1. Our job is to prevent you from joining any association
We joined it for you, avoiding you to pay big annual fees and providing you with the EAN-13 barcodes you need, nothing more than the ones you need, and at the lowest price.
Before contacting, we strongly recommend that you read this Q&A section clarify any doubts that you may have.
By referring to this section you help us keep the price of our barcodes down because we can avoid setting up operators that would increase the final price of the barcodes we sell.
Reading this information will clarify 95% of what you need to know about barcodes.
THANK YOU!
2. I need a barcode for my product to send out to stores. What do I do?
You can get a barcode in three easy steps:
• Identify the number of EAN-13 barcode that you need (see the guidance below).
• Order the amount of units you need (Caution: Do not sell yourself short. You can retain our barcodes indefinitely without charge).
• Receive the bar codes, ready to use, usually on the same day. The instructions are included.
When you buy a barcode from us, you obtain ownership of the digits which you can use to generate a symbol (a drawing of the bars and the numbers below) to label your product(s).
The generation of these symbols to graphic files is the second part of our job and is included in the quoted prices.
3. How many different EAN-13 numbers do I need?
It depends on the number of products and packaging sizes.
For example if you sell three types of olive oil in packs of 1 and 5 litres, you need 6 different EAN-13 numbers.
If your business is clothing or shoemaking, for example, you’ll need different barcodes for each size and color of the clothes or shoes you sell.
In general, different products require different EAN-13 codes (even if they have the same price).
4. How much are your barcodes?
The prices are outlined clearly for each package. See them here. Remember, do not sell yourself short! When you order be aware that you’ll probably need more in the future . And remember, the more you buy the more you save!
You can keep your barcodes, they do not expire and it isn’t necessary to pay any annual fees to retain them. Think carefully before choosing a rate!
We operate by SINGLE PAYMENT.
5. How long does it take to get the codes once I’ve purchased them?
Not long. If you pay in the morning, you will receive your barcodes before the end of the day. If you order during the afternoon you’ll receive the barcdes the next morning.
Unfortunately we cannot delivery orders at weekends, but you can prepare your order for the following Monday morning.
We also have families who want to see us!
6. The barcode... what kind of info does it store?
Only the numbers that you can see below the bars. Nothing else.
The barcode does not save information about you, your company or your product. When a scanner reads the bar, it simply sends the numbers to the computer, instantly and without error.
In reality, what a barcode replaces is a person punching numbers.
7. The barcode number... is it important?
YES.
Products manufactured in Singapore start with 888. But ... BE CAREFUL! There are American and British sites where you can purchase codes EAN in dollars. Understand that, if you use EAN codes that do not begin with 888, you cannot sell your products to large stores or supermarket.
Take care of your time and money!
8. I need an EAN-13 barcode. If I buy from you... what do I receive?
You will receive (< 12 hours) an EAN-13 new barcode that has never been used before, with numbering that allows you to send your product to any store in the world.
You will receive three identical files containing the graph bars in different formats (EPS / PDF / JPEG).
On receiving the barcode you must attach it to your product before shipping to stores.
That’s it! No records, associations or bureaucracy.
See an example of what you receive [HERE]
You receive this universal compressed file ZIP:
Double click to see its contents:
That is, if you bought ONE barcode only.
You will receive three files for every bought barcode.
9. What happens in a store when my product is first received?
When a store receives your goods, the barcode is read, the computer stores the number and the operator assigns (by hand) that number a product name, manufacturer, and any information they need the software to manage such as sales, pricing, ordering and billing.
This way the store will have all the relevant information at hand the moment your product is scanned.
10. Is it expensive to join the association?
The (minimum) rate of association for 2014 is a 3000.00 S$ entry fee and a perpetual annuity of 400.00 S$.
If you stop paying the annuity, or even if you temporarily leave the association, you will lose the rights to your barcode numbers and they may be assigned to another member.
What’s more, you are only assigned a number.
YOU have to get it produced in digital format.
11. Is it mandatory to join the association?
Of course NOT.
These delegations charge a high membership fee (for life) and annual fees for assigning companies a root number that usually serves to encode about 100 products. Also, they do not actually generate the barcodes themselves, on joining this partnership you have to generate them yourself or pay someone to do it for you.
