Buy EAN Codes in the UK: What to Check Before You Pay

You have a batch of plant pots, phone cases or dog leads ready to list, and the marketplace form wants a barcode. A quick search turns up a dozen websites that will sell you EAN codes for less than a takeaway. Can you buy EAN codes like that, and which seller can you trust? Yes, you can buy EAN codes once and use them for unbranded products, eBay and your own webshop. Before you pay, check that every number is unique, recorded against you, sold without false GS1 claims and priced without a hidden subscription.

This guide gives you the checklist we would use ourselves, the red flags that should make you close the tab, and an honest comparison with GS1 UK, including the cases where GS1 is simply the better buy.

What you are actually buying

An EAN code (officially a GTIN-13) is a 13-digit number. The black-and-white barcode is just a picture of that number, and you can generate it for free once you have the number. So when you buy EAN codes, you are paying for the number and for the promise that nobody else has it.

There is no UK law that says a product must carry an EAN. The rules come from two places:

• GS1's licence terms. GS1 is the organisation that runs the barcode system. GS1 UK licenses numbers to its members every year, and that licence cannot be passed on.
• Marketplace and retailer rules. Amazon, supermarkets and many other buyers decide which codes they accept.

Codes from a seller like us are valid EAN-13 numbers, issued once and recorded in our own register against you. They are not a GS1 membership in your name. That difference matters for some channels and not at all for others, which is why the checklist below starts with uniqueness and ends with your sales channels.

Before you buy EAN codes: the 7-point checklist

Run through these seven checks before you buy EAN codes from anyone, including us.

1. Has the number ever been sold to someone else?

This is the check that matters most. If the same EAN was sold to two sellers, the second one to list it lands on the first seller's product page, or gets an "EAN already in use" style error. Ask the seller how they prevent this. A believable answer involves a register that records each number against one buyer. "Our codes are unique" with nothing behind it is not an answer.

2. Is there a record that the code is yours?

A register gives you evidence if a competitor or marketplace questions your listing. At EAN Deals every number is recorded against your account in the gtincodes.com register, and anyone can check it there. Be clear about what this does and does not do: it is not a GS1 registration. In GS1's own lookup, Verified by GS1, a code that did not come from your own GS1 membership will not show your company.

3. Does the seller tell the truth about GS1?

GS1 is the only body that issues GS1 company prefixes, and the prefix shows which GS1 office issued it, not where a product is made. GS1 Australia goes further and warns that unauthorised barcode sellers can undermine the integrity of the whole system. So any reseller claiming its codes are "official", "GS1-registered" or "GS1-approved" is either confused or misleading you. Honest sellers say what they are.

4. Is it really a one-off price?

Some offers look cheap because the first year is cheap. Read the small print for words like "annual", "renewal" or "subscription". Our codes are paid once; there is an optional paid protection plan, but the codes stay yours whether you take it or not.

5. Are the numbers technically valid?

Every EAN-13 ends in a check digit calculated from the other twelve. Paste a sample into our EAN checker before you print anything. Also look at the first digits: numbers starting with 02, 04 or 2 sit in GS1's restricted ranges for in-store use, and Google Merchant Center rejects them.

6. What lands in your account?

You should receive the numbers themselves, in a format you can copy into a spreadsheet or listing. Barcode images are a nice extra, but you can always make those yourself with a barcode generator.

7. Will the codes work where you sell?

A seller who promises acceptance "everywhere" is not being straight with you. More on this in the GS1 section below.

1. List your channelsWrite down every marketplace and shop where the product will be sold.
2. Count your productsOne code per size, colour, flavour and pack size you sell.
3. Check the sellerUniqueness, register, honest GS1 wording, one-off price.
4. Test a codeRun one number through a checker before you print labels.

Red flags that should stop you

Codes from auction sites and bulk spreadsheets deserve extra suspicion. They are often the same numbers sold over and over, which is exactly how listings end up attached to someone else's product. If that has already happened to you, our guide to fixing "EAN already in use" walks through the clean-up.

Worked example: a small ceramics studio

Ellie makes ceramic plant pots in her studio in Stroud: three glazes in two sizes, plus a fixed set of three small pots. She sells on eBay.co.uk and her own Shopify shop, and has no plans for supermarkets.

• 3 glazes × 2 sizes = 6 codes
• 1 pot set = 1 code
• Total today: 7 codes, with two new glazes planned for spring (2 × 2 sizes), so 11 within the year.

Before paying, she runs the seller through the seven checks: a register she can look up, no GS1 claims, one price with no renewal. She then picks a pack that covers 11 codes, copies the first number into the Barcode field of her first Shopify variant and runs it through the checker. Each size and glaze gets its own number, because a 12 cm pot and a 15 cm pot are different products to a scanner. If you are unsure how to count your own range, see how many EAN codes you need.

GS1 UK or buying once: the honest comparison

GS1 UK charges by turnover. From the published plans (checked October 2026, excluding VAT):

Extra numbers cost £25 a year for 10 or £50 a year for 100. The key word is year: GS1 UK says GTINs are licensed annually, and if you cancel your membership "you will no longer have access to your GS1 GTINs".

–	GS1 UK	Codes bought once
How you pay	Every year	Once
Recorded against you	In GS1 registry	In our register
Your firm in Verified by GS1	yes	no
Branded products on Amazon	yes	no
Supermarkets and chains	yes	no
Unbranded goods, own webshop	yes	yes

When GS1 is the better choice

Buying codes once is the smart move for many small sellers, but not for all. Choose GS1 UK if any of these apply:

• You sell a branded product on Amazon. Amazon checks codes against GS1 data and compares the brand. A code licensed to another company does not match your brand. Our Amazon guide covers the GTIN exemption route too.
• You supply shops, supermarkets or retail chains. GS1 UK warns that in retail the GTIN will be checked and products rejected if it is not registered to you.
• You need your company to appear in Verified by GS1, for example because a trade buyer asks for it.

1. Selling a branded product on Amazon?

   YesGS1 or a GTIN exemption

   No ↓

2. Supplying shops, supermarkets or chains?

   YesJoin GS1 UK

   No ↓

3. Must your firm show in Verified by GS1?

   YesJoin GS1 UK

   No ↓

4. Codes bought once fit well

If all three answers are no, paying a yearly licence buys you little that you will use.

What to do now

1. List every channel you sell on and answer the three questions above.
2. Count one code per sellable variant, plus what you will launch this year.
3. Check any seller against the seven points, including us.
4. Test one number in an EAN checker before you print.
5. Keep a simple spreadsheet linking each code to one product, and never reuse a code for something else.