Bar coding

[mbc]

How do you go about bar coding honey ?

 

[Hombre]

Google EAN, European Article Number.
It's been a while since I was involved with EDI, but the first part of the EAN13 code identifies the owner of the code and the remainder, except the checksum, is used by the owner of the code to identify their products.

Using the official provider is very expensive and appropriate only for large organisations, but there are other brokers that have allocations that they can farm out to you. You are actually buying one single code.

http://officialeancode.biz/?gclid=COeq6N7c1qcCFcod4QodISiC-Q
Relatively (extremely) cheap and probably solves a number of problems with getting into some larger outlets.

Hope this helps.

£2.99 each if you buy 100. Probably best to buy 1 or 10, to cover the products that you are likely to want a code for. It's a one off payment.

You decide what to allocate to which product. The outlet merely records the EAN code and their description of your product in their stock datbase. Be consistent and don't switch them between products as you'll cause confusion.

 

[mbc]

Thanks a million Hombre, thats alot cheaper than my research suggested - I'd given up hope on the project before having a look at the link you posted. Now all I have to do is to get the retailer to stump up an extra £149.99 to pay for the bar codes they want !

 

[Hombre]

The beauty is that you get to use the same barcodes with every other retailer that you might use in the future.

I would be inclined not to say that the extra expense is not necessarily for exclusive use with that retailer, or that it covers ten barcodes. After all, the codes are registered to you. You then effectively assign the individual codes to your various products/sizes. If you only need four at the moment, then you can allocate the remainder as an when you need them for new products, until you run out and need to buy another batch.

A registered barcode (yours) does make accepting your product onto a retailer's computerised stock list a lot easier for all concerned.

Initially you could use the barcode as a second label, so as not to waste existing label stocks and later incorporate the appropriate barcode as part of your main label design.

If there are any questions that you haven't figured out the answer to, then I'm happy to tell you what I know. Pop on a space suit, you could be working in a vacuum . . .

Looking forward, most of us should really embrace barcodes to make life easier if we intend to expand, but then you might be thinking about bulk sales to a packing house instead of bottles.

 

[PaleoPerson]

Google EAN, European Article Number.
It's been a while since I was involved with EDI, but the first part of the EAN13 code identifies the owner of the code and the remainder, except the checksum, is used by the owner of the code to identify their products.

Using the official provider is very expensive and appropriate only for large organisations, but there are other brokers that have allocations that they can farm out to you. You are actually buying one single code.

http://officialeancode.biz/?gclid=COeq6N7c1qcCFcod4QodISiC-Q
Relatively (extremely) cheap and probably solves a number of problems with getting into some larger outlets.



.

Looked at the website and it certainly appears to offer a cheap rout into GS1. However, the numbers were issued to a US company, therefore I would assume they will have the US country code against them. They also do not make it clear if they register your name with GS1 or whether it will show as registered to the Holding company (in the US).

May be worth asking some questions.

So saying, it will enable you to get barcodes onto your product.

 

[Hombre]

I take your point PP. I imagine that it's a fairly standard arrangement and the holding company is perhaps effectively a reseller who will have your details , maintaining the chain of traceability.

Ultimately it ensures a unique EAN for your product, allowing it to be listed on a vendor's computer system.

There are in fact a number of such brokers. This one http://www.thebarcodesshop.co.uk/TBS_Price_List.jpg

Is considerably cheaper.

 

[hedgerow pete]

top notch thread hombre, its always amazing to me what the different cross sectionof users have as a combined skills list, i never knew any of this before

 

[PaleoPerson]

Good spot Hombre.

If anyone is thinking of using barcodes, then they must ensure that there is enough contrast between the bars and background for the scanner to pick them up i.e. do not have them overlaying a graphic. a plain white background is best. Also, do not be tempted to make them too small that the scanner cannot oick them up.

If in doubt, look in your cupboards at some of the products that are using them. They are that size for a reason.


Could be useful for anyone wanting to sell to a sales outlet that uses barcode scanners.

 

[Hombre]

Could be useful for anyone wanting to sell to a sales outlet that uses barcode scanners.

That is probably quite a number of places and is likely to increase as time goes on.