What the Numbers Actually Mean

Most of what people assume about barcodes is wrong, and those assumptions often hold up a purchase. This page covers what a barcode number is, what it does and doesn’t contain, and where the numbers come from.

If you already know all that and want to buy, go straight to retail barcode packages.

Does a barcode contain any product information?

No. This is the most common misunderstanding, and it explains almost everything else on this page.

The bars and spaces encode one thing: the digits printed underneath them. There’s no product name, no price, no manufacturer, no ingredients, no country. Scanning is just a fast, error-free way of typing that number into a till.

The number is a unique identifier, drawn from a global pool and allocated to you. Think of it as a number plate, not a description. It identifies your product without saying anything about it.

So how does a retailer know what my product is?

They enter it into their system once.

When a retailer first takes your product, someone scans the barcode (or types in the number) and links your product details to it: name, description, supplier, retail price. From then on, scanning that barcode at the till brings up the right product.

Larger chains handle this with a supplier form rather than a person at a keyboard, but the principle is the same. Nothing needs to be sent to us or to any central registry for this to work.

It also means the same number can behave differently from shop to shop. Each retailer keeps its own product record and sets its own price.

What do the first digits of a barcode mean?

They show where the number was issued, not where the product was made.

This catches a lot of people out. Our numbers begin with a 06 or 07, which shows they came from the US pool. That says nothing about you, your company, or where you make your product. A barcode starting with 06 or 07 on a product made in Leeds is completely normal, and no digit in the number records the country of origin.

UK numbers issued directly by GS1 UK start with 50. Retailers know the prefix doesn’t indicate origin. Their systems don’t check it, and it doesn’t affect scanning. If you want to show where your product is made, print “Made in the UK” on the packaging. More on country code prefixes.

One exception worth knowing about: some distributors in mainland China ask for numbers issued by GS1 China, believing the prefix shows origin. It isn’t a technical requirement, but if China is your main market, ask your distributor up front. Everywhere else, our numbers are used without issue—for example, barcode acceptance in the UK.

Can I make up my own barcode number?

Not for products you sell through other people.

Retail barcode numbers are globally unique and allocated from a controlled pool. That’s the whole point of them. Two different products carrying the same number cause real problems in a retailer’s system, and it’s the retailer who has to sort it out. Invented numbers can also clash with numbers already issued to someone else.

The one situation where you can use any number you like is a closed loop: products sold only in your own shop, scanned only on your own till, never leaving your system. As soon as you supply another retailer or list on a marketplace, you need a properly issued number.

Where do barcode numbers come from?

Every legal retail barcode number, including ours, originates from the GS1 system. You can get one in two ways.

Direct from GS1 UK. This is a licence, not a purchase. You apply for membership, pay a joining fee, then pay an annual fee for as long as you use the numbers. If you stop paying, the licence lapses.

From a reseller. Some numbers were issued before the current licensing model, and companies like ours hold blocks of them to sell outright. You pay once, the number is yours permanently, and there are no renewals. We’ve worked this way since 2006. Why buy from us?

Both routes give you numbers that scan the same way. The difference is cost and ownership, not how they work.

Why are there two formats, EAN-13 and UPC-A?

Because North America and the rest of the world standardised at slightly different times. They aren’t two different barcodes.

EAN-13 is the 13-digit international standard, and UK and European retailers use it. UPC-A is the 12-digit version used in the US and Canada. It’s the same number without the leading zero, and modern scanners read either format worldwide.

We supply both versions of your number with every barcode at no extra cost, so you’re covered if you later sell into North America. How the two compare.

What about books, magazines and shipping cartons?

These use the same system with different number types:

  • Books need an ISBN, printed as an EAN-13 barcode. ISBN barcodes.
  • Magazines need an ISSN, also printed as an EAN-13 barcode. Magazine barcodes.
  • Shipping cartons use ITF-14, a 14-digit number based on the product’s retail barcode. ITF-14 is for cases moving through a warehouse. If a customer can buy the whole case as one item, it needs a normal retail barcode instead. Carton barcodes.

Do I need to register my barcode anywhere?

No. You don’t have to tell any registry that your number exists, and a barcode works perfectly well without being listed anywhere.

Registration is optional and does one thing: it puts your number and product details online, so that anyone searching for it or scanning it with a phone app finds your product rather than a blank. If you buy a retail package from us, registration on the International Barcodes Database is free.

Where to go next

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