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This page answers some of the most frequently asked question. There are many more answers on the FAQ page.

What is a barcode? How does a barcode work? Etc.

These are very basic questions. Most people today have seen barcodes. They are printed on nearly every item in a grocery store. There are many different types of barcodes (over 300, for more information see the Specifications Page) and the type you see on retail packaging is either UPC or EAN. This is just one type of barcode symbology. The next most popular is Code 39 (also called Code 3 of 9). Barcodes are read by either scanning a point of light across the symbol and measuring the lengths of reflections (white spaces) and no reflections (black bars) or capturing a video image of the symbol. The lengths and positions of the reflections and no reflections are analized by a computer program and the data is extracted. The difference between OCR and barcode is that OCR reads text not designed to be read by a computer while barcode reads symbols designed to be read by a computer. That makes the software less complex for decoding barcode. Also, most barcode symbologies have built-in error detection to make the decoding almost 100% accurate. For more information about how barcodes are read, see the Barcode Readers page.

What is GS1?

GS1 is the new name for EAN International. Also, the UCC (Uniform Code Council) announced that it has changed its name to GS1 US effective June 7, 2005. For the time being, BarCode 1 will continue to use the old names on the site.

How Do I Get A Bar Code Number For My Product?

This is one of the most asked questions here at BarCode 1. Ok. Here is a quick answer.

When someone asks this question, they are talking about the UPC or EAN symbol found on most retail products around the world. Specifically, they are asking how to obtain a Universal Product Code Identification Number which they can encode into a UPC-A or EAN-12 bar code symbol on their product. In the United States of America a company can obtain a unique six digit company identification number by becoming a member of GS1-US (formerly the Uniform Code Council (UCC)). The address and phone is GS1-US., Princeton Pike Corporate Center, 1009 Lenox Dr., Suite 202, Lawrenceville, New Jersey 08648, Telephone: 609-620-0200, Fax: 609.620.1200.

In the rest of the world, contact GS1 (formerly EAN International (EAN)). GS1 maintains an excellent FAQ, standards information and a list of member organizations around the world, many of which have web sites. The GS1 site is a must visit if you need to put a bar code on your product.

You must apply for membership and you will be assigned a unique company identification number for use on all your products. If you contact the UCC or EAN, please tell them you got their number from BarCode 1. Also, take a look at our UPC/EAN page. There is much more information there about how to apply for a UPC/EAN number. The fee is not cheap and you will have to pay every year.

What you get for your money is a unique company identification number which is a 6 or 7-digit number. This is the first part of the product UPC code. The remaining 6 digits are assigned by you for a specific product. Each number must be unique for a particular product and product size. If you have an 8 oz. size and a 12 oz. size, for example, you need two unique numbers.

If you want to bar code a book, you use the International Standard Book Number (ISBN). If you are bar coding a monthly publication, you use the the International Standard Serial Number (ISSN). See the Bookland EAN Page or the ISSN Page.

Do I Have To Pay To Use Barcodes For Internal Uses Like Inventory?

No you do not have to join the GS1-US or pay anyone to use barcodes for internal use. In fact, you should consider some other type of barcode like Code 39 or Code 128 rather than use UPC or EAN. The reason to choose a different barcode symbology than UPC or EAN is these codes are fixed length codes. The data must be exactly 13-digits long and contain only numbers. If you have an existing inventory system with part numbers, for example, they are probably longer than 13 characters and they probably include letters. Code 39 and Code 128 both handle both letters and numbers. They also can be as long or as short as you want. Finally, both are easier to print. You can get a TrueType Code 39 font, for example, and print barcodes using Word or Excel.

If you must use UPC or EAN for the internal application, then you need to use one of the prefixes that the GS1 has set asside for internal use. See the table, and look for the prefixes that say "Restricted distribution (MO defined)"

A Company Is Offering To Sell Me A Single Number. Is this legitimate?

The answer is YES and NO!

The No answer first. If a company joined the GS1-US (fomerly the Uniform Code Council (UCC)) after August 28, 2002, the UPC company number cannot be rented, leased, or further subdivided, according to the UCC. This is is the response I received from the UCC:

The application form states the following: "The UCC Company Prefix is for the sole use of the applicant and is a restricted asset of the member to whom it is assigned. Any other use of the number is prohibited, including but not limited to, renting, leasing or subdividing all or a portion of the UCC Company Prefix. Upon the sale of a division or a product line, the Sales Agreement should specify which of the parties to the transaction would have use of the UCC Company Prefix. Only one company may use the UCC Company Prefix."

