Is the product price information recorded on the barcode number?

May 16th, 2012

A Barcode is purely a unique number – there is no specific product information encoded within the bars. The barcode has no real meaning until the details of the product are entered into a retailer’s software application.

When you supply your product to a retailer, they will input the product’s barcode number, description, cost price, sell price & reordering information into their software system.

After this is complete, whenever your barcode is scanned at the checkout counter, the barcode number is looked up in the software and the product details and price are displayed on the screen. A barcode is purely a link between your product and the product information stored in the computer system. The retailer can change the price (or product information) that is attached to your barcode number at any time.

When you buy a unique barcode number you get a number that only you are allowed to use. This means that no matter what retailer you approach to sell your product, your barcode number will be the only one on his or her system (there will never be a double up).

If you discontinue one product, you may re-use that barcode number on another product – BUT you must pass on this information to the retailer, and ensure that both products are not being supplied at the same time.

Originally posted 2010-02-01 12:19:39.

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Posted in Can I reuse my Barcode? | 18 Comments »

How can I use barcodes to monitor my own stock?

May 9th, 2012

If you are only using the numbers internally to keep better track of your own stock, then what you need are asset barcode labels. You can make up your own set of barcode numbers for each of your products using some combination of letters and/or numbers of your choosing.

Code 39 barcode images are frequently used by businesses to monitor their own internal stock. Code-39 is widely used and can be decoded with virtually any barcode scanner. Some small products will be too small for a Code-39 barcode label (if so, Code-128 may be better for you). You make up your own set of numbers that you want to use to help monitor your internal stock. Your chosen set of numbers then need to be inputted into a program that can create Code-39 (or Code-128) barcode images.

Once you have your barcode numbers, you may be able to produce your own images and/or labels depending on your system & printer.

If you cannot, you need to purchase either:

a) Digital barcode images (to print out yourself). If you need barcode images, please send us an email (info@worldbarcodes.com).

b) Sticky barcode labels (sequential asset labels). If you need barcode labels, please click on one of the following links (depending on your location): UK, Ireland, USA, Australia, New Zealand.

After you have received your barcode images or labels, put them onto the stock items & then enter the stock and barcode information into your stock management system. After this, when you scan a barcode, the item information should appear on the screen of the scanner (or computer).

Originally posted 2010-01-19 10:14:50.

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Posted in Do I need a Barcode? | 26 Comments »

How do I get a Barcode for my Music Album?

May 2nd, 2012

If this is your first music album, the idea of getting a barcode may never have crossed your mind… until now. Getting a barcode is often a last-minute thing for bands and musicians when they are releasing their album. Unfortunately, if you don’t get a barcode until after your album has been produced, getting a barcode onto your album can become a hassle (you will have to get the barcode image printed onto sticky labels & manually attach them to each CD album that you have).

In most of the world a standard EAN-13 barcode is the type of barcode most commonly used for music albums or CDs (in the States you will probably use a UPC-12 barcode instead). A barcode is simply a unique 12 or 13-digit sequence of numbers that is assigned to you (by a legal barcode seller) to use as a barcode. Most bar code sellers will be able to supply you with either an EAN-13 or UPC-12 barcode (and advise you on which one you should get).

Follow these four steps to get a barcode for your music album:

1. Purchase a barcode number & barcode images. Click on one of the following links to purchase your CD/DVD barcode (depending on your location): UK, Ireland, USA, Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Africa

After you have purchased your barcode, you will receive the barcode number & images by email.

2. Insert the barcode images into the design for your CD cover. If your CD has already been produced, you can purchase sticky barcode labels instead.

3. Resize your barcode image (if necessary) in your graphics programme so that your barcode is the right size for your CD cover. Your barcode images will probably be sent to you in the standard size for a barcode (38mm x 25mm). Officially, you can safely reduce your barcode image to 30mm x 20mm (80% of standard size). In practice, many bands & musicians get away with shortening their barcode to even less than the recommended 20mm when inserting their bar code into their CD cover. It is dangerous, though, to reduce the width of your barcode to less than the recommended 30mm (because the barcode width is the most important part of the barcode when scanning machines are reading the barcode image).

4. Give your barcode number & product information to your retailers. They will enter your barcode number & CD information into their system (eg. price, description, reordering details). After that, when your barcode is scanned, the product information will appear on the retailers computer screen. A barcode is just a unique number (no product information is encoded into it), so the only way it gets linked to your product is through your retailers computer system.

Originally posted 2010-12-05 21:31:53.

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Posted in Music Album | 17 Comments »

Is Barcode Registration Compulsory?

