54 Comments (page 1)

One of the best article ever seen on upc codes. Love the concept and idea you presented in your article.Very helpful article. Thanks!

I wish I could read it earlier! Last week I spent almost two days to get my head around how UPC works.

Awesome to hear Calvin! We thought there wasn't enough information out there for UPC codes!

I have used snapUPC before, all savings count at the end of the day.

Very helpful. I ordered mine. Thanks.

Awesome, glad to hear it! :)

I WANT TO ORDER UPC CODE FOR AMAZON IN INDIA..

Do I need a company to be able to buy a UPC code and create a listing on Amazon?

Hey Rafael, no you don't need a company to buy a UPC code. You also don't need a company to create an Amazon listing. Buy the UPC code and use it to create the Amazon listing! We cover how to create an Amazon listing here at Startupbros in this post: https://startupbros.com/how-to-sell-on-amazon-fba/

Is it allowe to buy a barcode from 3rd party if you sell on Amazon? Amazone says: Valid UPCs We verify the authenticity of product UPCs by checking the GS1 database. UPCs that do not match the information provided by GS1 will be considered invalid. We recommend obtaining your UPCs directly from GS1 (and not from other third parties selling UPC licenses) to ensure the appropriate information is reflected in the GS1 database. Important: All invalid product UPC listings will be removed and may result in your ASIN creation or selling privileges being temporarily or permanently removed. For more information on licensing UPCs from GS1, see the GSI standard website.

Thanks for the coupon code !

Of course! :) If you have any questions at all please let me know!

Hey Nika, Yes, it's absolutely allowed to buy 3rd party UPC codes to sell on Amazon. We're very careful about the UPC code companies that we recommend. SnapUPC works to make sure that all of their UPC codes are valid on Amazon and eBay.

What if I'm listing a new private label product? Such a product is already sold by another brand on amazon. Should I get a newc UPC or copy their ASIN?

Hey Satvik, truthfully, it's completely up to you. You can start by listing under their ASIN and then if you see some sales you can create your own listing and buy your own UPC code. When you use someone else's listing you can't improve on what they're doing. You can't take better pictures or do anything better than that seller because you don't have control of that listing. If you get your own UPC code and list the product with a new Amazon listing then you can create a better listing than the best seller and beat them :)

Great post! Do you know if a new UPC is required for bulk products. For example, if there is an existing code for a t-shirt, but I am selling a 10 pack of that shirt will it need a new code? Or, if I am selling that same shirt along with a hat, will it need a unique code if its all packaged together?

I just purchased 5 UPC code to use and when I try to use it I get the message that product code in invalid.

do we need to update the codes annually?

Nope, you buy them once and that's it :) But you cannot reuse them once they are assigned to a product!

Hey Florence, thanks for reaching out! That's weird that happened. We trust Snap UPC because they are the most reliable UPC code supplier. If you reach out to their support staff I know they will be more than happy to help fix the issue you had. One of the most common issues is that when you buy a code that you enter it as an EAN rather than UPC on Amazon. Make sure the drop-down on Amazon is selected as UPC.

Hey Matt thanks for reaching out. UPC codes are for different products or single packaged products. So if you have 10 shirts in a bag then only 1 UPC code is needed. But if you had 10 different types of shirts individually packaged then you need 10 different UPC codes. If the hat and the shirt are sold in the same box or package then only one UPC code is needed. But if there is a shirt sold and a hat sold but you "bundle" them together you need 2 UPC codes. When you have an Amazon listing you can bundle products from two listings together and that sounds more like your example.

Thank goodness I found your page nobody else broke it down as simplistic and straightforward well done

I'm going to buy off snap UPC because I trust you after reading your straightforward well broken down comments on this subject matter

Hey Richard, awesome. All we want to do is provide a ton of value and give you the best information possible! Glad you enjoyed the article :)

Is a UPC code required if selling FBM?

Hey Siobhan, a UPC is required to list a product on Amazon even if it's FBM. But you wouldn't need one if you create a listing using a similar listings ASIN. If you take the second route you won't be able to customize any part of your listing other than price.

I need UPC Urgent

Hey Ravi, have you tried SnapUPC?

What if my product comes in many different sents? Would I need a different UPC for each sent? Like the shirt sizes? What about if I have a 5oz, 10oz, and 20oz size would I need 3 UPC's?

Hey Josh, any variation at all would be a different UPC code. So if you have 6 different scented candles then you need 6 UPC codes. If you have a lavender scented candle that 5 oz, 10oz, and 20oz then you would need 3 UPC codes for the different sizes. Hope that makes sense. :)

from where i get a upc code for non brands products example ear ring and medicene

Hey Fahad, are you trying to list products on Amazon? All UPC codes work for any product. Remember you only need to UPC code to create the listing.

I am buying a product from China that has a barcode. Do I need to buy UPC or I can put their barcode

If you're going to sell it on Amazon then yes you should buy a single bar code and use that to list the product.