If in doubt, read their statutes and see that this is a free, voluntary, nonprofit association. Therefore signing up with them is NOT MANDATORY.
If you call them, they will probably tell you that any company that doesn’t join their organisation will go straight to hell (this makes perfect sense as they lose 30,000 S$ every time a company doesn’t sign up with them!).
12. Is there an alternative to joining the association?
YES. Buy a barcode here in Singapore Barcodes Shop. You will pay once for your barcodes and they will belong to you forever.
13. How I can pay?
By PayPal, credit or debit card.
We can not accept any other form of payment, no exceptions.
14. I’ve received my codes, what do I do?
Simply add them to your product, assigning a code to each product, and send your product to the stores, that’s it!
WARNING! Once you've assigned a code to a product, it cannot be changed, as each store assigns a code number to product data.
We recommend saving this assignment of barcodes to products in an Excel spreadsheet.
Handle carefully. We generate the symbols (the drawings with the bars) in EPS, PDF and JPEG formats and the designer only has to place the preferred symbol on the appropiate area of the label, without handling or managing it.
Generating barcodes is a extremely complex job and we guarantee you that our symbols will be able to be read perfectly at every point of sale.
15. What if I need technical support?
NO PROBLEM! Ask for our Singapore sales representative, Mr. Sazali Sukiyar. He'll solve any problems you have quickly and free of charge.
Email Sazali at: 888.singapore.barcodes@gmail.com
16. What if I copy a barcode number and use it for my product?
Well, you won't be commiting any crime but it isn’t a good idea.
You will be taking the risk of being discovered and your product being forced to be relabelled with a correct barcode.
17. So buying barcodes from you is risk free?
YES, OF COURSE. The numbers we sell are ours, and we sell them legitimately
so the buyer gets a legal EAN number forever. Paying just once and without annual fees!
18. What about the barcodes for carton boxes?
These barcodes are EAN-14 and they are obtained from the EAN-13.
We will generate these barcodes for you if you order them.
From this EAN-13:
We'll generate this EAN-14:
19. Does the barcode number contain the product price, age, or store it was purchased from?
Most barcodes found on products are UPC or EAN barcode. These barcodes only can store numbers and the data is always 12 or 13-digits long. The product barcode is nothing more than a unique number that identified the type of product. For example, all 1kg boxes of rice from the same manufacturer will have the same bar coded number. In general, the product barcode does not contain product price, age or store it was purchased from. When the barcode is scanned, the number is looked up in a database, which contains a description and price for the product. It does not indicate price, age or where it was purchased.
20. My product has a UPC barcode. Do I need an EAN barcode to sell outside the USA?
UPC barcodes were always readable by EAN scanners outside the USA. As of January 1, 2005, all retail barcode systems worldwide are required to read both EAN and UPC.
21. My product has an EAN barcode. Do I need a UPC barcode to sell in the USA?
As of January 1, 2005, all retail barcode systems are required to read both EAN and UPC. You no longer have to use UPC in the USA.
22. If I change the size or ingredients of my product, do I need to change the barcode?
Stores use the product's barcode to determine the type and cost of a product being sold. Some use the barcode to maintain inventory and to reorder. Let's say that a soft drink with a particular UPC barcode is sold in 500g sizes. The manufacturer discontinues 500g sizes and changes the size to 450g. Since stores often print a short description that includes size on the customer receipt, not changing the UPC could result in an incorrect size being printed on the receipt and an angry customer. If you can assure that the descriptive databases of all the stores that sell your product will be updated with the new description, you might get away with not changing the UPC barcode. However, this assurance is almost impossible these days with international sales. The safest is to change the barcode.
23. I want to use my credit/debit card. How to do it?
PayPal is our Credit Cards Payment Gateway. Once inside PayPal website, click on: Use Credit Cards (instead PayPal account).
24. Will the barcode number I receive be unique?
We guarantee that the barcode number you receive is unique and has not been issued by us to anyone else anywhere in the world. We source our barcode numbers from a reputable source that have sold over 2million barcode numbers, with no numbers being sold twice.
25. I have purchased my barcode, what next?
Once you receive your unique barcode number, you can begin using it on your product. When you supply your products to your retailer, you usually need to provide them with the barcode number, as well as the product name, description, price etc. They will input this information into their inventory system.
