Guide to Retail Barcodes

Everything you need to know about buying and using retail barcodes

To help you get started, we’ve created a downloadable Guide to Retail Barcodes that explains:

  1. The types of retail barcodes (EAN, UPC, ITF14, ISBN, ISSN, Code-39, Code-128, GLN, QR Code)
  2. How to buy barcodes?
  3. Adding the barcodes to your products
  4. Registering your barcodes and products with retailers and online databases

Download the Guide to Retail Barcodes

Should I get a UPC or EAN barcode?

 

    • Within the USA, barcodes are usually in 12-digit UPC format – however, outside of the USA, the 13-digit EAN format is preferred.

 

    • If you plan to sell your product in the USA only, we recommend using a barcode in UPC-12 format

 

    • If you plan to sell your product in any other country in the world, it is best to get a barcode in EAN-13 format.

 

    • If you are selling your product in several different countries, including the USA, it is your choice whether to get a barcode in EAN-13 format or UPC-12 format.

 

    • Most barcode scanners can read both EAN and UPC barcodes, so if you want to use the same barcode on your product regardless of which country it is in, that is fine. It is perfectly acceptable to use an EAN (European standard) barcode within the USA or a UPC barcode outside of the USA.

 

In Trinidad both UPC and EAN-13 is accepted and used, please double check with your retailers for their preference.

 

For additional information please also check out the Glossary of Barcode Terms, here you can find definitions for the terms used in the barcodes industry.