Amazon barcodes

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

There are also issues with taking barcodes from other products, I sell a few old videos on Amazon and one was listed twice both with pictures of Milka chocolate bars, I reported the images as being for the wrong product but Amazon said one image was correct. I'm guessing the image matches the barcode. Some videos have ended up in the books category possibly where sellers have taken an ISBN from an old book.

If you take barcodes from products that someone else wants to sell later they can either update the catalogue pages by submitting an image of their product with the barcode via the Update Catalogue Information links, resulting in you now selling something that doesn't match the product page, or they can ask Amazon to review the products and you may get a slap for misusing the barcode.

I think Amazon's site has gone down hill a bit since allowing sellers to add their own products as some sellers seem to think it's their page and a picture of their tatty item taken on a bed or widow ledge is good enough. Personally I think Amazon should review every catalogue page submitted before it goes live.

If you need 500 barcodes really you should buy them.

johnnyboyrebel

ludovico wrote: »

If not all you need to do is use any 13 digit number that isn't already recognised on Amazon, it could be anything. Amazon wont check and wont really care. The only way they will care is if the barcode matches up to another product already on there. For example 0123456787698 could be used.

You can't just use any number as the barcode has a digit check on the end, Amazon won't know if you enter a barcode from another product or a valid made up barcode but the system will recognise an invalid barcode number.

Course you can, there is nothing Amazon can check. They do not have a database of every possible item in the world. They couldn't. All they can do is search their own database. In the case of a CD for example, they could search an additional database like redMuze or similar but most items (in the millions of other product categories) will not have a database like this and even if they did Amazon would not search it as they will be hooked up to things like Redmuze only.

What on earth do you think they search for at the end after you have entered the barcode, some vast database of every product ever made???

To be honest, if these are items the OP has not made themselves then they will have barcodes already anyway, every product does.

OP, do you want to give me an example of one of your products so I can look for you?

johnnyboyrebel

RFW wrote: »

I started using any and was ok until the second item when I kept getting errors, so doing that another 498 times would have taken me an age and lost my sanity (there's only a bit left anyway!).

Surely you are doing it in bulk? Don't add manually, it would take forever!

johnnyboyrebel

ludovico wrote: »

There are also issues with taking barcodes from other products, I sell a few old videos on Amazon and one was listed twice both with pictures of Milka chocolate bars, I reported the images as being for the wrong product but Amazon said one image was correct. I'm guessing the image matches the barcode. Some videos have ended up in the books category possibly where sellers have taken an ISBN from an old book.

If you take barcodes from products that someone else wants to sell later they can either update the catalogue pages by submitting an image of their product with the barcode via the Update Catalogue Information links, resulting in you now selling something that doesn't match the product page, or they can ask Amazon to review the products and you may get a slap for misusing the barcode.

I think Amazon's site has gone down hill a bit since allowing sellers to add their own products as some sellers seem to think it's their page and a picture of their tatty item taken on a bed or widow ledge is good enough. Personally I think Amazon should review every catalogue page submitted before it goes live.

If you need 500 barcodes really you should buy them.

As they said, the issue with using a barcode from something around your house is that if Amazon list it, it will prompt you that the item is already in the Amazon catalogue so you can't use it for something else.

There are hundreds of errors on Amazon including one barcode matching up to 2 random things such as 1 CD and 1 toothbrush for example, all you need to do is contact Amazon and they will remove the incorrect one. Images are quite irrelevant unless the main image is wrong.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

As they said, the issue with using a barcode from something around your house is that if Amazon list it, it will prompt you that the item is already in the Amazon catalogue so you can't use it for something else.

I meant the other way around, if you nab a barcode from a bottle of Coke and use it for your item and then Amazon then want to sell bottles of Coke either you'll get a slap for misusing the barcode, or the page will be changed and you'll now be selling Coke instead of whatever it was you had for sale.

If you are going to take barcodes from food I'd stick with supermarket brands as Amazon now has a grocery section.

Images are quite irrelevant unless the main image is wrong.

It was the main image that was wrong (or correct for the barcode), if the person who added the image had changed the title as well then the video would never sell and if it did the buyer wouldn't be pleased with a dusty old video when they were expecting some tasty chocolate!

lovinituk

RFW - apparently there are certain categories that allow you to have multiple variations on a single listing. The only to do it is by creating it via an upload file and apparently it is quite tricky to get right. I'm sorry I don't have any further information on it but might be worth you looking into.