The UCC Company Prefix is a limited asset of the member. The member, however, does not have complete freedom with regard to the prefix; they must be used within our guidelines. As long as the UCC Company Prefix is active, the company is a member of the Uniform Code Council, Inc. Therefore, a company cannot cancel membership and continue to use the UCC Company Prefix.

Teresa Truscelli Director, Customer Service Uniform Code Council, Inc.

Now the Yes answer. According to George Laurer, the inventor of UPC, if the company joined the Uniform Code Council prior to August 28, 2002, the Uniform Code Council's membership and licence agreement did not contain any prohibition against subdividing the numbers. The four companies in the United States that are issuing single UPC numbers are Simply Barcodes (www.UPCcode.us), www.buyabarcode.com, www.upcexpress.com and legalbarcodes.com. This appears to have been a side consequence of the class action settlement reached December 15, 2003 in the Superior Court in and for the state of Washington, county of Spokane. See some information here.

In addition, the UCC has a program where companies can buy a few numbers, but it is not a good deal. You can read George Laurer's commentary about "Variable Length Prefix" (smaller subsets of UPC for small companies) here.

Do I Have To Apply To GS1-US (in the USA) Even If I Just Have One Product To Sell?

The answer is yes and no

The Yes answer first. You will have to pay what many have said is a high fee even if you are a small business and you will have to pay a fee every year to use the company prefix. However, if you became a member before August 28, 2002, you do not have to pay the annual fee. You should read the class action settlement.

Now the No answer. According to George Laurer, the inventor of UPC, if the company joined the Uniform Code Council (now GS1-US) prior to August 28, 2002, the Uniform Code Council's membership and licence agreement did not contain any prohibition against subdividing the numbers. The three companies in the United States that are issuing single UPC numbers are Simply Barcodes (www.upccode.us), www.buyabarcode.com, www.upcexpress.com and legalbarcodes.com. This appears to have been a side consequence of the class action settlement reached December 15, 2003 in the Superior Court in and for the state of Washington, county of Spokane. See some information here.

In addition, GS1-US has a program where companies can buy a few numbers, but it is not a good deal. You can read George Laurer's commentary about "Variable Length Prefix" (smaller subsets of UPC for small companies) here.

If you still don't want to pay the fee to either the GS1-US or the three private companies, talk to your distributor or the store chains you will be selling your product to. See if they will accept your product without barcode. Most large chains will not, but it is worth a try.

I have tried to get Congress interested in investigating why GS1-US is not violating the Antitrust Laws since it is now difficult to get a product into distribution without a UPC barcode. I have been unsuccessful. With enough complaints to Congress and GS1-US, maybe this will change. The issue we have here is exactly the same as occurred with domain names and a single registrar. There is no reason that multiple organizations could not be assigned blocks of manufacturer numbers to assign. The free market would drive down prices just like the price to register a domain name.

There is something you can do about this. Write your Senator and Representative ! There is nothing in the United States Code that exempts the UCC from the Antitrust Laws. If enough people complain, maybe something will happen. There is no more need for the UCC to have exclusivity in handing out numbers than there was for a single organization to hand out domain names on the Internet. You can find out the address and email address of your Senator and Representative here. With enough voices, maybe things will change.

When Do I Need To Put A Bar Code On My Products?

When your distributor or store that will sell your product requires it. There is no law that says you must bar code a product. However, many national retail chains and most grocery stores require all products they sell to have a bar code that is unique for the specific product. The stores require this "source marking" because it is easier for the company that makes the product to mark it rather than the store. If you don't have a bar code on the product, these stores will not sell the product.

If I Change The Size Or Formula Of My Product, Do I Need To Change The Barcode?

Stores use the product's barcode to determine the type and cost of a product being sold. Some use the barcode to maintain inventory and to reorder. Let's say that a soft drink with a particular UPC barcode is sold in 16oz sizes. The manufacturer discontinues 16 oz sizes and change the size to 15 oz. Since stores often print a short description that includes size on the customer receipt, not changing the UPC could result in an incorrect size being printed on the receipt and an angry customer. If you can assure that the descriptive databases of all the stores that sell your product will be updated with the new description, you might get away with not changing the UPC barcode. However, this assurance is almost impossible these days with international sales. The safest is to change the barcode.

How Do I Get A List Of All The Product Codes And Their Respective Manufacturers?

This is the second most asked questions here at BarCode 1. Why is this question asked? There are several reasons. If someone is opening up a hardware store, for example, it would save a lot of work to have a database of all the product numbers of the products carried by the store with their descriptions. The store, of course, would still have to enter the selling price for each product. The second reason for such a list is to identify the company that made the product.

