How many upc codes are there

It is the product of several calculations — adding and multiplying several digits in the code — to confirm to the checkout scanner that the UPC is valid. UPCs have a number of advantages to businesses and consumers. Because they make it possible for barcode scanners to immediately identify a product and its associated price, UPCs improve speed.

They improve efficiency and productivity, by eliminating the need to manually enter product information. They also make it possible to track inventory much more accurately than hand counting, to know when more product is needed on retail shelves or in warehouses. Or when there is an issue with a particular product and consumers who purchased it need to be alerted or a recall issued, UPCs allow products to be tracked through production to distribution to retail stores and even into consumer homes.

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In the U. The company prefix is specific to your business—and your business alone. The product number differentiates each of your individual products. The final digit is generated by GS1 based on the other numbers in the series.

This is a series of unique lines and bars that correspond to the digits so the computer can quickly and easily scan the information. A number of UPC resellers exist, including eBay. You also want to be careful of parties that sell replicated UPC codes. Moreover, purchasing directly from GS1 can make your coding system easier. They give you a company prefix that you can use for all of your products, and then they provide product codes that can keep your items properly aligned in accordance with your system.

A company prefix becomes your business' identifier along the supply chain. This helps you set up a brand-specific portfolio of UPC codes and products. The first six or nine digits of the UPC barcode will be your fixed company prefix. This prefix remains the same for all of your UPCs that you purchase for your products.

Although the cost is high, buying from GS1 offsets the financial and legal risk that could happen if you purchase a fake UPC through a reseller. Each of your products should have its own unique number. So, if you have one shirt that comes in three different colors, each color variation needs its own UPC.

When you purchase from GS1, they will give you a set of product numbers based on the number of products you requested in your application. If selling on Amazon, your UPC always has to equal 12 digits. You can then calculate how many digits your company prefix should have by subtracting the number of IRN digits from The twelfth number of your UPC will be the check digit, which is mathematically calculated from the other numbers. Your company prefix will then be 7 numbers long 11 - 4.

Then, your UPC will look like this:. GS1 is the only legitimate producer of UPC codes. GS1 US is an organization that serves American businesses.

You will need to apply for membership so that you can be assigned your company prefix, which is a unique set of digits that identifies your company as the manufacturer for your product supply chain. Your membership fee, as well as the number of digits in your company prefix, will depend on the number of UPCs you need. See our table below for the GS1 US pricing guide. You can fill in GS1 US's online application to apply for membership and your company prefix.

You will need to fill in your company's contact details and your prefix pricing plan before paying online. You will need to create a unique product number for each of your products. This will be based on how many digits are in your IRN. Using the example above, if you have 9, products, you will start assigning product numbers from all the way through to These unique product numbers will then be added to your company prefix to form 11 out of the 12 numbers in the UPC.

You can assign the IRNs to each product yourself and use GS1's check digit calculator , available for free as part of your membership, to calculate the twelfth digit of the UPC. However, if you have a large range of products, keeping track of all the IRNs can be a challenge.

As part of your GS1 membership, you will have access to their online Data Hub , which will help you to create, track, and double-check your IRNs. Standard barcodes are vertical black stripes on a white background, but you can also choose blue stripes on a yellow or red background.

Choose the color variety that you like and that best suits your products. The standardized size for a UPC barcode is 1. However, the barcode size can range from 1.

Ensure that the UPC code is at a readable size. There should also be unprinted space to the left and right of the barcode for easy scanning.