Barcodes

Tomsk · 2 Mar 2010 at 13:06

Our company needs a few barcodes (less than 10).

The official organisation - www.gs1uk.org - wants £177 joining fee + £177 annual subscription. I know, with a >£1million turnover £177/year isnt much, but it's all the hassle of registering etc that we (or rather I) can't be bothered with.

However there are other sites, such as - http://www.barcode1.co.uk/ - that will sell a few barcodes for a one off charge. Are these legitimate?

J.B · 2 Mar 2010 at 13:09

What do you need the barcodes for?

HaMMuS · 2 Mar 2010 at 13:17

If its just for internal stuff you may be able to get away with not registering, but if its for customers i.e. for point-of-sale stuff you may have to do it officially.

Talon · 2 Mar 2010 at 13:17

What Symbology are you looking for, what do you want it to do. Not all barcodes need to be registered with an organisation. A retail symbology like EAN for example does require certain registration requirement for the assignment of company codes etc. but a noon-retail code like Code128 doesn't (unless its falling within a certain specification like ISBT128)

Tomsk · 2 Mar 2010 at 13:32

The barcodes are for fresh food products to be sold by wholesalers to small businesses, although the general public can purchase them. They will pass a POS terminal.

Aod · 2 Mar 2010 at 13:50

http://www.morovia.com/free-online-barcode-generator/

DannyDan · 2 Mar 2010 at 13:53

Aod said:
http://www.morovia.com/free-online-barcode-generator/

If it's going through a POS then it will presumably need to be a unique barcode, therefore will need to be officially registered

Stelly · 2 Mar 2010 at 13:54

I have some 1D and 2D barcode fonts if you need them?

Stelly

Tomsk · 2 Mar 2010 at 15:04

I've done a little more research and all we need is a EAN-13 code.
I can get a block of 100+ including our own unique supplier identifier from the GS1 organisation, or I can purchase a few from elsewhere.

A little history.
Prior to 2002 groups of barcodes were issued companies for a one-off fee. In 2002 an annual subscription was introduced. Obviously companies who already had their barcodes didn't like this so the managed to get their subscription fee waived. Some of these companies sold off some of their codes and these are being resold to whomever wants one. These codes are unique and valid throughout their respective regions or the world.

Incidentally I've decided NOT to get our barcodes from - http://www.barcode1.co.uk/ - as a companies house search shows the company as dissolved and nominet doesn't have anything for the domain. :eek:

PhillyDee · 2 Mar 2010 at 17:48

Tomsk, I would appreciate anything you do turn up

I looked at the GS1 site and assumed it was the only site out there!

Tomsk · 15 Mar 2010 at 09:26

Well, I decided to purchase our barcodes from www.barcode1.co.uk anyway. The company is regsitered in New Zealand and a search finds their company in the NZ companies office. A Nominet search also finds their website details.

Cost of each barcodes was £20 + £3 for images in pdf, eps, jpg, bmp and tif + £3 certificate for all the barcodes. No VAT.

Our barcodes originate from Mr. Beverages Old Time Cocktail Mixes, Maryland

I did try www.buyabarcode.com but their links weren't working.

This site has lots of useful info - http://www.laurerupc.com/ (it's where I got the buyabarcode link from)