You've probably seen the post. Flip a product over, look at the barcode, and if it starts with 690 to 699 it was "made in China." Variations travel just as far: an 8 at the front supposedly means a cheap import, 888 means Singapore, 729 means Israel, so the barcode tells you exactly where your shampoo came from. It sounds like a neat consumer hack. It mostly isn't, and the bits that are true are narrower than the posts claim.
The first digits of a barcode show which national GS1 office issued the company's number, not where the product was made. A 690 to 699 code means the company licensed its number through GS1 China; the item could be made anywhere. For the real country of manufacture, read the "Made in" marking on the label.
Does a barcode tell you the country of origin?
No. GS1, the not-for-profit body that runs the barcode numbering system, says it plainly on its own prefix list: because its member companies can manufacture products anywhere in the world, GS1 prefixes do not identify the country of origin for a given product. That sentence sits right above the table people screenshot for the "690 = China" posts.
Here's what a prefix does tell you. Each country (or group of countries) has a GS1 member organization that licenses numbers to local companies. A company signs up with its national office, gets a block of numbers, and the first two or three digits of that block show which office issued it. So 690 to 699, plus 680 to 681, are ranges GS1 China hands out. In practice that usually means the brand owner is a company registered in China. It doesn't mean the jar, jacket or charger in your hand left a Chinese factory.
The mismatch runs both ways. A US brand that has its clothing sewn in Bangladesh and its electronics assembled in Vietnam uses its own GS1 US numbers on all of it, so those products carry a US prefix. A Chinese-registered exporter can source from a plant across a border and still print a 69x code. Importers and distributors who relabel goods add yet another layer.
One real-world example makes the point. The 400 g jar of Nutella sold across Western Europe carries the barcode 3017620422003, according to the Open Food Facts product database. The prefix 301 falls in GS1 France's range (300 to 379), yet Nutella's owner, Ferrero, is an Italian company, and that jar is listed for sale in Belgium, France, Germany and Luxembourg. The prefix tells you which GS1 office licensed that particular number. That's all.
In the US, Customs and Border Protection requires every article of foreign origin entering the country to be legibly marked with the English name of its country of origin, unless a legal exception applies. That "Made in" or "Product of" line is the origin claim that carries legal weight. The barcode isn't.
What do the numbers on a barcode mean? Digit by digit
The number printed under the bars is a GTIN, short for Global Trade Item Number. In most of the world the retail version has 13 digits (EAN-13); in the US and Canada it's usually 12 (UPC-A). Take the Nutella code above, 3017620422003, and read it in four parts.
- GS1 prefix: 301. The first two or three digits identify the GS1 office that issued the number, here GS1 France.
- Company number: the next block. Together with the prefix, this forms the GS1 Company Prefix licensed to one company. Big brands get short company prefixes (leaving room for many products); small firms get longer ones.
- Item reference: the digits after that. The brand owner assigns these itself, one per distinct product, flavor, size or pack.
- Check digit: the final 3. A single digit calculated from all the others, so scanners can catch a misread.
Because company prefixes come in different lengths, you can't draw a fixed line between "company" and "item" just by looking. In one code the company part might run to the ninth digit; in another, to the eleventh. Only the GS1 registry knows exactly where the split falls, which is one reason the lookup tools later in this guide exist.
What's missing matters as much as what's there. A standard 1D GTIN holds no price, no expiry date, no batch number, no factory and no serial number. Every jar of that Nutella on every shelf shares exactly the same 13 digits.
What do the first three digits of a barcode mean?
Here's a decoded selection from GS1's current prefix list, rewritten to answer the questions people actually type. Before you read any of it, count the digits under the bars.