There is now a complete, free on-line database that allows anyone to type in a UPC or EAN number and get the company name and address for the product. It is a project developed by GS1 and is called GEPIR. The number contained in the UPC or EAN barcode is now called the Global Trade Item Number or GTIN. You can go directly to the UPC and EAN search page by clicking here. Please note that sometimes GEPIR is down. If you get a "page not available", try later. Currently, the database does not return the product description. It only returns the company name and address. Some records may contain the telephone number of the company. The web service is based on XML, so it is possible to integrate an application program with this database. That means that it will be possible for a small store to scan the barcode on a product, access GEPIR over the internet, and download product and manufacturer information over the internet to build a local database of products in the store for free. GEPIR is under continuous development and will soon also provide product images, dimensions, carton sizes, tracking and tracing data. This database is open to consumers as well as companies (unlike UCCNet, a project of the Uniform Code Council).

There is a new resource for searching EAN barcode numbers at www.ean-search.org. You can search for EAN codes or browse through the database of over 500.000 EANs.

There is a site which provides product descriptions. It's called the Universal Product Code Database, an on-line database for Universal Product Codes (UPC).

You now can purchase a UPC database from Gregg London.

The UPC Database Project is another public UPC database from Glenn J. Schworak. The site also has links to other UPC databases.

Swiss companies and EAN/UPC codes can be looked up at EAN Switzerland.

If you are opening a store, you should ask your suppliers if they have their UPC product codes in a database you can download. If you have to build your database by hand, the best structure is to have a database entry system that allows you to scan the UPC on a product and then key in the description. That way you make use of the UPC bar code for at least some of the data entry.

1SYNC (former UCCNet) is a project of GS1-US to synchronize data between trading partners. Unfortunately, there is no "public access" to the data being stored. If you are Wal-Mart or Home Depot, you can synchronize data from suppliers. If you are a small one or two lane Grocery store, you will NOT be able to obtain the databases from Pepsi - as an example.

Does the EAN number indicate the country of origin of a product?

No it doesn't. The 3-digit prefix code indicates which numbering organization has allocated the bank of numbers to the company. For example, a company may have it's headquarters in South Africa. The EAN organization in South Africa has the code "600", but all the products of the company may be manufactured in England. The English-made products would still have the "600" prefix code. The prefix code is a way to have 70-plus EAN member organizations issuing numbers without having to worry about duplicate numbers. A list of country codes can be found here.

If my product is marked with EAN, do I have to also mark it with UPC to sell in the USA?

As of January 1, 2005, all retail barcode systems are required to read both EAN and UPC. You no longer have to use UPC in the USA. Please see the white paper that explains this change.

What are the advantages and disadvantages to barcode?

There are two basic advantages to barcode over manual data entry: Speed, and Accuracy. For 12 characters of data, keyboard entry takes 6 seconds. Scanning a 12 character barcode takes .3 seconds. The error rate for typing is one substitution error in every 300 characters types. Error rated for barcode range from 1 substitution error in every 15,000 to 36 trillion characters scanned (depending on the type of barcode). A data entry error will translate into additional costs for a business which ranges from the cost of rekeying the data to shipping the wrong product to the wrong customer. Saving from these two advantages will usually pay for the cost of a barcode system in under two years. The only disadvantage is that data must be coded in the barcode. This can be an additional cost, however the key to an effective barcode system is to generate the barcode as close to the source of the data as possible. That means that the source of a product should be barcoding data that others in the supply chain will use.

Can I Reduce The Size Of A UPC Bar Code To Fit It To The Space I Have?

It is very risky to reduce the size of a UPC symbol. The nominal size of a UPC symbol is 1.469" wide x 1.02" high. The minimum recommended size is 80% of the nominal size or 1.175" wide x .816" high. The maximum recommended size is 200% of the nominal size or 2.938" wide x 2.04" high. Larger UPC's scan better. Smaller UPC's do not scan as well or not at all.

Ink spread can also decrease the flexibility of size reduction of a bar code. If a bar code is reduced too much, an attempt to silk screen print it will blur the bars together. This is one of the reasons why it is recommended to keep the bar code within the minimum of 80% of the nominal size.

Many large chains now fine or disqualify vendors who supply products with bar codes that do not scan. If you reduce the UPC symbol below the maximum recommended, you run the risk that the symbol will not scan. That could result in you losing a big customer.

Can I Print The UPC Bar Code In A Color Ink or On Colored Paper?

It is risky. Color ink and/or colored paper will reduce the contrast between the bars and spaces. Also remember that virtually all scanners use red light. If you print the bars using any shade of red, the same amount of light will reflect off the red bars as the white spaces. Also, printing black bars on a colored paper will also reduce the light reflecting off the spaces and reduce the contrast. Other colored inks will also reduce the contrast ratio between the bars and spaces and greatly increase the probability of an unreadable barcode.

