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As a small business owner, it’s well-known that you need to save time and money to succeed; this concept is especially true for Amazon sellers. If you offer a product on Amazon, you don’t want to waste hundreds of dollars on the wrong barcode or UPC. If you improperly list your product with the wrong Amazon barcode, you could set yourself up for suspension, which means not being able to list your product at all, and missing out on a massive pool of buyers. The wrong UPC could also prevent you from getting your brand registered on Amazon down the line.
In this blog, I will discuss how you can save hundreds of dollars while selecting the correct barcode for your business. Never overpay for a product you may not sell long-term! This guide will show you the cheapest and safest way to get your Amazon barcode. Let’s dive in.
What Is The Amazon Barcode & Why Should You Care?
A barcode, also known as a UPC, is a label placed on products to identify them, prevent fraud, and track inventory uniquely. Anytime you visit a store like Target and put a product in your cart, that product will have a UPC on its packaging. As you make your way to check out, the UPC is scanned, which lets the cashier see the price and properly charge you. Once you pay for the product, it is taken out of their inventory, helping the store know when to re-order the item. UPC’s also prevent fake products from making their way into stores and online. Amazon requires UPCs for the same purposes. You will need a UPC if you want to list your product on Amazon; there is no way around it.
If you use the wrong barcode, a few things happen. Firstly, an improper UPC will likely give you five to ten different error codes and be unable to list your product. If Amazon misses the first round of error codes, there will be other issues. When you list your brand name, which is crucial if you want to do a private label business, you will be unable to. I cannot overstate this: You will not be able to list that brand name on Amazon if you do not use the proper UPC for your product. This is important because if you ever want to register your brand on Amazon, this will prevent you from doing so. You will then have to list your product generically and open yourself to hijackers.
Bad Barcodes & What To Buy Instead
Several popular websites sell barcodes for cheap, like barcodesmania.com and nationwidebarcodes.com. Buyers are attracted to the insane prices like ten thousand barcodes for fourteen cents each. However, most of these sites use third-party, or recycled barcodes, from old products that are not in existence anymore. Amazon checks for recycled barcodes, and they will no longer work for listing products because the brand name does not match the UPC.
Now that we know what bad barcodes are let’s discuss where to buy the proper Amazon barcodes. GS1 US is an excellent choice for purchasing your codes for a few reasons: they sell authentic barcodes, and they are the only barcodes Amazon will accept. However, they are a non-profit; however, their costs and renewal fees are high, which may dissuade sellers from using them. If you run a side hustle, $250 for ten barcodes is a tough pill to swallow. However, if you fail to use a GS1, Amazon may choose to suspend you and prevent you from ever listing products again. Bad news! The good news here is that GS1 recently updated their system, and they now allow users to purchase a single UPC for just $30 and zero registration fees. This takes away the barrier to entry for a lot of sellers and keeps their listings up. These UPCs also work for every country, every Amazon site, even if you purchase from the US GS1 website. If you ever experience an issue with Amazon accepting your GS1 code, simply reach out to info@gs1us.org. You will need to provide quite a bit of information to them to assist you, like your company name, customer name, email, phone, GS1 prefixes, Amazon support case #s and more. To make it easy, check out my Amazon escalation template here. This template outlines all of the items you need to provide to get your issue solved quickly.
In A Nutshell
The key takeaways here are that you will need a barcode, plain and simple, if you plan to list a product on Amazon. Barcodes identify your product, track inventory, and protect it from imitations. Without a proper UPC, your selling privileges could be revoked, and you will be unable to register your brand in the future. Though many sites sell codes at insanely low prices, they are third-party recycled codes that will only put your Amazon account in jeopardy, so avoid them at all costs. Instead of falling prey to bad barcodes, you will need to purchase your codes from GS1, which is the only place that sells barcodes Amazon accepts. Historically, these codes have been expensive and only available in a pack of ten to one hundred thousand; however, they now offer a single UPC for sellers that don’t have a lot of products and don’t want the financial investment and fees.
Getting an Amazon UPC is just the first step of listing a product, and there are many other steps like registering a brand name and getting brand approval which can feel overwhelming to new sellers. If you want a step-by-step guide to creating your first Amazon listing with NO errors, view my 2021 guide here. Amazon is constantly changing its procedures for selling products, so you must stay updated on the latest changes. My YouTube channel is here to keep you in the loop with the latest updates, so don’t forget to subscribe.