I echo ludovico and would recommend not using barcodes from other products. Although tempting to save some money, it could lead to problems in the future if discovered.

johnnyboyrebel wrote: »

Course you can, there is nothing Amazon can check. They do not have a database of every possible item in the world. They couldn't. All they can do is search their own database. In the case of a CD for example, they could search an additional database like redMuze or similar but most items (in the millions of other product categories) will not have a database like this and even if they did Amazon would not search it as they will be hooked up to things like Redmuze only.

What on earth do you think they search for at the end after you have entered the barcode, some vast database of every product ever made???

Barcode numbers follow a certain structure including a check number as ludovico said. Amazon don't need to check up against a super database - they just need to run a simple calculation on the number to see if it is of the correct structure or just a random mash of numbers. Using a barcode from another product may work but is risky but making up your own random number will not work unless you accidentally guess the correct structure.

johnnyboyrebel wrote: »

To be honest, if these are items the OP has not made themselves then they will have barcodes already anyway, every product does.

No, not all products do. As an example, we had our own product manufactured in China but did not include barcodes. We wholesale these so a customer of mine could buy some and want to list on them Amazon but would have to provide their own barcode.

johnnyboyrebel

lovinituk wrote: »

Barcode numbers follow a certain structure including a check number as ludovico said. Amazon don't need to check up against a super database - they just need to run a simple calculation on the number to see if it is of the correct structure or just a random mash of numbers. Using a barcode from another product may work but is risky but making up your own random number will not work unless you accidentally guess the correct structure.

Yes they do, when I said any number I didn't mean literally any number like 4, 796 etc.

The structure is simply that a UPC has 12 digits and an EAN has 13. Something like 0000000000001 probably wouldn't work as it is clearly made up but 0095748576830 would. Musically, Sony products always have the catalog number in the barcode with 2 zeros at the front and one at the end (at least), each label have their own format but all EAN's are always 13 digits long.

I recently did some work for an indie record label and got them selling on Amazon, they didn't have barcodes (which was quite shocking) but I got their products listed with no problems

johnnyboyrebel

lovinituk wrote: »

RFW - apparently there are certain categories that allow you to have multiple variations on a single listing. The only to do it is by creating it via an upload file and apparently it is quite tricky to get right. I'm sorry I don't have any further information on it but might be worth you looking into.

To list variations (eg. list a wheely bin then list in 4 different colours so customer can pick colour) see this page

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

johnnyboyrebel wrote: »

Yes they do, when I said any number I didn't mean literally any number like 4, 796 etc.

The structure is simply that a UPC has 12 digits and an EAN has 13. Something like 0000000000001 probably wouldn't work as it is clearly made up but 0095748576830 would. Musically, Sony products always have the catalog number in the barcode with 2 zeros at the front and one at the end (at least), each label have their own format but all EAN's are always 13 digits long.

I recently did some work for an indie record label and got them selling on Amazon, they didn't have barcodes (which was quite shocking) but I got their products listed with no problems

Amazon won't accept 0095748576830 (I tried it) as it's not a valid barcode.

This explains how a UCP codes work:

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/high-tech-gadgets/upc.htm

EAN is similar, the check digit at the end must be correct otherwise Amazon won't accept it. Just typing 12 or 13 random numbers in means you would have to have probability on your side to get it right even once.

johnnyboyrebel

ludovico wrote: »

Amazon won't accept 0095748576830 (I tried it) as it's not a valid barcode.

This explains how a UCP codes work:

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/high-tech-gadgets/upc.htm

EAN is similar, the check digit at the end must be correct otherwise Amazon won't accept it. Just typing 12 or 13 random numbers in means you would have to have probability on your side to get it right even once.

I cannot log into any account right now to check but am stumped why it wouldn't work. Having said that, it depends what it is you are selling. I have worked with Audio CDs alone for years so know the formats so maybe this is why I had no problem?

I would certainly never advise buying them as I know other sellers that sell various products who have done the same adding products. I will see if I can get more info from them but I guess without knowing what this product (or even category) is that the OP has the same problem would occur. I have honestly never heard of people buying barcodes other than on here.