For most categories, you are required to associate your products with industry-standard product identifiers called GTIN (Global Trade Item Number) that was developed to assist the identification of commercial items sold at retail. Each commercial item has its GTIN, also known as EAN-13 or GTIN-13. The 13 digits should never be separated since only the complete combination of digits guarantees the exclusivity of numeration in the market. It is an international standardized code used to manage millions of product references worldwide.
The UPCs, EANs, ISBNs, and JANs are collectively called as GTIN (Global Trade Item Number). This item identifier system was developed by GS1 which is a non-governmental, not-for-profit Global Organization present in 150 countries. The GS1 gives, not only the ability to create GTINs for the entire product catalog but also provide a Barcodes database as a reference for stores setting up products on pages.
GTIN is represented by a barcode, a symbol printed on products that can be scanned electronically. Through the symbology, it is possible to load various product information in a barcode.
The GTIN-13 is generated by the GS1. So if you are the brand holder
and want to have a GTIN in your products, follow the steps:
To find a product ID:
ISBN: The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a unique commercial book identifier barcode. ISBNs are further divided into ISBN-10 and ISBN-13. Additionally, an ISBN-10 is converted into an ISBN-13 by prefixing 978 or 979 and re-computing the check digit. |
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UPC: Universal Product Code (UPC) is a 12 digit barcode which is extensively used for retail packaging in US and Canada regions. |
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EAN:European Article Number (EAN) is a 13 digit barcode which is largely used outside of US and Canada regions. JAN:Japanese Article Number (JAN) is a 13 digit barcodes generally begin with 45 extensively used in Japan region. |
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Other Variants:There are other variants of the barcodes which are less commonly used. These barcodes are short hand forms with fewer digits introduced for use on small packages. |
EAN-8 (Rare): These are 8-digit barcodes which are derived from the longer EAN-13 variant. UPC-E (Very Rare): UPC-E is a variation of 12 digit UPC-A which allows for a more compact barcode by eliminating "extra" zeros. |
If you use the Add a Product tool to list products, enter the product ID in the search bar to find it in the Amazon catalog. If you use an inventory file template, enter the product ID in the product-ID field.
Go to Adding UPCs, EANs and ISBNs for Your Products for more information.
If your product is a bundle or a pack, make sure to add the correct product ID for that pack and item quantity rather than the product ID for a single item contained in the pack. Learn more.