GTINs explained for Amazon FBA Sellers

When it comes to Amazon policies and regulations, things can get tricky, especially when dealing with logistics and barcodes. At Tactical we’re always looking for the best solutions to provide our customers with resources for a smoother supply chain and we believe quality GTINs can support Amazon FBA Sellers greatly.

We’ve recently partnered with the administrator of the UPC barcode in the United States, GS1 US. Having a product uniquely identified with a trustable and protected barcode can make all the difference in the scalability and growth of your Amazon business as well as the efficiency of the day to day of your supply chain.

Take a look at the following article in which we asked GS1 to explain GTINs for Amazon FBA sellers and how they can benefit your business.

Top Questions About Product Identification Numbers

By Shane Morris, Business Development Director, GS1 US

What is a GTIN and why is it relevant to my Amazon listings?

GTIN stands for Global Trade Item Number. This is the number encoded into a barcode that uniquely identifies a product when it is listed online or is read by a barcode scanner. There is a big opportunity for e-commerce businesses to benefit from identifying products with GTINs, as they help products surface in more search engine results online and can help small businesses build credibility. Online marketplaces like Amazon require GTINs because they help sellers prove that they are selling legitimate products and support good inventory management practices. Retailers and marketplaces may reject a product listing or suppress it if it does not contain a GTIN that is registered specifically to the brand owner.

Where do I get GTINs?

Sourcing GTINs in the US typically starts by engaging with GS1 US, an industry-driven not for-profit supply chain standards organization, best known as the administrator of the UPC barcode in the United States. GS1 US collaborates with a variety of industry leaders to maintain and advocate for the use of a common language of data standards, which support efficiency, effective business relationships and provide consumers access to trustworthy information about the products they purchase.

You can license GTINs that link your brand to your product by joining GS1 US in one of two ways:

  1. License a GS1 Company Prefix. A GS1 Company Prefix is a unique number that is assigned to your company alone and will serve as the first several digits of your GTINs. Prefixes come in different capacities and prices depending on how many identification numbers you need to create.
  2. License a single GS1 US GTIN. If you only need a few GTINs, you can license individual GTINs. When you license a GS1 US GTIN, your company is uniquely and exclusively identified as the owner of that number and you get access to other GS1 US member benefits.

Why would I choose a GS1 US GTIN over other options?

While there are other sources for barcodes and the identification numbers encoded into them, many marketplaces and retailers require companies to list or submit GS1-issued identification numbers that specifically link a brand to the product being sold.

GS1 US is seen in the retail industry as an authority for many brands and suppliers to license GTINs and UPC barcodes. When you source your GTINs from GS1 US, you can be confident that they will be directly associated with your company, be globally unique, and be verifiable through the GS1 Global Product Registry. You will also be provided a GS1 US certificate, proving your GTINs are GS1-issued identification numbers.
Using GTINs from a source other than GS1 US may mean you will be listing and labeling your products with another company’s identification number issued outside of the GS1 system. You can ensure that there is no confusion with marketplaces and retail partners by using GS1-sourced identification numbers, and in the long run, they may help you avoid any unnecessary costs associated with relabeling and can help you gain speed to market.

How will having a GS1 GTIN/UPC help my Amazon business grow?

Amazon recognizes the importance of product information for the shopper experience, and they want to ensure their visitors will find the items and information they are looking for when conducting searches on their marketplace. With unique product identification, a product can be surfaced in more search results leading to greater customer satisfaction for the searcher and increased conversions for the product.

Also, Amazon verifies a product listed on their platform matches the company name associated with the product if the product’s authenticity is ever called into question. By being able to provide a certificate from GS1 US that proves that your company is the licensee of the GTINs associated with your product listings, sellers have a much better chance of speeding up the reinstatement process and protecting their brand in the future.

Another benefit to assigning your products with GS1-sourced GTINs is their interoperability. A GTIN sourced from GS1 US will work on all of Amazon platforms around the world. So, if you currently sell on Amazon Marketplaces in other countries, or plan to do so, your GTIN will work across all platforms. These GTINs also work as an acceptable product identifier on other marketplaces, online and brick and mortar retailers. In fact, most national retailers require them. Having your products identified with GS1 GTINs demonstrates your company’s credibility in accordance with the GS1 system of standards and shows you are ready to grow.

GTINs don’t have to be so complicated. At Tactical, we trust GS1 to provide Amazon sellers with the best barcode solutions.

Download the guide here.

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