Share

How-to

What You Should Know about Barcodes Selling on Amazon

What You Should Know about Barcodes Selling on Amazon

If you are a producer or seller and want to sell your product on Amazon, just go ahead, we have some useful tips for you. When planning on posting a product on Amazon some people meet hardships connected to Amazon barcodes. Once you get barcodes you are halfway there to put your products on Amazon. A lot of you might have questions regarding Amazon barcodes. So here you will find a detailed description and answers to following questions “ What is a barcode? What benefits does it have? Why do you need it? And finally how to get it? So here we go.

Contents

  1. What is generally barcode?
  2. Why do you need a barcode?
  3. How to get barcodes?

What is generally barcode?

A barcode is an image consisting of a series of parallel black lines and white spaces of varying widths, that can be read by a scanner to identify the title, Global Trade Item Number(GTIN) and its different types which include UPC, EAN, ISBN etc., and the price for an individual product. To keep it short, barcodes are pasted on products, as a means of quick identification. But let’s clarify why Amazon prefers barcodes. As you may have guessed barcodes have a lot of benefits.

  • They eliminate the possibility of human error.

  • Barcodes are inexpensive to design and print.

  • They improve inventory control.

  • Barcodes reduce training requirements.

  • They provide fast and reliable data. Barcodes provide better decision making, which ultimately saves both time and money.

UPC and EAN Sample

Why do you need a barcode to make your product available on Amazon?

You need UPC barcodes because Amazon has changed its requirements on products sold to be of UPC, EAN, or ISBN. These changes have been made, in order to reduce time on shipping and making it a lot more certain that the correct package gets shipped to the correct customer. Nowadays almost all items that are being sent to Amazon fulfillment centers require detailed information about them. On that form, you will put your company and product details as well as your 12-digit UPC barcode number. Amazon then manually enters the information into its inventory management computer. When they scan your barcode at the register, it calls you up to your form in their system and gives you credit for the sale. Once you place your barcode onto your product, either by printing it onto a stick or placing it into the artwork of your packaging your work is done.

The presence of barcodes on your products is a significant factor in determining how quickly shipments are received and therefore how consistently your title is in inventory and available to Amazon’s millions of customers. That's why Amazon requires manufacturers and sellers to include barcodes in their products.

Amazon FNSKU Sample

Now about Amazon barcodes or FNSKU(Fulfilment Network SKU), which is a code used by Amazon, to identify everything in their warehouse, directly corresponding to your ASIN. For your information, ASIN stands for Amazon Standard Identification number. The 10-character number is usually assigned by Amazon and its partners and is a vital tool both for the seller and Amazon.The ASIN number is the footing of Amazon’s product catalog structure, which in turn gives shoppers advanced search options. It’s vital then that sellers identify and use the correct ASIN identifier for their products. Otherwise, Amazon won’t be able to coordinate and search your products for customers.

Amazon ASIN

You can send your products with UPC or EAN if you wish, but if your competitors send the same type of product, Amazon won’t be able to tell the difference and they will all be stored together.

This can be a major issue because it will hinder fair competition, especially when your competitor offers products of lower quality than you. So Amazon demands FNSKU for your own benefits. Keep in mind that you don’t need to get FNSKU if you sell a unique product that nobody else is allowed to sell on Amazon.

Taking into consideration the above mentioned, it’s vital to literally quote some reminders by Amazon consultants that will be helpful.

  • A UPC barcode is required when creating a new product listing.

  • If you sell unique (private label or self-made) products or your manufacturer doesn’t provide a UPC, you will need to create one yourself via any barcode seller

  • You will also need a GTIN if this is the case

  • If you are Brand Registered you can apply for a GTIN exemption You can send your items to Amazon with only the UPC codes attached but it is a lot better to use the FNSKU.

How to get barcodes?

Purchasing a UPC (united product code) is the best way to differentiate the products you are going to sell. If you are a retail giant, manufacturer, or just representative of a small business, you will need to acquire UPC barcodes to label each product. This will provide much more efficient sales since all of the unique UPCs will help customers to avoid ordering counterfeit goods.

Here let’s take a look at the benefits of one of the most guaranteed websites where you can purchase barcodes, which will correspond to the standards of Amazon.

Barcodes Pro

Why us? A lot of advantages are offered here. You will pay for barcodes only once without any hidden annual or renewal service fees. Use our online barcode pro tools to buy barcodes, generate barcode images, register your product information. By the way, EAN-13 codes beginning with 0 are actually 12-digit UPC codes with added 0 digits. This means that here you pay for both UPC and EAN once and register your products. Every registered UPC barcode in Barcodes Pro Registry is unique for each product. You can find your registered barcode numbers in Global Electronic Party Information Registry. Our barcodes are also accepted by the largest online and retail stores, including Ali Express, Jet, eBay, Shopify, etc. At last, you can get your barcodes instantly right after payment. Here the prices for barcodes.

US and Canada:

International:

If you have already purchased barcodes and have passed the stage of registering your product on Amazon’s sales list, there are a number of nuances that are really worth knowing if you are on Amazon for multiplying your possessions.

If you are going to ship your products yourself, the UPC barcode should be placed on the back of your title, lower right quadrant. You should improve the print contrast, the barcode must be printed with black ink on black background. And you must leave “quiet zones” ¼ inch of white space on the left and right sides of your barcode. And yes, don’t forget to write the company name and about the condition of your product on barcodes. Don’t allow protecting packaging to obscure barcodes, since it will reduce the ability to scan it. Abstractions by dirt, mist protrusions and damage can cause failed reads or misreads. If your shipment will be done through Amazon FBA, you should print the FNSKU code given by Amazon.

Every barcode is intended for a unique UPC or EAN . In the case of getting a new EAN or UPC, you must change your barcode. If you give your barcode to your printer or manufacturer, you must make sure that they haven’t attached it to an item with another UPC or EAN, by mistake. If you are going to print barcodes yourself, be attentive otherwise defects created in the printing process will reduce bare code capacity.

Having a chance to sell your product on Amazon, is requisite to your profitability and expands your customer reach, which makes your business dilate and prosper. The information we provided is hopefully useful for you and it clears up the fundamental questions in which you are probably interested. Once you have in mind all the tips mentioned above, you will be amazingly shocked how easy it is to be a seller on Amazon having 0 troubles with barcodes and further actions which are meant to assist your sales.