FAQs – Frequently Asked Questions

Members of the International Barcodes Network have sold barcodes to over 100,000 clients in over 120 countries. They have international expertise and many years of experience in the barcode industry. Our members obtain their barcodes through this Network, which ensures that the barcodes sold are of the highest quality. All barcodes are checked for illegal use on the internet before a sale, which reduces the chance of customers having issues due to barcode piracy. Members of the International Barcodes Network have access to resources to help ensure that more retailers in each country accept their barcodes. This means that barcodes purchased from our members are accepted by more retailers internationally than any other barcode reseller. If you cannot find an answer to your question, don’t hesitate to contact us.

The requirements for barcodes vary between countries. The advantage of an international network of barcode suppliers is that each member will have specific barcoding information relating to their country and access to a wealth of knowledge (from the other members) about international barcoding requirements.
International Barcodes was formed to increase the availability of reseller barcodes and barcode information worldwide. This is done by providing local offices where local licensees know their individual markets and supply reseller barcode numbers for a reasonable price in the client’s native language.
The Network members all offer a range of high-quality retail barcode numbers (EAN-13 &/or UPC), barcode images (in a variety of 1D & 2D formats), barcode labels (or advice on where to buy barcode labels), barcode registration and barcode verification testing.
See the list of members of the International Barcodes Network here. 
Barcode quality is essential. If you are spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on printing your product packaging, then it is false economy to try to save a few dollars on a barcode number. We met someone recently who said, “I wish I had found you earlier. I just produced 40,000 bottles of wine and found that the barcode doesn’t work. My wife now has to take all the bottles out of their boxes to put a new barcode label on them”.
Simply put, our members guarantee that the barcode numbers are unique and high quality and will work well. For the detailed version, see this typical guarantee. 
We have sold barcodes to customers in 120+ countries (that we know of). Our members supply barcodes directly to almost 100 countries (& growing). See here for a list of our member countries. If you don’t see your country on this list, you can always purchase from internationalbarcodes.com
A barcode is an image that represents a set of numbers or other characters that a barcode scanner or cell phone app can easily read. Barcodes come in many different styles. They are most commonly seen on retail products for pulling up prices and product information at the checkout. The barcode is simply a 12- or 13-digit number encoded as an image (UPC or EAN13 format).
There is no necessary barcode registration. A retail barcode will work fine without it because stores link barcodes to product information in their internal databases. However, the International Barcodes Network has created the Barcodes Database. People who purchase barcodes through members of the International Barcodes Network can register their barcodes on this database free of charge. This means a Google search for their barcode number will return their product information, and their barcode/ product information will appear if the barcode is scanned with a cellphone app scanner such as the Zebra Barcode Scanning App.
The barcoding system was created in the 1970s as a fast way to enter a number into a computer via a scanner. It has become a universal system for keeping track of items and prices in inventory systems worldwide. Barcodes are now used by almost all retailers worldwide. The system works with the premise that each barcode is only allocated to one product; therefore, in any store, there is no chance of a barcode being on two different products. This system incorporates both UPC-A numbers and the superset EAN-13 Numbers.
While our members can supply a wide variety of retail (UPC-A & EAN-13) and non-retail barcodes (including QR Codes, Code 128/39, and ITF-14 Barcodes), they mainly supply EAN-13 retail barcodes. These barcodes are commonly used on retail products outside the USA (except for books and magazines). Our numbers come from the same original system as GS1; however, they are now outside GS1’s control. Therefore, our members can sell these for a one-off cost.
Our barcodes are accepted in nearly all stores worldwide. However, there are a few exceptions. The only stores to our knowledge that do not accept our barcode numbers are the ‘Super Cheap Retail Group’ and ‘Woolworths Australia Central’ Branches in Australia, ‘Walmart, Sam’s Club, Krogers, Fred Mayers, Macy’s & JC Penney’s’ in the USA and ‘Super Retail Group and Foodstuffs Auckland and Wellington Branches [Only on food products]’. Apart from those stores, we have sold over 1 million barcode numbers and never encountered difficulty with other stores. We can also arrange independently accredited verification reports, which means that our barcodes are accepted by more stores than any other retailer. For more information on which stores do not accept our barcode and which require verification reports, please see Barcode Acceptance.
No, we do not guarantee this – No barcode company can guarantee this. Retailers can choose their requirements for barcodes whether or not they make sense. These requirements are also subject to change. However, we have sold thousands of barcodes worldwide and are confident that apart from the stores mentioned above, stores will accept our barcode numbers. If you are unsure, please get in touch with us to query particular stores.
Yes, they will. We can supply both EAN-13 Barcodes (used worldwide) and UPC-A Barcodes (used in the USA). See this map of countries in which our Network has a presence: map of countries we have members in
We guarantee that our members supply barcode numbers that have never been previously used on retail products. Our numbers are unique and have originated from the Uniform Code Council (now GS1 US). We provide guarantee certificates, which you can use to prove you own the barcode number. We also have a written guarantee from the company these barcodes have come from that these numbers are for our resale only – the company we get them from is recommended by George Laurer (the inventor of the UPC Barcode).
Furthermore, we check our numbers for illegal use on the internet before the sale so that you can be sure at the time of sale that no one is using them illegally. (avoid barcode piracy)

If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact us.