Everything to know about buying an Amazon UPC

If you are a seller who recently began selling on Amazon, or are looking to sell on Amazon, there’s a super essential aspect you will have to know the ins and outs of. Don’t worry, you are looking at the right place.

This element is Amazon’s Unique Product Code, often called the UPC. The UPC is a bunch of seemingly random digits at first glance, but are so much more than that. These random mostly 12-digit numbers help Amazon list and categorize everything they sell, to make it easier for the customer to look for, find and buy a product.

However, the challenge with UPCs is where to look for them, and how. This is where most sellers require information and assistance.

To begin with, let’s know about UPC codes first. A not for profit organization called the GS1 or the Global Standard 1 is the deciding authority on what makes a UPC, what is their function and how they should work. Amazon checks in with GS1 whenever it has to verify if the UPC of a project is rightly listed.

GS1 is the only organization authorized to make UPCs, however you can buy UPCs from other organizations associated with GS1. Before jumping into buying UPCs let’s decode.

Every UPC is made of a sequence following a special pattern, this means every individual UPC can be associated with only one product and company. The first part of a UPC, is common to all products from a company, and is called the company prefix. This is given by the GS1 and helps identify the company making the product. The company prefix is usually followed by a space, with the next set of numbers being given by the manufacturer to identify the product and is called the reference number. The final number is the check digit which confirms that the barcode with the numbers is correctly confirmed.

Hold your horses, before searching how to buy an UPC there are some things that are crucial for you to know.

First, you will need to apply to GS1 for a company prefix for your organization. You would have to fill and submit an application to GS1 and at the end of the process you would get your company prefix, which will universally identify all of your products as being yours.

Second, figure out the number of products you want to be listing on Amazon, and calculate the number of UPCs you will need to purchase, this will help prevent issues of miscalculation arise in the future. Bulk purchases often help get a discount, so that’s an added benefit.

Third, registering on GS1 means you will need to choose a plan and pay a renewal fee every year. Depending on the number of products you’re planning on listing, this could be a heavy investment. You would need to think, decide and plan out your purchase.

Now that you have all essential information, the next logical step would be buying your UPC. We recommend you buy your UPC through GS1 where you will first need to submit an application to become a member, and then manage your UPCs through the official portal backed by GS1 where you can manage your barcodes after being assigned your company prefix and making the individual UPCs.

After buying the UPC, we recommend that you list it in your Amazon product listing as the Product ID. If you are a user who uses Fulfillment by Amazon, then you will need to attach the UPC to the product physically at a place where it can be scanned while processing quickly and easily.