A barcode is a two dimensional image made up of a vertical bars and spaces, used to identify retail products within a store.

When you agree to sell your products to a retailer or shop, they will provide you with a product information form to fill out. This is either a digital or paper based form used to gather details about your product for inventory purposes within the store. On this form, you will include your barcode number which will then be linked to product information you have supplied. This digital link is communicated to the front of house shop tills, such that your product information can be quickly accessed when a sale is made. Your barcode is, in short, a handy link between your physical product and the digital product information stored on the retailers computer sales systems.

In the case of retail barcodes, the only information stored within the barcode image itself is the number shown underneath the code. This number is then linked to your product information through the retailers sales inventory database.

There are other barcodes which do store more complicated information, however these are not used within the retail environment. QR codes, for instance, stores a web address within the code image.

You will need to purchase a separate barcode for each variation of product that you have. If you sell pens in two different colours, you will need a separate barcode for each colour pen. If you sell shoes in different sizes, you will require a separate barcode for each size of shoe that you sell. Any variation in your product offering will require a separate barcode, in order to ensure the product sales monitoring can take place within a retail environment.

Once you have made a purchase, you will receive your barcode images along with a host of other documentation. To finish the process you will then need to carry out the following steps.

1. Assign a barcode to each of your products.
2. Affix the barcodes to the product packaging (using stickers or direct printing).
3. Communicate your product information and barcode numbers to your intended retailers. This is usually achived by filling our a product-information form, supplied by each of your retailers.
4. This information is then inserted into the retailers point of sales sales system.
5. When someone purchases your product, the barcode is scanned and the unit in question is removed from the stock inventory and credited to your account as a sale.

Yes, except for Walmart, Krogers, Jc Penny's and Macys in the United states; and a few isolated stores within South Africa. Please note that it is your responsibility to ask your retailers whether they will accept your barcodes first, before proceeding to the package printing phase of your product development.

Yes you can. EAN and UPC codes can be used for all products, with the following exceptions. We recommend that you use ISBN numbers for Books and ISSN barcodes for Magazines or journals. We supply all three types of barcodes.

The answers is all countries. Because we use the universal coding system, our barcodes can be used in any country on earth.

Yes, it will. Each barcode purchased from our site is guarateed to have never been used before, and to be registered on the Gs1 worldwide database. When you assign one of your barcodes to a product, you can have peace of mind that no other product on earth is able to legally use that barcode number.

Our renewals policy is very simple, you will never need to pay anything extra after your purchase. All barcodes supplied by ourselves are yours for life and you can continue to use them into perpituity with no additional fees required.

You will receive a compressed file, containing the folllowing:
1. UPC Barcode images (three per code)
2. EAN Barcode images (three per code)
3. Excel spreadsheet of the barcodes purchased (Both EAN and UPC)
4. Guarantee document, certifying the codes purchased for use in SA
5. Terms of use document
6. Instruction for applying for your free QR code

Each barcode that you purchase will be supplied in both EAN and UPC code styles. The image files are supplied in Jpg, EPS and Tif formats. While the jpg and tiff files are suitable for printing, we recommend that you use the EPS format files for all printing applications due to the high image resolutions they provide.

Yes, it will. Each barcode purchased from our site is guarateed to have never been used before, and to be registered on the Gs1 worldwide database. When you assign one of your barcodes to a product, you can have peace of mind that no other product on earth is able to legally use that barcode number.

You have two options availble to you when printing your barcodes:

1. Include the barcode image as part of your label/packaging print run, thereby printing the barcode directly onto the product itself or the packaging.

2. Print the barcodes onto adhesive stickers which can then be affixed to your product or packaging.

Things to remember when printing are to check the scannability of the codes prior to the final print run, ensure that the contrast between the bars and spaces is high, and to ensure that the print is carried out at a high resolution to ensure image clarity.

We supply you with barcodes at extremely high image resolutions, and provided that you have printed the codes correctly, we can guarantee that they will be scannable. Please consult your printers to ensure that the codes are correctly printed.

In the case of retail barcodes, the only information stored within the barcode image itself is the number shown underneath the code. This number is then linked to your product information through the retailers sales inventory database.

There are other barcodes which do store more complicated information, however these are not used within the retail environment. QR codes, for instance, stores a web address within the code image.

You may purchase directly from our website using our secure online payment portal. We use Paygate for all online purchases. Paygate is South Africa's most popular payment provider and they ensure that all tranactions are safe and secure.

If you would prefer to pay by bank transfer, please contact us, and we will gladly supply you with our bank details.

If you have any un-answered questions, please get hold of our sales team and we will do our best to resolve your quiery. Please find our full contact details on the contact us page.