Where are barcodes accepted?
What restrictions do retailers place on barcodes??
These are common and important questions about the use of barcodes.
Broadly speaking, there are three main groups of retailers, as outlined below -
- One small group of retailers effectively require you to be a member of GS1 (& hence pay GS1′s joining fees and annual fees).
- Another larger group of retailers require barcode verification reports – we can supply these for you if needed – we are the only barcode reseller (that we know of) who can provide these for you.
- The majority of retailers worldwide will accept any legal and legitimate barcode.
NOTE – we often get customers saying “I want to sell my product to XYZ eg Woolworths Australia” – yet when they realise that barcodes for this will cost them hundreds of dollars more each year, they often decide to purchase our barcodes, and accept that if they ever receive an order from XYZ, it will be wonderful, and hopefully large, and they will happily get a barcode from GS1 then.
| Barcode Restrictions Retail Category (see details below) |
Specific Retailers (see details below) | Barcodes NZ (that’s us) |
Other Barcode Resellers |
GS1 |
| Require GS1 membership |
NZ
|
 |
|
 |
| Require verification reports |
NZFoodstuffs NZ 6 Australia Coles 10 USA Some major retailers – reference Europe Some major retailers in Europe- reference Rest of World Some major retailers in Japan & Korea- reference |
|
|
|
| No specific barcode restrictions | Most retailers in the world | |
|
|
If you have any questions about this, please contact us.
NOTE – we endeavour to make this as accurate as possible – however there are tens of thousands of retailers in NZ and Australia, and millions worldwide, who can each impose any restriction they wish. Please let us know if you are aware of any other restrictions.
NOTE – this is the most comprehensive list of restrictions we know of on the internet (please tell us if you find a more accurate one). Other resellers give no warnings, or are vague – so don’t trust them. We put a lot of time and effort into making this as accurate as possible – we doubt that you will find a more accurate list of restrictions on the internet (let us know if you do).
Notes:
- Super Cheap Retail Group (Amart Sports, BCF Boating Camping Fishing, Goldcross Cycles, FCO Fishing Camping Outdoors, Ray’s Outdoors, Rebel, Supercheap Auto and Super Retail Commercial) – requires their suppliers to prove that they are a current member of GS1 – hence they will effectively only accept barcode numbers that have come directly from GS1. ↩
- Foodstuffs NZ – Auckland & Wellington branches – If you are supplying these branches (Auckland & Wellington) with a food product, they might require you to be a member of GS1-NZ Product Recall. To be a member of this, GS1-NZ require you to be a fully paid up member of GS1, plus pay an extra annual fee for Product Recall. This effectively means that if these branches insist on you being a member of Product Recall, you wwill be limited to only using GS1-NZ barcodes as well. ↩
- Super Cheap Retail Group (Amart Sports, BCF Boating Camping Fishing, Goldcross Cycles, FCO Fishing Camping Outdoors, Ray’s Outdoors, Rebel, Supercheap Auto and Super Retail Commercial) – requires their suppliers to prove that they are a current member of GS1 – hence they will effectively only accept barcode numbers that have come directly from GS1. ↩
- Woolworths Australia central branches – require all products to have a verification report done by GS1-Australia – and GS1-Australia require you to prove that you are a current member of GS1 – hence Woolworths Australia effectively only accepts products with GS1-membership barcodes on them. ↩
- Wal-Mart/Sam’s Club, Kroger/Fred Meyers, Macy’s/Bloomingdales, & J.C. Penney’s in the USA apparently require you to be a current member of GS1 – you should check with these stores directly if you intend to sell to them ↩
- Foodstuffs NZ require barcode verification reports for all products entering their stores ↩
- Progressive Enterprises – require adherence to barcode specifications, and possibly require barcode verification ↩
- At times we are asked for verification reports for products going in to Bunnings NZ ↩
- Placemakers NZ – require barcode verification – see section 8.3.e ↩
- Coles suppliers are required to “submit the Bar Code Verification Report” – see here ↩
- Metcash – require verification report (for each level of packaging, i.e. retail unit, Inner and Outer) – see page 7 here ↩
- Myers – require barcode verification ↩
- IGA – some stores require barcode verification ↩
- Bunnings Australia – require all new lines to have a ‘Barcode Testing Report’ ie a verification report ↩
