Buying EAN codes

forgotmyname

Is ebay promoting the listing higher because of it? Not a seasonal item?

Have you tried a free barcode generator? Several came up on a google search.

soolin

forgotmyname wrote: »

Is ebay promoting the listing higher because of it? Not a seasonal item?

Have you tried a free barcode generator? Several came up on a google search.

Not a seasonal item and I've completely given up with trying to work out how Best Match works. I've also had a second item that was 'stuck' sold now that I added an EAN to- very weird and far too simplistic an answer to assume the EAN is anything more than a co incidence.

I bought 1000 codes in the end, less than £2 the lot and they came on an Excel spreadsheet so that I can actually record what I use each against.

StumpyPumpy

RFW wrote: »

If I buy a piece of cheese from the deli counter in a supermarket it has a unique barcode that is randomly generated, I doubt Tesco aren't getting a new barcode every time or paying anyone for the privilege.

That is because you are conflating a stock control barcode with an EAN. edit:Meant to say GTIN-13 which is the one you pay to be registered for.

SP

gollum007

RFW wrote: »

The more you look into it the more of a racket it seems. Essentially someone is selling random numbers with a strange sequencing. There's nothing proprietorial about it as far as I can tell.

If I buy a piece of cheese from the deli counter in a supermarket it has a unique barcode that is randomly generated, I doubt Tesco aren't getting a new barcode every time or paying anyone for the privilege.

Incidentially, they're not randomly generated

Two groups of 4 digits.
The first 4 digits represent the product (E.G. Stilton)
The next three are the price in pence.
The final digit is a check-digit, and if this isn't right, the whole barcode is invalid.

Same principle applies for 12-digit codes rather than 8-digit.

-Gollum

theonlywayisup

gollum007 wrote: »

Incidentially, they're not randomly generated

Two groups of 4 digits.
The first 4 digits represent the product (E.G. Stilton)
The next three are the price in pence.
The final digit is a check-digit, and if this isn't right, the whole barcode is invalid.

Same principle applies for 12-digit codes rather than 8-digit.

-Gollum

Well, that's not how mine work.

We manufacture and the barcode is made up of our company information (a number assigned to us by GS1 which I understand relates to the country of manufacturer and also identifies us) the item reference (Stilton) the GS1 identifier and a check digit. There is certainly nothing on ours which refers to price.

StumpyPumpy

theonlywayisup wrote: »

Well, that's not how mine work.

We manufacture and the barcode is made up of our company information (a number assigned to us by GS1 which I understand relates to the country of manufacturer and also identifies us) the item reference (Stilton) the GS1 identifier and a check digit. There is certainly nothing on ours which refers to price.

I think you too are conflating a Tesco cheese barcode which I believe is what gollum007 is describing with a GTIN-13 code. It is a total myth to believe that all barcodes are EAN/GTIN type codes. I have a 13 digit barcode on a membership card, it neither identifies what type of cheese I am nor my company.

SP

theonlywayisup

StumpyPumpy wrote: »

I think you too are conflating a Tesco cheese barcode which I believe is what gollum007 is describing with a GTIN-13 code. It is a total myth to believe that all barcodes are EAN/GTIN type codes. I have a 13 digit barcode on a membership card, it neither identifies what type of cheese I am nor my company.

SP

As the OP is on the subject of EAN/GTIN, I think my comment is perfectly relevant to clear up the cheese myth.

gollum007

Yes I was referring to Tesco codes for *weighed items* (AFAIK, these are valid on anything from counters and sell by weight prepack stuff, although there's probably some exceptions I haven't seen)

-Gollum

RFW

theonlywayisup wrote: »

As the OP is on the subject of EAN/GTIN, I think my comment is perfectly relevant to clear up the cheese myth.

I didn't mean to generate a barcode cheese myth, such things legends are made of;)

It's still a racket though, the sale of barcodes is a sale of numbers. Can anyone really own a 12 or 13 digit number?