I read from an Amazon web page "We verify the authenticity of product UPCs by checking the GS1 database. UPCs that do not match the information provided by GS1 will be considered invalid. We recommend obtaining your UPCs directly from GS1 (and not from other third parties selling UPC licenses) to ensure the appropriate information is reflected in the GS1 database." Are you sure that Snapupc is 100% safe for me to use?

Thanks for checking out the article :)

Hey Richard, glad the article made sense! If you run into any issues let us know :)

Saving money is awesome! It's how you keep your startup costs low :)

Hey Aman, you should still be able to do it through SnapUPC because barcodes are a global standard.

We updated the post to include screenshots on exact steps to buy a UPC code and where to place them in Amazon.

Thanks for reaching out. We're fully aware of Amazon's terms of service and that's why we don't recommend buying UPC codes from anywhere. Every single UPC sold by SnapUPC is verified and if the code doesn't work they will give you 100% of your money back. We wouldn't recommend them if we didn't trust them. We have hundreds of Amazon sellers in our Facebook group that recommend snapUPC as well.

My products have GSI UPC barcodes and I've been selling them in US stores. When I try to list them on Amazon, I get an error message saying that the barcode is not valid. Any help would be appreciated.

Hey charles, we can help you out for sure. Where did you get your UPC codes from?

Interesting answer. After 2 weeks of practically 24/4 struggling on Amazon's site and not getting anywhere with its support, now finding simple answers like these. Refreshing! Makes one wonder why they cant do this so straightforward. QUESTION: Where can those "similar listings ASIN" numbers be found? Can the (brand) name of the product be changed too? We want to sell, say, bumper stickers. Buying hundreds of separate UPC codes for every bumper sticker that has its own different text and slogan (at 150- dollars fee for EACH !! plus monthly fees, plus -plus as what they apparently want you to do) is just ridiculous. Thank you!

Hey Rudolf, I completely understand where you're coming from. Finding help for issues on Amazon can be extremely frustrating. To answer your question you can find the ASIN of any product listing under the "Additional Information" section. You can also do ctrl + f and search "asin" and it comes right up. If you're selling the exact same product and you want to create a new product listing you can use that ASIN instead of using a UPC code. That original listing will be owned by that ASIN owner but you will appear under "other seller on Amazon" next to the buy box. The listing will belong to the ASIN owner but when the person looking to buy the product sees the "other selers" section and clicks through your brand name will show up with the price and product description. You're absolutely right, when you have a ton of different variations of a product it can get expensive buying UPC codes. If you have any more questions at all please let me know and I will answer ASAP!

Thanks so much for all of this wonderful information. DO you sell a book that has all of this useful information in one place. I am looking for a book that shows examples and specifics about things from how to use spreadsheets and organize my Amazon business, to photographing items and branding. I ordered one already, but it was just a basic book with info I can easily find online. I am looking for something more comprehensive with resources as well =-) Thanks so much!

Hey Leah, thank you so much for reading the article and for the kind words. We don't have a book about this but we have a free presentation and the most in-depth step by step video course that covers everything from first sample order to launching a successful brand. If you want to know more and want the links email me will@startupbros(dot)com I would love to talk more about everything we can help you with.

Bad recommendation i used snapupc and they never send me the barcode instead they send me a link to a number!!!

Hey Ed, the barcode image is linked in your account. But to sell on Amazon you don't need the image of the barcode you only need the number.

After we took over the product from other seller,(now we are the only buy box seller for the product in Amazon) it was not possible to change the listing page. So we opened the case with amazon support team, and they asked us the provide the UPC code on the product. In this case, the UPC code from SnapUPC is working? As I read the comment the past one, someone said SnapUPC doesn't provide the image of the UPC code, only provide the UPC code, but I thin we need the image of the UPC code.

Hello, I recently purchased 60 UPC codes from SnapUPC. Unfortunately, amazon is saying that they are not compliant with GS1. I have reached out to SnapUPC via their contact form and have yet to hear from them. Am I doing something wrong? Here is amazon error message: The value specified is invalid. Product ID Type UPC  To list your products you require a unique identifier for your product such as UPC, EAN, or GCID. You can request exemptions to list products that do not have standard product IDs for certain categories. Learn more

Hi. I purchased a UPC code for a new product listing for Amazon off of Snap UPC. When I went to make the listing and entered the UPC code I wasn't allowed to choose my brand name and got the error message: "The value 'Brand Name I Entered' specified cannot be used as it conflicts with the value 'Gecott' for ASIN 'B00YLVVMOM' in the Amazon catalog. If this is ASIN 'B00YLVVMOM', update the value to match the ASIN data. If this is a different product, update identifying information (UPC/EAN/Part Number/etc.)" Does this mean that the UPC code I purchases has already been used and I need to get another one? Thank you!

after I get the barcodes from the website now I go to the listing and type the code in the id field, and would I not get flagged for the "brand name".. ???????

Thank you; very helpful info for an FBA seller just getting started!