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How to get barcodes for your products

To sell products through most retailers and online marketplaces, you need a GTIN for each product, issued through GS1, the organisation that runs the global product numbering system. You join your national GS1 organisation, receive a company prefix, and create a number for each product from it. Once you have the numbers, drawing the barcodes themselves is the easy part.

What a GTIN is

A GTIN (Global Trade Item Number) is the number printed beneath a product barcode. It identifies one specific product, such as a 60-capsule bottle of a supplement or a 500 g bag of coffee, so that a retailer’s system can look up its name and price at the checkout.

GTINs come in a few lengths. GTIN-13 is printed as an EAN-13 barcode and is used in most countries. GTIN-12 is printed as UPC-A and is used mainly in the US and Canada. GTIN-8 is a short number for very small packs, and GTIN-14 is used on outer cartons. If you are unsure which applies to you, our guide to EAN-13 and UPC-A explains the difference.

Each variant of a product needs its own GTIN. A different size, flavour, colour or pack quantity is a different product as far as the retailer is concerned.

Who issues GTINs

GTINs are issued by GS1, a not-for-profit standards organisation, through national member organisations. Examples include GS1 India, GS1 UK and GS1 US, and most countries have their own. You normally join the organisation in the country where your business is based.

Membership fees and terms vary by country and by the size of your business, so check the current details on your national GS1 organisation’s website. Some GS1 organisations also offer single GTINs for businesses that only have a handful of products.

How a company prefix works

When you join GS1, you are given a company prefix. This is the first part of every GTIN you create. The remaining digits are yours to assign to products, followed by a check digit that is calculated automatically.

The length of your company prefix determines how many products you can number. Within a 13-digit GTIN, a longer prefix leaves fewer digits for products, and a shorter prefix leaves more. For example:

  • A 10-digit company prefix leaves 2 digits for products, enough for 100 GTINs.
  • A 9-digit company prefix leaves 3 digits, enough for 1,000 GTINs.
  • A 7-digit company prefix leaves 5 digits, enough for 100,000 GTINs.

When you apply, think about how many products and variants you expect to sell over the next few years, not just today. Your GS1 organisation can advise on the right capacity.

Why cheap or resold barcodes can be rejected

You may see websites selling individual barcode numbers at very low prices. Many of these numbers were originally licensed to another company, and in GS1’s records they may still be registered to that company rather than to you.

This matters because retailers and marketplaces increasingly check numbers against GS1’s data. GS1 offers a lookup service, Verified by GS1, that shows which company a number belongs to. If the company shown does not match the seller, the listing or product can be refused, and you may have to replace the barcodes on all your packaging.

Resold numbers are not always rejected, but the risk sits with you. If you plan to sell through a large retailer or marketplace, numbers issued directly to your business by GS1 avoid the problem.

What to check with your retailer or marketplace

Before you print packaging, confirm the following with each retailer, distributor or marketplace you plan to sell through:

  1. Whether they require GTINs issued by GS1 to your own business.
  2. Which barcode type they expect on the product, for example EAN-13 or UPC-A.
  3. Whether outer cartons need their own barcode, usually ITF-14 or GS1-128 (a GS1 form of Code 128).
  4. Any rules on barcode size, position on the pack and print quality.
  5. What product information they need from you alongside each GTIN.

Requirements differ between retailers, and they change over time, so the retailer’s own supplier guidelines are the reference to follow.

Turning your numbers into barcodes

Once GS1 has issued your company prefix, the process is straightforward:

  1. Decide which product gets which number. Start from your company prefix and assign the product digits in order.
  2. Enter each number in our Barcode Generator, choosing EAN-13 or UPC-A. If you leave off the final digit, the generator calculates the check digit; if you include it, the generator verifies it.
  3. Download the barcode as a vector (SVG or PDF) or high-resolution image and give it to your packaging designer or printer.
  4. Print a test copy at actual size and scan it with a phone or handheld scanner before you approve the print run.

If you need a run of consecutive numbers, the Sequential Barcode Generator can produce up to 1,000 at once. For EAN, UPC and ITF-14 numbers, it asks you to confirm that you own the GS1 company prefix before it continues.

Our tools draw barcodes from the numbers you enter. They do not issue GTINs, and a barcode you create from a number that is not yours will still not be registered to your business.

Keep a record of your numbers

Keep a simple register, such as a spreadsheet, showing which GTIN belongs to which product. Include the product name, size or variant, the date the number was assigned and where it is used. Your GS1 organisation may also ask you to record product details in its own system.

A clear record helps you avoid giving two products the same number, which can cause pricing errors at the checkout. It also makes it much easier to answer retailer questions and to set up new listings. If you keep the register in Excel, format the GTIN column as text so that leading zeros are not removed.

Next step

When your GTINs are ready, create the barcodes in the free Barcode Generator, or number a range with the Sequential Barcode Generator. Both run entirely in your browser, and nothing you enter is uploaded.