[New Texico]

I have been on their website (http ://ww w. uc-council.org), but wnated to find out any pitfalls/shortcuts someone may have learned form experience.

My reason for needing one is to list my product on Amazon, and it's in a category where they require one. My product is sold stricly via internet so I don't need a POS code just an ITF-14 - if they can printed on my printer onto adhesive labels.

I have one primary product and several add-on options but will only be selling a "master kit" intitially with everything in it, so I don't need multiple codes to start out.

Any info i.e "watch-fors, bewares, TOTTs" much appreciated.

[warrensway]

Just go on google and read up on what you need to do.

[metagistics]

You may be able to get by with only one UPC number, there are a number of providers that sell you individuals under their manufacturing ID. UPCcode.net is one that I know of.
A manu ID is $700 or so through UCC, but since you won't be selling at retail, you can use this workaround.
However, if you ever plan to expand into retail or have multiple products/lines, its probably better to bite the bullet and get your own UPC manufacturing ID. You also have to have a bulletproof system to track the utilization of the numbers. Once assigned, you can't reuse it. But a manu ID gives you a bank of numbers to use.
Beware of print quality. Amazon charges for bad scans as its the basis for their Warehousing system.
Email me if you have any other questions

[BulaRae]

You can get great info at George Laurer's site. He is the original inventor of the UPC. U.P.C. & Bar Codes. You can read about the UPC on wikipedia too Universal Product Code - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, and it will actually refer you to his site at the bottom of the page.

The bottom line is that it's very expensive to get a prefix through the GS1 (formerly the UCC) and they want you to believe you have to do that. But there are some legal resellers that George has verified that offer affordable numbers for those who don't really need their own prefix. Especially if you are selling online through Amazon or that sort of thing and just need unique numbers. The GS1 is just a not-for-profit organization managing the standards for barcoding worldwide. They are not a government or regulatory organization that can force anybody to do anything. The important thing with UPCs is that your number is unique so it won't conflict in databases worldwide.

EZ UPC (EZ UPC, Your #1 Easiest Low-Cost Solution for Legal UPC Numbers as low as $6.29 with FREE GS-1 Compliant Bar Code Files in UPC & EAN format, JPG, TIF & EPS) is the cheapest (starting at under $25 and under $10 for quantities of numbers). They offer the best graphics file quality of any of the others (vector EPS is one of them), plus they give you both EAN and UPC barcodes in multiple hi-res file formats, and if you need ITF-14 I bet they will throw those in too or instead of EAN if you don't need those. Whole Foods has been referring all their vendors to them for UPCs and they have a great reputation.