If the black bars and white spaces are too glossy, the symbol also may not read. A real no-no is printing black bars on a silver can.

Many large chains now fine or disqualify vendors who supply products with bar codes that do not scan. If you print the UPC symbol with color ink, you run the risk that the symbol will not scan. That could result in you losing a big customer.

Who Invented Barcode? What was the first product with barcode? Where was barcode first used?

While there still is controversy over who invented barcode and when it was first used, it is generally accepted that Norman Joseph. Woodland and Bernard Silver invented what we know as barcode on October 20, 1949 by filing patent application serial number 122,416 which became Patent Number 2,612,994. In June 1974, one of the first UPC scanners, made by NCR Corp. (which was then called National Cash Register Co), was installed at Marsh's supermarket in Troy, Ohio. On June 26, 1974, the first product with a bar code was scanned at a check-out counter. It was a 10-pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit chewing gum. For more detailed information, see the BarCode-1 History Page.

I want to tattoo myself with my name, my birthday, etc. in barcode. How do I find out what the barcode should look like?

BarCode 1 does not endorse or advocate tattoos of any kind. However, we get this question asked enough times that an FAQ answer is appropriate. To see what the barcode would look like, go to Barcode Mill. You can type the information and their web form will generate barcode. You will need to select what type of barcode you want. UPC or EAN (the types used in stores) can only encode numbers and only up to 13-digits. For data that contains numbers and letters, you might choose Code 39. If you choose to encode a name with Code 39, all letters must be upper case and spaces must be done with the underscore "_". Barcoded tattoos will not read with a barcode reader because the ink will spread enough to make them unreadable.

Rather than tattooing yourself, buy some custom temporary barcode tattoos from Scott Blake at barcodeart.com.

If you would like to see some examples of barcode tattoos, take a look at Jerry Whiting's page. You can also find some examples of barcode tattoos here.

Is there an Artistic aspect to Barcode?

Yes. A number of artists have done art work based on barcode. The first artist I met that based his art on barcode was Bernard Solco, an American painter/sculptor.. "Symbologoy" is a collection of large-scale paintings and limited edition prints, focusing on the many types of bar codes. Solco showcased the giant bar codes in a two part exhibit in Soho, New York City during October 1997 and January 1998.

Scott Blake, the "barcode Picasso" according to FHM Magazine, is another artist that bases his artwork around barcode. You can see his works at his site.

You can see some other examples of other artists' works by visiting Jerry Whiting's art works page.

There is a collection of barcode-inspired posters here.

A "Rap" video on YouTube that explains how a barcode reader works can be found here.

A very interesting video on YouTube from a company the integrated art work into a package's barcode can be viewed here.

Is there a hidden 666 in bar code?

UPC is just one bar code symbology out of over 300 others. The bar code on the backs of some driver licenses, for example, is not UPC and has no guard bars at all. Much better "marks of the beast" would be finger prints, DNA typing, or plain automatic face recognition. These are all "source marking" (marks put on during manufacturing) approaches and are far more cost-effective. "No Hidden Sixes in the UPC Barcode" by Robert Harris of Southern California College / Vanguard University is another good explanation.

Still Haven't Found The Answer To Your Question? Jump to the BarCode-1 FAQ ! There are answers to many more frequently asked questions.

Other Resources At BarCode-1

• BarCode-1 FAQ answers many more questions like how to use barcode with Excel and Access.
• A good introduction to 2-dimensional bar codes can be found on BarCode 1's 2-D page.
• An introduction to bar code scanning can be found at Bar Code Readers Page. This page will explain how bar codes are read.
• The Bar Code Glossary of Terms will help you understand the words used. There is some basic information about the different symbologies, like UPC, EAN and Code 39.
• If you are looking for the detailed technical specifications for a bar code symbol, you can order them from the organizations listed in the specification sources page. If you are looking for the specifications for Code 39 or Code 128 or UPC/EAN, we have them on-line here at BarCode 1!
• You can find the latest information about trade shows by checking the calendar of events.
• Many have ask about bar code fonts for Windows applications. There is a collection of bar code fonts here too. We also have a large connection of other bar code related software on our shareware page.
• There is a list of books and list of magazines too.
• We have the most complete list of links to other bar code sites. You can search the list by key word or choose a topic.
• Want to have a bar code of your name? Try BarCodeMills' bar code generator. You can select any one of 12 different types of bar code formats (UPC, EAN, Code 39, Code 128, etc.).

This list only scratches the surface of the information you will find here. You need to spend some times and explore BarCode 1. Start at the Site Contents Page and look around!