Barcode Legalities

A little bit of the history of barcode reseller and their legitimacy

To start off, it is worth clarifying that EAN or UPC barcodes, in and of themselves, are just codes representing a sequence of numbers (12-UPC, 13-EAN). There is no way to legally own a number and, as such, no one can claim to legally own a barcode number in the traditional sense of ownership. As a result of this, some retailers have opted rather to rely on single or multiple sources of barcodes from established suppliers or databases/organizations who’s primary job is to distribute and keep track of the distribution of numbers in order to prevent multiple products from using the same barcode at the same time. The largest such organization of this kind is called, Gs1, a non-profit company that operates in a large number of countries throughout the world. In the context of South Africa, there are a number of companies that offer a similar service to GS1, but at a lower cost, and we are one of those companies. At present, we are able to supply barcodes that are accepted at a wide variety of retailers around the world, but at a reduced price to those of many of our competitors. We do not offer GS1 membership, nor do we claim to be Gs1 in any way of form, however we are able to supply high-quality cost-effective retail barcodes to get you and your company on the road to success. Some retailers, Amazon included, may require direct membership of GS1 – in these cases you will have to join Gs1 directly if you want to stock your products in those retailers, but for the rest, we can assist 🙂

If you have any further questions concerning the legalities that surround barcodes or purchasing them, do not hesitate to get in contact with us and our friendly staff will be happy to assist you or answer your questions.

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