April 25th, 2012

The short answer is no, barcode registration is not compulsory. Once you have your barcodes you can put them onto your products & begin using them immediately.

However it can be useful to get your barcode registered in some of the major online barcode databases. The main benefits of barcode registration are:

a) It will increase the profile of your product on the internet (in google & other search engines);

b) It will mean that your product & company information will appear when your barcode is scanned by an iPhone or smartphone barcode scanning application.

If you want to register your barcode in the major online databases you have two options:

1) Manually register your barcode & product on each of these databases yourself (by google searching for the databases); or

2) Purchase barcode/product registration from Barcodes Limited. This is a great way to get your barcode registered because the cost is low & it saves you time! To get your barcode registered by Barcodes Limited please click on your location: UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore (if your location is not listed, please send an email to info@worldbarcodes.com).

 

Originally posted 2012-02-01 16:31:16.

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Posted in Barcode Registration | No Comments »

What type of barcode do I need for my book?

April 18th, 2012

You have finally finished the book you were writing & it just about to be go to the printers… suddenly you find out that you need a barcode! You don’t even know where to begin. For a lot of people, a barcode is the very last thing on their mind when they are writing or publishing their book. With a deadline looming, it can be a very stressful thing to leave getting a barcode for your book to the last minute.

The good news that getting a barcode for your book is an easy and (usually) fairly quick process… at least, if you already have your ISBN number. Books require an ISBN number (an International Standard Book Number). ISBNs are worldwide 12 or 13-digit identification codes assigned to books (and similar published materials). In the UK, the States & Australia you can get an ISBN number for your book from your national ISBN Agency. In New Zealand, ISBN numbers are assigned by the NZ National Library.

Once you have your ISBN number, you need to buy barcode images for your number. You can get barcode images for your ISBN number from here (if you live in the UK), here (in Australia) or  here in the States (or the rest of the World). Your barcode images will be emailed to you usually within 12 hours of your order… so you won’t miss that deadline!

Your ISBN barcode should look something like this:

sample isbn jpg 300x224 What type of barcode do I need for my book?

If you have missed the deadline for the first print-run of your book you can always get your barcode printed onto a roll of sticky labels instead. This is more time-consuming, of course, because you have to manually attach a barcode to each book that is printed. With your next print-run, however, you can include the barcode image into the artwork for your book cover before printing it (this will save you a lot of work!)

Originally posted 2010-12-02 20:58:34.

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Posted in Books (ISBN barcodes) | 3 Comments »

Do I need a barcode to sell my product in shops?

April 11th, 2012

You will have to get a barcode to sell your product through retailers that require barcode numbers (some retailers do not use barcode numbers).

The use of barcode numbers is a voluntary system. Retailers use it as the basis for their pricing, inventory and ordering systems. It is becoming increasingly common for retailers, both large and small, to require all products they sell to display a unique product barcode for this purpose.

So basically, if you sell your own products to retailers that use barcodes, then you will have to add them. The further up the food chain you go, the more necessary it becomes to make sure your product has a barcode icon wink Do I need a barcode to sell my product in shops?

Please click on one of the following links if you need to purchase a barcode for your product (depending on your location): UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Africa, USA/World.

If you have a barcode question  for us, please submit it in the comment form & we will answer it for you.

Originally posted 2009-12-19 02:10:47.

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Posted in Do I need a Barcode? | 60 Comments »

Do barcodes indicate the country of origin of a product?

April 4th, 2012

Some people check the barcodes of products before they buy them, believing that the first few digits of a barcode represent the country that the product was made in. In reality, this is a complete myth. Barcode numbers do not identify the country of origin of a product.

A barcode tells you nothing about the product itself or about where the product was made. A barcode is simply a unique sequence of numbers which contains no product (or company) information. The only link between a barcode and a product is that which is made on a retailers computer system. The only thing that the first few digits of  a barcode can tell you is where the barcode originated from (not where the product originated from). Because a barcode can be used in any country of the world it doesn’t matter which country it originally came from.

If you decide whether or not to buy a product due to the first few digits of its bar code number, you run the risk of supporting only your large national franchises & not your small local businesses. A large number of small (and new) businesses in your area grow, develop & produce their products locally, but get their barcodes from an overseas barcode seller. Many of your small, local companies use barcodes that originally came from another country (due to the often significant cost of purchasing ‘local’ barcodes & paying the required annual fees).

Sometimes it can be hard to tell the ‘country of origin’ of a product – however, if you want to support your local businesses (both small & large), don’t look to the barcode number to tell you about the ‘country of origin’ of a product. Instead, read the rest of the packaging more carefully for information about this.