GS1 reads every 12-digit code as if it had a hidden 0 in front. Its own example: for the UPC 614141234561, the GS1 prefix is 061, not 614. So a 12-digit code starting 615 isn't Nigerian, one starting 8 isn't Italian, and one starting 888 isn't from Singapore. They're all GS1 US numbers.
| Prefix (13-digit code) | Issued by |
|---|---|
| 001 to 019, 030 to 039, 060 to 139 | GS1 US (every 12-digit UPC lands here or in a restricted range) |
| 020 to 029, 040 to 049, 200 to 299 | Restricted circulation: in-store and regional codes, not real product IDs |
| 050 to 059 | Reserved by GS1 US for future use (formerly US coupons) |
| 300 to 379 | GS1 France |
| 400 to 440 | GS1 Germany |
| 450 to 459 and 490 to 499 | GS1 Japan |
| 489 | GS1 Hong Kong, China |
| 500 to 509 | GS1 UK |
| 615 | GS1 Nigeria |
| 680 to 681 and 690 to 699 | GS1 China |
| 729 | GS1 Israel |
| 754 to 755 | GS1 Canada |
| 800 to 839 | GS1 Italy |
| 880 to 881 / 885 / 888 | GS1 South Korea / GS1 Thailand / GS1 Singapore |
| 890 / 893 / 899 | GS1 India / GS1 Vietnam / GS1 Indonesia |
| 977 / 978 to 979 | Serial publications (ISSN) / books (ISBN, "Bookland") |
So what does a barcode starting with 8 mean? On a 13-digit code, it depends on the next two digits: 800 to 839 is Italy, 840 to 849 Spain, 868 to 869 Türkiye, 870 to 879 the Netherlands, 880 to 881 South Korea, 885 Thailand, 888 Singapore, 890 India, 893 Vietnam and 899 Indonesia, among others. On a 12-digit UPC, an 8 at the front means prefix 08x, a GS1 US range. Either way you've learned the licensing office, not the factory.
The ranges also aren't evenly shared out, which is why some countries "appear" on more products than others. The chart counts how many three-digit prefixes sit with each GS1 office on the current list.
Show as table
| Item | Value (prefixes) |
|---|---|
| GS1 US | 109 |
| GS1 France | 80 |
| GS1 Germany | 41 |
| GS1 Italy | 40 |
| GS1 Japan | 20 |
| GS1 China | 12 |
| GS1 UK | 10 |
| GS1 Netherlands | 10 |
| GS1 Canada | 2 |
| GS1 India | 1 |
| GS1 Nigeria | 1 |
Source: LegitInformant count from GS1, GS1 Company Prefix list (2026). US total covers 001 to 019, 030 to 039 and 060 to 139.
How does the check digit work, and how do you calculate it?
The last digit is arithmetic, not information. GS1 uses the same method for GTIN-8, GTIN-12, GTIN-13 and GTIN-14, and you can do it on the back of a receipt.
- Drop the last digit. For 3017620422003, work with 301762042200.
- Weight from the right. Starting with the rightmost remaining digit, multiply it by 3, the next one by 1, then 3, then 1, alternating all the way to the left.
- Add the results. For this code the products are 3, 0, 1, 21, 6, 6, 0, 12, 2, 6, 0 and 0, which sum to 57.
- Round up to the next multiple of 10. The next multiple of 10 above 57 is 60, and 60 minus 57 is 3. That's the check digit, and it matches the 3 printed on the jar. If the total is already a multiple of 10, the check digit is 0.
Because the weighting runs from the right, a 13-digit EAN ends up reading 1, 3, 1, 3 from the left, while a 12-digit UPC reads 3, 1, 3, 1 from the left. Try GS1's own UPC example, 61414123456: the weighted total is 89, so the check digit is 1, giving 614141234561.
What does it catch? Every single-digit mistake and most swaps of two neighboring digits, which is why tills beep an error rather than charging you for the wrong item. Change the second-to-last digit in the Nutella number from 0 to 1 and the check digit would have to be 2, not 3, so the scanner rejects it. Our barcode checker runs this test instantly.
What doesn't it catch? Anything deliberate. A counterfeiter who copies a genuine code copies a valid check digit along with it. Passing the check proves only that the number is well formed.
