Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
If you cannot find an answer to your question, please contact us
please see our Difference Between UPC-A and EAN-13 Page for more details.
This means that if the retailers only use barcodes for option 1, you can get away with having the same barcode for 2 product variations (i.e., different colors of the same product). However, if the retailer uses barcodes for variant 2 as well, then a different barcode will be required for each product variation.
In general, retailers prefer to stock products that will be straight forward to manage. Some retailers may prefer not to stock products if they have to manually count how many are left of each size and reorder accordingly. Therefore it is recommended that you have a different barcode for each variation.
We can also arrange independently accredited verification reports, which means that more stores accept our barcodes than any other retailer
For more information on which stores do not accept our barcode and which require verification reports, please see Barcode Acceptance.
Our barcodes are currently being used in the following countries worldwide: Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Channel Islands, China, Cook Islands, Curacao, Cyprus, Denmark, Dominican Republic, East Timor, England, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Kiribati, Kuwait, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Mozambique, Netherlands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Portugal, Rarotonga, Rwanda, Singapore, Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sultanate of Oman, Suriname, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Tonga, UAE, Uganda, UK, USA, Vanuatu, Pakistan, Wales, Zambia.
This list is expanding all the time, so please let us know if your country is not on the list, and we can check if it is a recent addition. Or, you could be the first.
1. Affordable barcodes.
2. No Ongoing fees – the barcodes are sold for a one-off cost, so you only pay once
3. Barcode Images Provided – we also provide high resolution (600 dpi) barcode images in several different formats.
4. No compulsory membership – These include time-consuming forms and money consuming fees
5. Quick Service – you will either receive your barcodes immediately (If you order a retail barcode) or within 12 hours. We can speed up ServiceService if you require something urgently.
6. Can provide accredited verification reports – we can provide independently accredited verification reports, which means that more stores accept our barcodes than any other reseller.
Please see ‘why buy from us‘ for more information on this.
In the 1990s, GS1 was established in most parts of the world. They licensed their 13 digit barcode numbers to their members (and as discussed previously, charged both membership fees and joining fees). However, there was a separate organization in the USA – the Uniform Code Council (UCC) – which sold 12 digit barcode numbers to their members for a one-off cost (there were no ongoing license fees). The UCC was effectively competing with GS1. Their 12 digits numbers were effectively a subset of the 13 digit system.
In the late 1990s, the UCC merged with GS1, becoming GS1-US. As part of this change, they decided to start charging annual license fees for all of their members, including those who had paid a one-off payment for barcode numbers in the 1990s. Of course, many of these members weren’t happy with the new annual license fees, and so a group of them ended up in a class-action lawsuit with GS1. The members won in the courts in the early 2000s, resulting in a multimillion-dollar settlement by GS1. A further consequence of this court case is the proof that the original numbers issued by the UCC in the 1990s are outside of GS1s control now, and hence no license fees are required. These are the numbers. They are bought by resellers and onsold. They are ‘new’ numbers, in that they have never been used on a retail product, and are part of the GS1 system.
- Retail Barcodes
- -> Retail barcodes are used only for retail purposes.
- -> They are the requirement of established marts, supermarkets, and retail stores, which have POS (Point of Sale) software installed for managing the inventory and maintaining the sales record.
- -> These barcodes are scannable only via handheld scanners that can be found in every other shop nowadays.
- -> Retail barcodes are available in two types.
- EAN-13 – A 13 digit barcode, which is accepted worldwide, but not in the USA and Canada.
- UPC – A 12 digit barcode, which is accepted only in the USA and Canada.
- ITF-14 – A 14 digit barcode, which is printed on product cartons and accepted worldwide.
- QR Codes
- -> QR codes are an excellent choice to market your business digitally.
- -> These codes store information, website link, contact details, and whatnot within themselves, and when scanned, they show that information to customers, direct them to your website, and let them contact you directly.
- -> Whether the customer bought a product from you (vendor) or indirectly, he/she will get connected to you just by scanning the QR code using their mobile devices.
- -> QR codes enhance the credibility of your product and increase your clientele.
Barcodes Pakistan offers not just QR and Retail barcodes but also customized QR codes for businesses who wish to have their brand’s favicon at the center of it. Get them here, and grow your business independently.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact us. If you are ready to purchase your barcodes, you can do this here. Or here for CD barcodes, DVD barcodes, ISBN book barcodes, and ISSN magazine barcodes.