You’re trying to sell on Amazon but have some questions? You are not alone with these questions. Beginning your Amazon journey could be difficult as it could be full of information, forms, settings and policies you have to become aware of. This includes the GTIN section which requires UPC/EAN barcode numbers. In this blog we will give you as much information about UPC and EAN Barcode numbers so you can continue becoming a successful Amazon seller. Barcodes for Amazon is a crucial part of that.
What is a barcode?
Every single product in the world has a barcode, and you’ve probably seen them your whole life. But what exactly do they do? How are they created? Companies from every industry around the world use them and need them. There is allot of information tied to those little black and white zebra looking stripes. Amazon also uses to barcodes to keep track of millions of items they are fulfilling across the world.
The scannable and numerical portion are features of a barcode. To first create a barcode you will need to buy a UPC barcode or buy EAN barcodes.
There are a number of different types of barcode options. These include UPC, EAN, GCID, JAN or ISBN which is mainly for books. When selling on Amazon, sellers can also have the choice to create a FNSKU, which is specifically made for Amazon that can help them seperate the manufacturers from authentic items to counterfeits.
Each and every item needs its own barcode
Rule number 1 for barcodes. Each item is completely unique and special. Which then requires its own identifier. This is unless the products are the same. All variations will need their own unique barcode. So each size, colour, model will need it’s own barcode. Now this can get complicated so we have outlined a few examples to avoid confusion:
Let’s say you are selling a t-shirt. A medium sized, red shirt.
- You will only need one barcode. Even if you have 1000s of t-shirts that are medium sized and red, then you still only need one barcode.
However, if you’re selling t-shirts in many different colours and sizes then each size and each colour will need its own unique barcode
This can get more complicated with a higher number of variations. When it comes to selling on Amazon, allot of product categories accept different variations for different sizes, colours, sizes, lengths, scents, etc. It all depends on what you’re planning on selling. This could expand quite quickly. It all depends on our product catalogue, you could potentially need to buy 100s of barcodes or maybe just the few.
Do I need a new barcode for the product I’m listing on Amazon?
Wholesalers, distributors, retailers, sole traders and manufacturers are all the types of sellers on Amazon. If you are selling products that are your own then you’ll need your own barcodes. If you are selling products that are under another brand such as Nike or Adidas then you will have to use their UPC/EAN barcodes that they are currently using.
When creating a seller central account and you want to list a product on the Amazon marketplace they will guide you through their options to help you list your product and will let you aware if a product is listed already or not. If you ignore this and you list an already existing product then you could potentially get in some serious trouble for violating the policies and risk getting suspended. Buy ean barcodes from a respectable source.
How can I buy a UPC?
Once you’ve found a product to sell on Amazon and you are going through the settings on Amazon seller central to list such products then you will come across a section that will require you to add a barcode number. Now there are 3 options. You can buy from GS1, where you will have to pay yearly fees. Which is separate from the large amount you will have to pay upfront. The second is you can buy from places such as eBay from sellers who resell used barcodes and if Amazon find out then you could risk getting suspended. The third and best option is for you to buy UPC barcodes from Barcode Market.