If you sell products – this post is important to you.
Most physical stores and many online stores, and specifically Amazon, require UPC codes for products listed for sale.
This post is about how to buy UPC Codes without overspending or creating issues by buying from the wrong source. You must avoid fakes!
If you are introducing new products to the market, you are eventually going to need to buy a UPC code for each item if you want to sell at Amazon, on Shopping Comparison sites or in stores.
UPC Barcodes for Amazon
Amazon does cross checking of UPC codes against the GS1 database, but only for Brand Registered Sellers. Unfortunately, Amazon does enforce their UPC Policy if you registered for their Brand Program.
This means any seller registered with Amazon’s Brand Program, without a barcode Prefix directly rented from GS1 will not be able to list their products.
So, essentially, Amazon is forcing you as a seller to pay for expensive UPC codes from GS1 and pay annual fees for the lifetime of your company and product.
Fortunately, if you have not registered for Amazon’s Brand Program (which is the most common case for Amazon Sellers), you will be able to use Barcodes from resellers without issue and save money at the same time.
Buying UPC Codes from GS1
Using GS1 – US is the only way to have the UPC number registered directly to you in their GEPIR system.
This system is only required by specific retailers and under specific circumstances.
You should ask whoever you plan on adding your product to if this is something required.
For the majority, this may not be needed and you could save money buying from a reseller.
Here’s a list that we know so far:
| GS1 Rental Required: | May require |
|
|
The Official GS1US site makes this claim:
“There’s only one U.P.C. barcode that’s accepted by retailers everywhere. And it’s only available from GS1 US.” ~ That is not entirely true ~
All sites besides GS1US.org are resellers and the numbers they sell you are registered to the original prefix owners prior to 2002.
Resellers exist due to GS1/UCC’s class action lawsuit & their settlement in 2002. More on this here: (GS1/UCC Settlement). Their UPC numbers originate from GS1-US (Previously UCC “Uniform Code Council”) before 2002, this is how they can legally sell them.
Buying UPC Codes from a Reseller
When sourcing a UPC Reseller to buy from, there are certain things to be on the lookout for to make sure you are getting a legitimate product.
Use Caution! Not every reseller out there is legitimate. Some sell fake/made up numbers that could end up being a costly mistake down the line.
We recommend Bar Codes Talk as they seem the most legitimate and offer both a 115% Lowest Price Guarantee and Works for Amazon Guarantee. They also provide immediate digital delivery of barcodes
Here are some tips when buying from a reseller. A reseller:
- Must be selling barcodes that come from a prefix obtained from the UCC (Now known as GS1-US) prior to the 2002 UCC Class Action Lawsuit.
- Selling UPC/EANs at “Too good to be true” prices, much less than most other resellers, is selling fakes!
- Should not have been in trouble with state or federal licensing, regulatory, and or law enforcement for any reason, most especially not selling illegitimate barcode numbers, or price-fixing. Example: Federal Trade Commission – Two Barcode Resellers Settle FTC Charges
- Is a government registered verifiable business (No fly by night companies).
- Must have a phone number, address, and email contact information.
- Has a website and is not selling only on eBay or any other “auction” website.
Once you purchase from a reseller, you should receive a list of the UPC Numbers that have been assigned to you.
Registering the numbers to your products is easy (see video below):
And then you will just need to provide these barcodes to whichever store you are working with or enter them in the UPC text box on Amazon when adding a new product.
Unique Products
If you sell handmade goods or collectibles that do not have UPCs and are unique (one of a kind) follow this UPC advice from SingleFeed:
“Do your best to include these unique identifiers in your product feed, but do not make these numbers up. If you’re selling handmade goods, you will not have MPNs or UPCs. That’s actually ok. If you’re buying your inventory from a distributor/supplier and that product has a real manufacturer, though, you can get MPNs and UPCs. It’s going to take work as not all distributors/suppliers are used to giving out this information, but you have to keep on them to do so.”
This UPC issue is going to affect resellers and merchants on a growing number of channels including Amazon and Google.
Resources:
- Understanding Barcodes & Where To Buy Them In 2020
- The Ultimate Guide to Barcodes [includes What is a Barcode and different types]
- How to register your barcodes
- Where to buy legitimate bar codes: Bar Codes Talk
- Lose your UPC number? Try UPC Search by product name.
NOTE: Content originally written by Gail Gardner and published 5/13/10. Updated 6/11/20 with current information and to add video. This post may contain affiliate links and if you purchase through one of them I may receive a small commission which does not affect the price you pay.
Gail Gardner
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amazon requires upc codes has preety much complicated things great idea sir
thank you
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Nice information regarding how to sell products in the right way. Thanks Gail for this info.
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Thanks for including tips on how to use UPC codes if you are making your own crafts. 🙂
Tekkaus would love you to read ..Top 10 Countries With The Fastest Internet In The World-2020
This is funny and evident that companies do not believe everything posted online about UPCs not from GS1
The comment from Stephen is exactly why you have to be careful with these resellers. “We are also certified to sell UPC Codes” There is organization which certifies UPCs for Amazon. Buyer Beware.
