US companies should only use the UPC barcode. Today’s scanners can now read EAN and UPC barcodes so there is never a reason to put both types on a product. One of the first initiatives was to establish the 2005 Sunrise Date which educated US companies on the necessity to enable their systems to read 14-digits (GTINs). All of the EAN country organizations and the UCC (Uniform Code Council) came together to form GS1. However, the 13-digit EANs could not be read by US stores. Since the UPC was only 12-digits, it normally did not present problems to overseas POS systems. The EAN format is essentially identical to the UPC but contains a leading “0” to make the number of digits 13. Before 2005, manufacturers were challenged because the US used UPC and 13-digit EAN barcodes were used internationally. EAN stands for European Article Number and was the identifier commonly used internationally. What is the difference between UPC and EAN barcodes?Īs stated above, UPC are “Universal Product Codes” are acceptable around the globe. Each variant of product will require a unique UPC so products of different size and colors will each be unique represented with an individual UPC. How Many UPC Codes do I Need for my Products?Įach individual product that you are planning on selling will need its own unique UPC Code. The GS1 Prefix licenses provide denominations in 1-10, 1-100,1-1000,1-10000,1-100,000, For exact pricing for US company, please click here. In other words, you cannot use a reseller or another company’s UPCs to identify your products. Since correct and unique production identification is critical to retail supply chains, major retailers and online marketplaces will not accept UPC barcodes without correctly licensed prefixes. Retailers and marketplaces mandate that their suppliers have a UPC Company Prefix licensed to their brand. Each country establishes its own pricing rules for licensing GS1 Prefixes, which are normally based on the total number of products a company needs to identify. The uniqueness of brand-specific GS1 Company Prefix allows products to be accepted and recognized across the globe. There are local GS1 offices in over 104 countries whose primary role is to license GS1 Company Prefixes to companies within their country. GS1 global is a standards organization that oversees the numbering and guidelines for product identification. The basis of the GTIN identification system works of unique company identifiers assigned to each company. The UPC-A barcode symbol contains 12 numeric digits. Just as English and French use the Roman character set (A, B, C, etc), the various barcode languages use bar/space patterns to convey data. Please note that there are numerous other types of barcode languages. The most common linear barcode is the UPC barcode (aka UPC-A). Typically the characters in barcode symbols consist of bar/space patterns. GTIN-14 (EAN/UCC-14): this is a 14-digit number used to identify trade items at various packaging levelsĪ barcode is a graphic symbol used to convey data.GTIN-13 (EAN/UCC-13): this is a 13-digit number used predominately outside of North America. ![]() GTIN-8 (EAN/UCC-8): this is an 8-digit number used predominately outside of North America.GTIN-12 (UPC-A): this is a 12-digit number used primarily in North America.The family of data structures (not symbologies) comprising GTIN include: For North American companies, the UPC is an existing form of the GTIN. The GTIN is only a term and does not impact any existing standards, nor does it place any additional requirements on scanning hardware. Currently, GTIN is used exclusively within bar codes, but it is also used in other data carriers such as radio frequency identification (RFID). GTIN describes a family of GS1 (EAN.UCC) global data structures that employ 14 digits and can be encoded into various types of data carriers. As described below, the GTIN-12 is essentially the UPC data derived primarily from a UPC Company Prefix and Item Reference Numbers The term “UPC Code” is commonly used to describe the UPC Barcode symbol, A “UPC Code” is essentially a barcode symbol encoding a 12-digit number called a GTIN-12. Here are a few of the most basic questions about UPC codes and barcodes: What are UPC Codes?īy definition UPC stands for “Universal Product Code”, so the term UPC Code is incorrectly redundant. Accurate product identification starts with the UPC barcode since it is the key to which everything is based upon.Īs the authority on UPC implementation and global barcode provider, we are contacted daily with inquiries. UPC barcodes (aka UPC Codes) are standardized global identifiers, which enable products to be sold, reordered and tracked through supply chains. Correct product identification is necessary to sell through traditional retailers and online marketplaces, such as Amazon, Walmart, Kroger, and Ebay.
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