If you have your own business, you may be wondering: How can I get a bar-code assigned to my product? Do I even need a bar-code?
Yes, you need it. Most retailers won’t accept products without a bar-code.
Retail bar-code numbers, UPC and EAN, are unique numbers assigned to a person or a company. The official organization in charge of providing UPC and EAN bar-codes is GS1-US for the US, and GS1 for the rest of the world. GS1 issues company identification numbers that are to be encoded in the product’s bar-code. In order to apply for UPC or EAN number, you need to become a member. Here are some sites where you can find info on how to apply for membership and obtain the required bar-code:
After you’ve purchased the bar-code, it is your job to send this unique code along with a special Product Information Form to retailers. Retailers, then, enter all these information into their system. Once the barcode is in the system, it is associated with the product’s description, price, manufacturer’s information, reordering info, etc. After this procedure, when the retailer scans the bar-code, your product’s information will appear on his screen.
If you are in the publishing business and you need a bar-code for your book, this is the place to obtain it:
http://www.isbn.org/standards/home/index.asp.
If you need a bar-code for a monthly publication, here’s how to do that:
http://www.loc.gov/issn/basics/basics-brochure-serials.html#how.
We hope we’ve helped you speed up the process of getting information about bar-codes and obtaining them.