Nationalwide Barcodes was the source listed by the FTC as price fixing. https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/cases-proceedings/141-0036/nationwide-barcode-matter
…this was resolved and will be fully dismissed this year.
If you look at the facts, there are a ton of cheaper places for UPCs, but Nationwide Barcode continues to grow in the marketplace year after year after year. Even the FTC acknowledged that Nationwide Barcode was the leader in the marketplace.
Hi Stephen,
Thank you. I added your company to the body of the post.
Gail Gardner would love you to read ..How to Get Recommended: Recommendations ARE WHAT WORKS to Grow Your Small Business or Blog
Are you just selling through Amazon or are you selling Amazon FBA Fullfillment By Amazon.
My understanding is that if you are an FBA seller you have to have GS1.
It is very hard to get an answer to this question. Non FBA does not matter since Amazon does not need to check your UPC against their stock.
Welcome to GrowMap, Phil, and thank you for the links and responding to other comments. I don’t know why I didn’t come across you when I was researching this post. I’ll add you to the body so those who don’t read comments won’t miss you.
growmap would love you to read ..Small Business Brand Advocates Drive Free WOMM Word of Mouth ~ Benefits of B2I2C Marketing
Here is another book about UPC barcodes with a lot of information from Mr. George Laurer, inventor of the UPC Barcode. http://www.nationwidebarcode.com/resources/barcodes-demystified2/
Phil Peretz would love you to read ..Leading Digits – UPC-A Barcodes
The problem with the UPC requirement is now that eBay sellers are picking top selling products and listing using these UPC codes. So, now Amazon has a lot of spamming on the lstings selling products that don’t match the UPC on the Amaazon ASIN but the sellers just want to sell anything. So, the UPC code requirement although good for mass producede items. Amazon does not requrie UPC in other categories and for collectibles. Anyway, eBay is for collectibles. Or is ebay not even working for unique products anymore?
We are a small business and trying to enter the Amazon world. Our margins are very small and buying UPC codes is a big hurdle to doing business with Amazon. I’ve seen numerous sites offering “free” upc’s but I’m gathering these are just random numbers and not valid.
Bottom line, if I only need 5-10 codes what is my cheapest solution?
Thanks for the article and reading all the comments helped too!
Hi Sonia,
If you’re sure you want to get on Amazon and they require UPC codes for your products you will want to buy them from a legitimate reseller as explained in this post. There are probably additional suggestions in the comments.
While Amazon is huge if your margins are small they are not what I would recommend. Have you looked into sites like Etsy or other alternatives to eBay?
Amazon is a hard site to make money from and many of us boycott Amazon because of their evil ways.
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Hello Gail,
We are going to just try Amazon for a few months to test the water. It might not be a valuable outlet for us, but as of today, we are willing to give it a try. Being a new website it’s been a slow to build traffic to our site, so hopeful that we can use Amazon to create revenue while we improve our SEO. I do understand the negative feelings that are growing towards Amazon…. small businesses have a HARD time competing!
Was wondering if you went with codeupc.net and, if so, any problems?The actual cost of creating a barcode should be virtually $0 so I can’t see the value of spending more than this as long as the code is valid
While that may be true, anyone with a conscience should no longer be buying from, selling on, or promoting Amazon for the reasons explained in the post I’ll put in CommentLuv in this reply.
growmap would love you to read ..Amazon: The Wal-Mart of the Internet
If only all our fulfilment Clients had read this article before setting up their stores, our fulfilment centre would run so much more efficiently. Having barcodes is a very good idea for all sellers and suppliers – if they are useful for you, they are likely to be useful for someone else in the supply chain.
James would love you to read ..eCommerce: Stepping up from home seller to pro seller
Hi James,
You are welcome to provide any information you find on this site that you believe will benefit them to your clients directly. Attribution and a link/URL back is always appreciated.
Does sixworks have any US distribution centers? If not, can you recommend any companies that provide the services your company does for the U.S.?
I would like to meet up with you at your convenience to discuss a distribution solution that could be used by small businesses so that multiple small businesses with related products could have them distributed from the same location and so that their products could be marketed by bloggers, affiliates and ecommerce sites.
See the contact tab on this blog for the best ways to reach me.
growmap would love you to read ..Small Business Internet Marketing: Where to Start
Quality always costs a bit more but its true that we’re all after buying cheap. I came across this UPC Codes issue but its solved now and very much true, we should check for the actual UPC numbers and look them up in the databases before buying.
Such nonsense that they force you to buy UPC codes.
What else will they think of?
