This article was originally posted on 18 February 2019 on https://barcodesellers.org/ – it is reposted here by permission. 

Ezibarcodes.co.uk calls itself “the UK’s most trusted online barcodes retailer” (on its homepage); however, it is incredibly untrustworthy – there are many examples of false advertising on its website. Some examples are below.

MAJOR ISSUES (as of 18 February 2019): 

 

1. Falsely labels itself “the United Kingdoms longest standing online barcodes retailer” on its “About Us” page. 

This is a clear lie. The company Krucial PTY LTD registered three months ago, on 23 November 2018, and the domain www.ezibarcodes.co.uk has registered only one month ago, on 27 January 2019.

Many other barcode seller companies in the UK have been around for a lot longer than this (for example, barcode1.co.uk has been around for more than 10 years).

 

2. It issues barcode numbers that start with “50” (the UK Country prefix). However, it has no legal authority to issue these “50” barcode numbers.

On their Home Page, they state:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All EAN-13 barcode numbers that start with “50” (the UK country prefix) are owned by GS1 UK. GS1 UK is the only company with the authority to issue barcode numbers that start with “50” – no other barcode seller in the UK or worldwide has legal authorisation to sell or issue these numbers.

On their FAQ page, they state:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The statement “If you would like your company prefix to be different, just let us know, and we will happily modify the country prefix for any barcodes you purchase” is very strange. To do this is illegal – the country prefix of a barcode number cannot be modified. It is fixed. The only barcode numbers allowed to be sold by companies that are not GS1 start with the US country prefix (usually 06 or 07). All non-US country prefix barcode numbers are owned by the GS1 organisation in that specific country and cannot legally be issued by EziBarcodes or any other barcode seller.

 

3. They claim they are “Locally owned and operated” on their “About Us” page. However, they appear to be based in Australia (not the UK).

On their “About Us” page, they say:

Although they say they are “locally owned and operated”, there is nothing on their website to show that they are UK based – they do not have a UK registered company name, UK phone number, or UK office address on their website.

Ezibarcodes UK is run by an Australian company based in Perth called Krucial PTY LTD (although they don’t mention this anywhere on their website).

 

4. They have made themselves as anonymous as possible – they have extremely little information about themselves, or their company, on their website.

On the www.ezibarcodes.co.uk “About Us” page, they refer to themselves as “EziBarcodes” only. They don’t provide their company name, company address, business number, business registration details, or the name of their director (or any staff members).

 

5. They have very little contact information on their website.

There is no email address, phone number, or physical address on their website. The only way to contact them is via the Contact Form on their “Contact” page.

 

6. They falsely claim that their barcode numbers are accepted by any retail outlet worldwide.

On the ezibarcodes.co.uk homepage, they say:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, on their FAQ page, they say:

 

 

 

 

 

This statement is false. There are definitely some retailers worldwide that will refuse to accept barcodes from EziBarcodes because their company policy is only to accept barcodes that are purchased directly from GS1 (examples of retailers with this policy are Wal-Mart in the USA and the Super Retail Group in New Zealand and Australia).

Other retailers will only accept barcodes if they come with Barcode Verification Reports and/or a manufacturers GLN number (e.g. ASDA, Tesco, Homebase in the UK). EziBarcodes only provide EAN-13 barcode numbers and images – they don’t provide GLN numbers or verification reports.