Many people ask if they should buy barcodes from GS1 or if it’s okay to buy from from third-party sellers like Leadingedge, Instant bar code  Speedy Bar Code, or SnapUPC.

Here is some background to help you understand the difference.

GS1 is a voluntary membership organization originally created by a group of Retailers including Kroger and Walmart. The original group of Retailers (called UCC, not GS1 until 2005) has grown but the largest holdout, until recently, was Amazon. More about that later.

Each of the member Retailers agreed to enforce, and use, unique identifiers, including the 12-digit GTIN – often called a UPC Barcode. Every manufacturer/vendor had to use a UPC barcode.

Originally, manufacturer/vendor members in UCC could sell their barcodes to other suppliers. Then around 2002 they changed the rules, saying a UPC could only be assigned to companies that purchased a vendor level membership.

The companies that had already purchased barcodes with intent to sell them sued UCC as it was called back then.They won, and retained the right to sell official or ‘authentic’ GS1 barcodes.   However, this is important, they only won the right to claim they sell  ‘official’ barcodes.  The retailers were not enforced to recognize barcodes from anyone other than GS1.

This is a critical point. So the retailers found a loophole. The barcodes must be authentic AND the prefix must match the company registered with GS1. The prefixes on the barcodes you bought do not align to your company. Meanwhile Amazon created it\’s own unique barcode, the FNSKU, but always respected the UPC barcode.

Around 3-4 years ago Amazon joined GS1 as a member retailer. When they joined they agreeed to enforce the requirement for GS1 purchased barcodes.  Nobody knows what the timeline is on that enforcement, or, the levels of enforcement that were agreed upon.   What we know is that today Amazon states that they require barcodes from GS1, and it appears that Amazon randomly checks new Sellers barcodes to see if they are registered with GS1 as the company on file. Specifically they look for the company prefix to MATCH the company name filed with GS1.

The same enforcement loophole that Krogers and other member companies use. However another theory recently was proposed. Amazon\’s database has assigned the prefix to a different Seller who bought their barcodes from the same place you did. And your company is not the same as theirs.

It sounds like one of these is happening to you. Amazon does not state this requirement directly in the TOS, but a matching prefix to company name is the definition of a ‘valid’ UPC code as per every Retailer member of GS1. And of course having the same prefix that’s registered to another Seller wont work either.

We know Amazon’s checks are happening with more frequency. We also know that GS1 membership is expensive. And we know from Facebook groups, people like you are randomly being caught.

The 3rd party sellers are offering less expensive barcodes and are rightfully stating that they are  “authentic GS1 barcodes” because they won the lawsuit in 2002. But they are twisting words to convince you that their barcodes will be accepted. A lot of people have found out that the barcodes are increasingly not being accepted by Amazon.

Their victory in the lawsuit they won stating the barcodes are ‘official’ is irrelevant now. Any barcode you buy from a 3rd party seller will have their own company name registered not your company name. Therefore if they are one of the barcodes that Amazon randomly picks for enforcement it will fail because it won\’t match you. And that, in a nutshell,  is the issue.

Thank you for reading this long explanation. Finally, don’t forget you can also choose to file for a GTIN exemption.