not the case. All the retailers seem to care about is that the number is unique so they don't have a conflict when entering your number and product into their database. I'd save your precious money and go with the cheapest and most reputable reseller. For me, I used the company mentioned above and found them to be very fast and professional and they have really good customer service folks on phone and email (I pretty much drilled them!).

[Cameron Christo]

When we did our research of many of these resellers, we found it funny that most were side ventures for failed businesses. The reseller listed is used to sell some wood products. Others sold peach and fishing lures. It's ironic that these particular companies only sell on price. As a graphic designer, I can tell you that the only file you should ever use for UPC is vector based. Companies that provide jpg are simply preying on your ignorance. Buyer beware.

[Khatiana Burgress]

I'm a musician/music producer so I'm constantly steering my clients towards the right reseller to purchase upc bar codes. After much research and many repeat buys the majority of my clients go through
Quality UPC. They've proven to be the most helpful, price friendly, and timely with email delivery.

[Renee O'Brien]

I'm a graphic designer and had a client ask me if I could create barcodes for their products. I had no idea what to do so set out researching. I was horrified to find out—and have to tell them—that it would cost a minimum of $750 to get a few numbers through the GS1. Apparently the GS1 is the organization that issues barcode numbers.

I pride myself on solutions, so I did tons of research. I found the whole drama about the so-called UPC Resellers and I found the site of George Laurer, the old man who invented the UPC while working for IBM back in the 70s.

Bottom line is, like Marko, I called and emailed everyone and I drilled them. I bet they hated me for all my questions! I contacted that unbelievable company that charges $89 each. They appear to simply have the most money to throw around for advertising. I'm guessing cuz they charge so much! If they really have sold over 50,000 numbers at $89 each since 2002 they are multi-millionaires! Is that really fair?

I also investigated Buy a Barcode,EZ UPC, Nationwide Barcode, Small Business UPC, and Barcodes USA.

At the end of the day, I got amazing service, patience and information from EZ UPC and Nationwide. I ended up going with EZ UPC for several reasons, the least of which is that they don't appear to be trying to mislead anybody about anything.

I liked the fact that they offer a money back guarantee and a price match guarantee, not to mention, as a designer, I appreciated that they provided the graphics files automatically in Vector EPS, but also hi-res TIF and JPG in case my client decides to print labels themselves from Word, in which case they would have to have JPG.

I don't agree with Cameron. A hi-res JPG is a must to be compatible with most software programs. Not everyone has professional programs like Quark or InDesign to use Vector EPS. As long as it's hi-res (300dpi or more), a JPG is just fine.

Anyway, that's my two cents.

[Corey Phillips]

I am a graphic designer for products and we only use .eps . Although a program might be able import a jpg file, doesnt mean it will correctly and precisely image the barcode. STAY AWY from tiff and jpg files for package design. They are fine for web and desktop printing but NOT for package printing.

FYI - If you dont have a graphic program, you should be careful about what you are doing

[Karen Fine]

Here is a good comparison of companies. Some of the really cheap companies dont look to legit.

http://www.singleupc.com/resellermatrix.htm

[Phil Peretz]

I am the owner of Nationwide Barcode and have what I believe are the best prices in the industry for subdivided barcodes. I sell singles for $10.00 and have prices at various packages. I provide eps, tif and jpg and a certificate of authenticity/ownership>

Check out my website: http://www.nationwidebarcode.com
My toll free number is 1-888-356-7770.
Want to talk to me? Have one of my receptionists patch you through to my personal number. I'm always available.
--Phil Peretz

[Terri Nichols]

Stay away from companies that claim they are the best. Just ask them. Give me a break.

What I can tell you is that National Barcode knows nothing about digital graphics. I went to their site and they showed some bogus chart about their 600dpi barcodes. Guess what, I am a packaging designer who has been working with graphic files for 14 years. We only use illustrator or eps with a minimum of 2400 dpi for our barcode files. Providing an unsuspecting user a jpg or tiff file for barcodes is basically preying on their lack of undertanding.

[Phil Peretz]

Terri, illustrator and eps barcode files are scalable vector images (line art). DPI doesn't apply to a vector image.

We provide all three types of files because we are attempting to be accommodating to our client base. Although you are a "designer", many of our clients are home based businesses and need a lower resolution barcode.

600 dpi prints and scans just fine. If you go to most of the UPC barcode service bureaus, they also offer 600 dpi.

As far as being the best, I didn't say that I was...I said that I believe that I have the best prices in the industry.