Do I need product barcodes?
All product entering into Saddle Point MUST be labeled with scannable barcodes for each and every SKU. Failing to do so will result in drastically prolonging the time it takes to receive your goods as well as additional receiving and barcoding fees.
For our purposes they allow us to quickly identify a product in our warehouse by scanning it. This allows us to receive goods correctly, confirm accuracy of picks and scan product before packaging for shipment.
What is a Barcode?
Barcodes are simply any string of data encoded in a machine readable format made up of spaces and lines.
Do I need to pay for GS1 UPC codes?
NO. Saddle Point does not require you to have GS1 UPC Codes.
Importantly a barcode is NOT NECESSARILY a GS1 UPC Code. Almost every large company in the world registers its products with GS1 which in turn provides them with unique UPC codes and maintains a database of global product information. This allows merchants and distributors to scan a GS1 UPC code and instantly have access to all of that product's information. This of course costs money.
Saddle Point fully supports GS1 barcodes, but does NOT require them. However, if you intend to sell your product into any large scale retailer, the odds are that they will.
How to I get barcodes numbers?
If you wish to create your own barcode values in Shopify, there are many plugins that can help with this. See this list.
How do I get printed barcodes?
Generally barcodes should be applied at the manufacturing level. Almost every manufacturer on the planet is now familiar with generating, printing and applying barcodes to products. We highly recommend that you send your manufacturer a .csv containing your product name, variant information SKU and barcode formatted similar to the example below and have them handle the printing of your barcodes.
Example CSV file Layout
| Product Name | Color | Size | SKU | Barcode |
| Studios Hoodie | Black | Large | MNC-01021-BLK-L |
MNC-01021-BLK-L
|
What information you chose to included on the printed label other than the barcode itself is up to you. However in general we recommend a layout similar to the example below.
Example Barcode Layout
If you cannot get your manufacturer to apply barcodes for you Saddle Point can do so for a fee of $ .50 per item being barcoded plus $45/hr labor. Note that this will delay us in receiving your product and making it available for fulfillment.
What barcode types are supported?
Saddle Point supports the following barcode formats. (NOTE: if you're looking to do a simple barcode, CODE 128 is the accepted standard).
BOOKLAND EAN
Codabar
CODE 39
CODE 39 ASCII (EXTENDED)
CODE 39 Trioptic
CODE 93
CODE 128
DISCRETE 2 OF 5
EAN 8
EAN 13
EAN 128
EAN 128 + COMPOSITE
EAN-UCC 128
GS1 128
GS1 DataBar-14
GS1 DATABAR
GS1 DATABAR EXPANDED STACKED
GS1 DATABAR EXTENDED
GS1 DATABAR LIMITED
ISBT 128
KOREAN 3 OF 5
MATRIX 2 OF 5
MSI
PLESSEY
RSS EXPANDED STACKED
RSS-14
TELEPEN
UPC A
UPC E (0)
UPC E1