26. What size should my barcode be?
The nominal size of an UPC-12 image is 37.3mm wide x 25.9mm high. The minimum recommended size is 80% of the nominal size (i.e. 30mm wide). The maximum recommended size is 200% of the nominal size (i.e. 74.6mm wide). Width is more important than height, as the width influences the distance between the bars and how well the scanner can distinguish between them. We recommend test scanning any UPC image prototype produced by your manufacturing facility before going into mass production.
27. Can I reduce the size of a EAN barcode to fit a smaller space?
It is very risky to reduce the size of a EAN symbol. The minimum recommended size is 80% of the nominal size. The maximum recommended size is 200% of the nominal size. Larger EAN's scan better. Smaller EAN's do not scan as well or not at all. Ink spread can also decrease the flexibility of size reduction of a bar code. If a bar code is reduced too much, an attempt to silk screen print it will blur the bars together. This is one of the reasons why it is recommended to keep the bar code within the minimum of 80% of the nominal size. Many large chains now fine or disqualify vendors who supply products with bar codes that do not scan. If you reduce the EAN symbol below the maximum recommended, you run the risk that the symbol will not scan. That could result in you losing a big customer.
28. Selling on Amazon? Read this!
Your barcodes have 13 digits long but you can see on its file name only the 12 first digits without the digit #13, the check digit.
Don´t forget introduce on Amazon all 13 digits.
Otherwise, Amazon will tell you that your EAN code is not good.
29. If I use your barcodes, will I have a problem in the future?
Absolutely NOT.
Imagine you're accessing a rich elitist club (the EAN system) but through a discreet backdoor opened by a colleague from inside.
You have the advantage of only buying the EAN-13 units needed, and without paying for luxury office,or the magazines.
You won’t be paying for the courses, events, celebrations, conferences, snacks or dinners organized by the association (but it is true that you will never be invited!)
30. Why buy at Singapore Barcodes Shop?
• Because we are NOT an enormous partnership. We are a normal business.
• Because You are NOT a number. You are a client with full name. You can call us whenever you want and we will help you in any way we can.
• Because you will save several thousand Pounds.
• Because we have been in this business for over 35 years.
• Because we are small but honest.
• Because our prices are very, very cheap. How? By earning little and controlling our expenses.
• Because we are in Singapore. We physically exist, we are not only virtual, we pay taxes, income tax and VAT, and contribute to the overall effort.
• Because we are very quick, with 99 % of transactions carried out on day of order.
• Because you are supporting twelve Singaporen job posts and their families.
Just for reading this, thanks. If you also purchase... THANK YOU!
31. What if I am not satisfied?
Impossible.
But be assured that should you not be completely satisfied we will refund the full order cost on request, no questions asked.
This has never happened so far (after 35 years of working in this area) and we hope it never does.
We know that many people are suspicious of internet sales, but the peace of mind we offer you is an irrefutable refund.
This is contractual, there is zero risk.
32. Do you need data from the products we sell?
NO. The EAN-13 barcode is independent of the product label and contains only information about the number that can be read below the bars. It does not contain any information about your company, price, stock or anything else.
All this information will be assigned to the store where you ship your product, when they first receive it.
33. How I can verify that the barcode can be read correctly?
If you have a smart phone (iPhone or Android operating system), you can download a free application to read barcodes (go to the iPhone App Store or Android Market and search for "barcode"). Point the camera phone at the computer screen where the code is open and read the bar. The reading will give you the same number you can see below the bars.
ATTENTION! Ignore the results of the App's. Note only that the number is correct.
34. Can you guarantee me that my barcode won’t be duplicated?
No. Nobody can, not even the association.
We can not prevent someone taking a product off the shelf, writing down your barcode number, then generating the code themselves for their own product.
But, having said that, there is absolutely no need to be concerned.
Nobody is stupid enough to assign an already existing number to what they produce as it will be immediately rejected by the store on arrival.
So there is no need to worry, EAN numbering is never duplicated and we can guarantee that the codes are exclusive.
35. Can I use the EAN-13 barcode as EDI code?
ABSOLUTELY NOT.
Do not use these EAN-13 (product codes) with an invoicing system as an EDI electronic billing company code. |
