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How to get a barcode for your product

Making the barcode image is the easy part. The number inside it is what matters if you want to sell in shops or on marketplaces.

What is inside a product barcode

The bars on a product encode a number called a GTIN (Global Trade Item Number), usually 13 digits (EAN-13) or 12 digits in North America (UPC-A). The first digits are a company prefix issued to a business; the rest identify the product; the last digit is a check digit.

An EAN-13 barcode with the company prefix, product number and check digit marked.5901234123457Company prefixfrom GS1Product numberyou chooseCheck digitcalculated
Inside an EAN-13 number. How many digits the company prefix takes depends on how many product numbers the company bought from GS1.

Company prefixes are managed worldwide by GS1, a non-profit with an office in most countries (GS1 Estonia, GS1 UK, GS1 US and so on). That is how a number stays unique across every shop in the world.

Do you need GS1 numbers?

  • Yes if you sell through retail chains, supermarkets, pharmacies or online marketplaces such as Amazon. They expect numbers registered to your company.
  • No for barcodes used only inside your own business: stock, shelves, assets, documents, a small shop’s own till system. Use your own numbers (for example with Code 128), or EAN numbers starting with 20–29, which are reserved for in-store use.

How to get GS1 numbers, step by step

  1. Contact the GS1 office in your country and apply for membership. The fee usually depends on your turnover and how many numbers you need.
  2. Receive your company prefix, which gives you a block of numbers (for example 10, 100 or 1,000 products).
  3. Assign one number per product variant, and keep a list of which number is which product. Never reuse a number for a different product.
  4. Register the product data (name, brand, size, image) in GS1’s system if your retailers ask for it.
  5. Make the barcode images. Enter the 12 digits in the EAN-13 generator (or 11 in the UPC generator); the check digit is added automatically. Download as SVG for your packaging designer.
  6. Test-print at the final size and scan it with a phone app and, if possible, a shop scanner.

Printing the barcode on packaging

  • Keep it at 80–200% of the standard size (about 37 × 26 mm at 100%), with white space on both sides.
  • Black bars on a white background are safest. Red bars are invisible to many scanners.
  • Avoid seams, folds and strongly curved surfaces.

Many products at once? Make every barcode from a spreadsheet with the batch generator (set the type column to ean13).

Completing or checking many numbers at once? Use the check digit calculator.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just make up an EAN-13 number?

Technically the barcode will scan, but shops and marketplaces check whether the number belongs to your company. A made-up number can clash with someone else’s product. For sale in retail, use GS1 numbers.

Are cheap barcodes from resellers OK?

Risky. Resold numbers are registered to another company. Many retailers and Amazon match product numbers against the GS1 database and can reject or remove listings that don’t match.

I only need barcodes for my own stock. Do I need GS1?

No. For inventory, asset tags and internal use, any numbering works; Code 128 is the usual choice. EAN numbers starting with 20–29 are reserved for in-store use and won’t clash with retail products.

Do I need a different barcode for each variant?

Yes. Every size, colour, flavour or pack size that is sold as a separate item needs its own number (GTIN).

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