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This is going to be very tough on small businesses. I don’t know why Amazon would go this route. I guess this is the only way to keep tabs on everything
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Hi Mike,
Because Amazon is NOT pro- small business. They take the profit out of selling products so that they end up being commodities – which is why they want them to all have UPC numbers for easy price comparison. Amazon is EVIL and that is extremely obvious today where it was not in previous years. See the post I’ll put in CommentLuv in this reply.
growmap would love you to read ..Amazon: The Wal-Mart of the Internet
Wow, great article. I went through something similar a few years ago with UPC codes, only it was with music CDs, not books. However what’s more common now is for distributors etc to offer UPC packages thrown in with the CD deal (i.e. CD Baby) – so I’m wondering if the same might apply with book distributors / publishers who deal with Amazon on behalf of authors.
Yeah, trying to sell something on Amazon has become more of a hassle than its worth! However, you do give some good tips and resources. Thank you for posting this, and I don’t mind if you don’t post daily, I’d rather have the reliable and researched info.
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This cleared a few things up for me. A client of mine recently asked me about this very thing. I can talk on the subject now. Thanks.
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Hi,
Just like many others would agree, Amazon requiring UPC Codes has pretty much complicated things. The extra expense plus the additional steps that come with it.
Fortunately, I find someone with a similar scenario.
Believe me when I tell you that I have enough information that could benefit my readers to post every single day for years and never run out. There is simply not enough of me to get everything I’m doing done.
The post I’ve featured in CommentLuv in this reply is one the termite business needs to read.
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I came across something like that when we were trying to add our products to Google product search. Luckily they are not too picky and accepted our listings with made up product codes. It sounds like a waste of money to buy UPC codes, but I guess there are some advantages such as brand protection. Requiring UPC codes for things like ebooks and handmade products is just silly though. I guess Amazon doesn’t really want to deal with the small time sellers. Then again, maybe their business would run a lot smoother if only dealing with big companies.
Hi Jeremy,
UPC codes are useful for making it easier for shoppers to compare products and prices and for eliminating duplicate entries on comparison shopping sites.
It does NOT make sense to require a UPC on a non-commodity product that is unique such as handmade items, collectibles and anything else that is one of a kind.
It probably doesn’t make much sense to have a UPC code for something that only your company sells; however, if it massed produced and sold even if only you handle it most likely eventually registering a UPC code for it is going to have to be done.
Google recently announced that they are intentionally favoring big brands which includes Amazon. I have already seen Amazon search listings moved above the stores that were ranking first or second for specific searches and expect that to increase in the near future.
It has always been true that it takes just as much time to deal with a company that can drive millions is sales as it does to work with a small company. That is why so many focus on working only with Fortune 500 companies and big clients and why anyone whose highest priority is making money favors big businesses over small.
If we want to improve our economy we need to understand that buying from corporations and big business is what is destroying it (in the U.S. and worldwide) and that supporting small businesses that provide quality products and services is the ONLY feasible solution.
Anyone who continues to focus on buying what is cheapest is contributing to their own financial demise and the economic destruction of their local, national and global economies.
.-= growmap´s featured blog ..Word of Mouth Marketing =-.
It doesn’t surprise me at all – Amazon are notorious for making it difficult to sell stuff on. I have tried time and time again just to list my ebook on there and it is one hurdle after another. Especially for those of us who do not live in the USA and therefore don’t have a US bank account or address. Then there are the formatting requirements and so forth. I gave up in the end – too difficult. The UPC is only one of the many hurdles small time manufacturers or publishers have to jump through.
Hi Lisa,
There are far too many hurdles for bsuiness success. What you need is a partner in the U.S. to work with so that those that are caused by you being outside the USA can be eliminated.
.-= growmap´s featured blog ..Support Small Businesses =-.
So this is basically for manufacturers, yes? Anything bought to be resold should already have this taken care of, correct?
.-= Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..Web Income Experiments DotCom Wins Hands-Down! =-.
Hi Dennis,
This can also affect bloggers who sell things they make or collectibles. Any commodity that is resold will already have a UPC code but if a merchant has products made that they sell they may eventually have to have a UPC code for each product.
Many eBay sellers were also using Amazon to sell their goods. Some have managed to list them without UPCs but others have been shut out. The high cost on top of the already very high cost of selling on Amazon makes this requirement financially unfeasible for many.
You can read the comments from some of the small sellers who have been affected by the Amazon UPC issue and see that some are trying to get their visitors from Amazon to visit their eBay stores as a solution like this eBay novelty store.
Anyone buying products to resell needs to specifically ASK whether the products have a UPC before you buy them. Do not assume they do. I would ask for the actual UPC numbers and look them up in the databases (links in this post) or in a search engine or on a major shopping site to make sure they’re real.
As far as I know there is nothing that requires a wholesaler or manufacturer to provide a UPC code. Even if there were that doesn’t mean all of them would have taken care of it. It IS expensive and it is yet another practice that greatly favors major brands over small businesses.
.-= growmap´s last blog ..Support Small Businesses =-.
So someone should tell Amazon to stop screwing the little guy, yes?
.-= Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..Web Income Experiments DotCom Wins Hands-Down! =-.
As if they’d listen.
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