Originally posted 2010-12-09 14:22:35.

Posted in What is Encoded into a Barcode? | 5 Comments »

Does my product need a barcode for Amazon?

March 14th, 2012

The Amazon website can be a frustrating place to search when you are trying to work out whether your product requires a barcode or not. The majority of products on Amazon require barcode numbers, but some products may not require barcodes (for instance, Jewelry).

If you are unsure about whether your particular product requires a barcode you can check this out by having a look at your product category.

For instance, let’s say that your product belongs under the MP3 category: All Product Categories > Consumer Electronics > Audio or Video > AUDIO_DEVICE > MP3 Player.

The required elements to list in this category are the product name, manufacturer, manufacturer part number and EAN (barcode number). All the other fields are optional.

Therefore if your product belongs in the MP3 category it will need to have a barcode.

If you are still unsure about whether your product needs a barcode to get listed on Amazon, send them an email to ask.

Here is a forum discussion about whether Amazon products require barcodes.

If you need an Amazon-accepted barcode for your product, please click on one of the following links to get one (depending on your location): UK, Ireland, USA (or Worldwide), Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Africa.

If you have a barcode question  for us, please submit it in the comment form & we will answer it for you.

Originally posted 2010-01-07 11:51:50.

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Posted in Do I need a Barcode? | 65 Comments »

Which barcode do I need: EAN or UPC?

February 15th, 2012

The short answer is: Get the type (EAN or UPC) that is dominant in the country that you are  selling in. However, if you are selling in many countries you will probably get away with using the same barcode number in every country because most barcode scanners are compatible with both EAN and UPC barcode numbers.

Now for a more detailed answer. Perhaps the words EAN and UPC are just confusing jargon to you right now, but what they mean & the difference between them is easy to explain.

UPC (Universal Product Code) barcodes are used primarily in North America. The UPC is a 12 digit code, unique to a product, which allows it to be scanned and read in virtually any major retail establishment.

The EAN (European Article Number) is an expanded UPC with 13 digits. The first 2 or 3 are the country code (the following 9 or 10 are data digits and the final digit is the checksum). Outside of the USA, the 13-digit EAN is the most common type of barcode found in the world (eg. in the UK, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Australasia etc).

Both EAN and UPC codes are compatible with most scanning systems, so they can usually be used in any country:

a) EAN-13 codes are compatible with most scanning systems in the USA. This means that imported products labeled with EAN-13 codes do not have to be re-labeled with a different barcode for USA retail sale.

b) UPC codes are compatible with all EAN-13 scanning systems (because the country code for the US is 00 and the missing first digit is assumed to be a zero). Therefore, if you have a UPC barcode on your product, you will be able to use it in any country in the world.

Please click on one of the following links if you need to purchase an EAN or UPC barcode (depending on your location): UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Africa, USA/World. If you order a barcode from one of those websites, you will be sent the most common barcode format (EAN or UPC)  for where you live. If you would prefer the other format (or both formats), please send us an email request after you make your order.

If you have a barcode question  for us, please submit it in the comment form & we will try to answer it for you.

Originally posted 2010-01-01 12:58:15.

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Posted in What type of barcode do I need? | 19 Comments »

About

October 13th, 2010

This is a Dofollow blog & KeywordLuv and CommentLuv are enabled. Please show respect by posting relevant comments only using your REAL name.

To use KeywordLuv, enter YourName@YourKeywords into the name field and your website/blog will be anchored to your keywords. CommentLuv means that a dofollow link to your latest blog post will appear at the bottom of your comment.

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ABOUT THIS BLOG:

This blog is intended to provide important, accurate & concise information about barcodes & to answer questions that readers have.  It is associated with Barcodes Limited (a business that provides affordable barcodes and quality customer service to people worldwide). You are welcome to link to this blog, and to discuss its contents in a respectful manner. While efforts are made to present accurate information, we make no guarantee regarding the validity or accuracy of the content of the Blog. All of the contents of the Blog is the opinion of the Author alone. All the text, images, logos and other content are property of the Author. You are not allowed to reproduce any part of this Blog without permission.

ABOUT BARCODES LIMITED:

We started Barcodes Limited a few years ago after struggling to find an affordable barcode for a product that we had just created (an educational quiz game). We were told that we would have to pay huge membership and annual fees in order to get a barcode for our product. We couldn’t afford to pay those prices because we were a small & newly established business with very little money. Thus began our search for affordable & usable barcodes! If you are looking for an affordable barcode, please click on one of the following links (depending on your location): UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Africa, USA/World.

Originally posted 2009-12-01 14:59:38.

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Posted in About Barcode Info | 23 Comments »