Do I need a barcode, and where do I get one?
If you want to be scanned at a checkout, the retailer will want a GTIN — the number inside a UPC barcode — licensed to your company by GS1. GS1 US's price, read 20 September 2026, is $30 a number as a one-time fee with no renewal, which is the right route for a maker with a handful of products. The cheap barcodes sold elsewhere are resold from an old prefix, and retailers increasingly check.
When you actually need one
You need a barcode when a retailer scans your product at a till or into inventory. Farmers' market and direct sales do not need one. The moment a shop says yes, they will ask for it, and often for the case-level code too.
It is not something to leave until the listing is agreed. Getting the number, generating the image and getting it onto a print run is weeks of lead time if your label is already at the printer.
Two routes, and which fits a small maker
GS1 is the body that issues these numbers in the US. There are two ways in:
- Individual GTINs — $30 each (GS1 US's price, read 20 September 2026), one-time, no annual renewal. Right for a maker with a few products
- A GS1 Company Prefix — a block of numbers with an annual fee, which also lets you create case and pallet codes and coupons
The resold barcode trap
You will find barcodes for a few dollars from resellers. They are real numbers, but they come from a company prefix issued to someone else years ago, and the database still shows that other company as the brand owner.
Retailers verify barcodes against the GS1 database. If your company is not listed as the brand owner of that number, a listing can be suspended and you can be asked to relabel the product — after the print run, after the delivery. The saving is measured in tens of dollars and the failure is measured in a rejected pallet.
One number per sellable variation
Each distinct thing a shopper can buy needs its own GTIN. Different flavor, different number. Different size of the same flavor, different number. A case of twelve is a different packaging level again, with its own code if the retailer wants one.
Makers routinely under-buy here, then discover the four-pack needs a number too. Count your real variations before you decide which route to take.
Common questions
Check this yourself
This is general information for U.S. food businesses, not legal advice, and rules change. Check it against the sources below and against your own state's rules before you rely on it.
Sell by product · Sell by state
What each state’s cottage food law says, in its own words: sell by state. Every kind of product: sell by product.