Which of the numbers on this picture is the actual barcode?
One of our clients asked us to clarify as our Feed Manager platform was rejecting the values entered because they failed the arithmetic calculations.
Firstly, the barcode numbers are beneath the striped bars.
The example above is what is known as a EAN-12 barcode. The numbers that count are the first number (8) outside the bars, the next 2 groups of 5 numbers, and the number to the right of the second group (2).
So the barcode is 888408440242 – there are no spaces or dashes within the number string
Contrast the way this barcode looks v/s a GTIN-13 version (as portrayed on the very comprehensive Wikipedia page on barcodes)
The numbers that count are the first number (5) outside the bars and the next 2 groups of 6 numbers. The chevron to the right of the number is a “soft” symbol allowing the code to be read by an EPOS system/scanner.
So here the barcode is 5901234123457 – again there are no spaces or dashes within the number string.
We hope that helps you understand how barcodes are portrayed on packaging. Be aware that we have seen manufacturers publishing lists of supposed barcodes by product that are not number strings (ie included dashes, spaces,hyphens etc) and/or which do not validate using the checksum digit (the last number in EAN-8, EAN-12, or GTIN-13 versions).
We will alwys flag any failures to you through our standard daily process reports.
