Can EAN and UPC be mixed? What's the difference between them?

Commodity bar code mainly includes EAN bar code and UPC bar code two kinds.Although both are commonly used, many industries or fields accept both differently.

So in general, if not specifically stated, EAN bar code and UPC bar code have their own fixed use.

EAN bar code is a bar code developed by the International Association of Item Coding, has been around the world more than 90 countries and regions, EAN bar code symbol has a standard version and shortened version of two, the standard version is composed of 13 digits, shortened version is composed of 8 digits, China joined the EAN organization in 1991.

The country code available to the People’s Republic of China is 690-699, of which 696-699 is not yet in use.The most common country code in life is 690-693.

European Number Article (short for European Item Coding), where the 13-digit code EAN-13 is a common bar code agreement and standard for general end products, mainly used in supermarkets and other retailing, so this is common to us. Feel pickup around a thing from the supermarket to buy goods can be seen from the packaging, are EAN code.

China is a member of the EAN organization, so the commodity is using EAN coding, that is, the European coding standard.

Universal Product Code is the first large-scale application of bar codes, the characteristics of a fixed length, continuous bar code, mainly used in the United States and Canada, we can see in the United States imported goods.

UPC bar code is also used for goods bar code, mainly used in the United States and Canada, UPC bar code is developed by the United States Unified Code Commission a bar code.Some of Our country exported to North America in order to meet the needs of North America, also need to apply for UPC bar code, UPC bar code also has a standard version and shortened version of two, the standard version consists of 12 digits, shortened version consists of 8 digits, less than the standard version of EAN bar code, shorten the number of copies of the same.

Amazon U.S. Station because it is in the United States, so the unified use of U.S. standards, China’s products do not have UPC code, upload U.S. station products can only buy or use software to generate UPC code.

In addition to applying for barcodes from the China Code Of Goods Association, many people choose to buy them from Barcodestalk, Amazon’s officially recommended barcode provider, which is cheap and convenient.