UPC vs EAN vs GTIN: is a UPC the same as a barcode?
People use the three words interchangeably, and mostly that's fine. Strictly, the barcode is the pattern of bars a scanner reads; the GTIN is the number it encodes; UPC and EAN are names for particular formats. A UPC-A is a 12-digit GTIN. Put a 0 in front of it and you have a valid 13-digit EAN, which is why a US product scans fine in Paris and a French one scans in Ohio.
| Format | Digits | Where you see it |
|---|---|---|
| UPC-A (GTIN-12) | 12 | Retail products registered in the US and Canada |
| EAN-13 (GTIN-13) | 13 | Retail products almost everywhere else |
| EAN-8 (GTIN-8) | 8 | Very small packs, like gum or lip balm, where 13 digits won't fit |
| GTIN-14 | 14 | Outer cases and cartons in warehouses, rarely at the till |
| ISBN-13 | 13, starting 978 or 979 | Books |
| ISSN in EAN form | 13, starting 977 | Magazines and other serial publications |
A GTIN-14 adds an indicator digit at the front to mark a packaging level, such as a case of 24, so a carton label scanned with a phone often returns nothing useful.
Why do some barcodes start with 2, 02 or 04?
These are restricted circulation numbers, and they're the main reason a perfectly legitimate label won't look up online. GS1 sets aside 020 to 029 and 200 to 299 for codes defined by each national GS1 office within its own territory, and 040 to 049 for numbers a single company issues for its internal use.
The deli counter is the classic case. A pack of sliced turkey weighed and labeled in the store gets a code starting 2 on a 12-digit UPC, or 20 to 29 on an EAN in many countries, and the store can build the item code and the price or weight into the digits. GS1 Sweden's guidance is blunt about the scope: a Swedish restricted number can only be used in Sweden. The same digits can mean ham in one chain and cheddar in the next.
Codes starting 04 are numbers a single company issues for its own internal use, such as a retailer's store-made labels. Coupons have their own history: US manufacturer coupons once carried UPC "Prefix 5" codes, but the Joint Industry Coupon Committee retired those after June 30, 2015, moving coupons to the GS1 DataBar format. GS1 now lists 050 to 059 as reserved by GS1 US for future use.
A common mix-up: these restrictions apply to codes beginning 02 or 04, not to every code with a 4 in front. A 13-digit code starting 400 to 440 is an ordinary German-registered product.
What do the numbers on fruit and vegetable stickers mean?
Those little stickers carry PLU (price look-up) codes, which aren't GTINs at all. They're assigned by the International Federation for Produce Standards (IFPS), and stores have used them since 1990 so a cashier can tell a conventional Fuji apple from an organic one without guessing.
- 4 digits (in the 3000 and 4000 series): conventionally grown produce, assigned randomly with no meaning hidden in individual digits.
- 5 digits starting with 9: organic. IFPS puts a 9 in front of the conventional code, so organic is 9 plus the same four digits.
- 5 digits starting with 8: not a GMO marker. The 8 prefix was once reserved for genetically modified produce but, as IFPS explained in 2015, it was never used at retail. IFPS has reassigned 83000 to 84999 for future conventional codes once the four-digit ranges run out.
The system is voluntary, and IFPS says more than 1,500 PLU codes have been issued. If you paid the organic price, the five-digit code starting with 9 is the one that should appear on the sticker and, at many stores, on your receipt.
Can a barcode tell you if a product is fake?
Not on its own. Counterfeiters copy genuine barcodes along with the logo, so a fake handbag, phone charger or face cream can scan exactly like the real thing, check digit and all. The barcode is a product label, not a security feature.
A barcode can still help you spot an inconsistency, which is a different and more useful job:
- The code fails the check-digit test, so it was typed or printed by someone who didn't follow the standard.
- A GS1 lookup shows the number licensed to a company that has nothing to do with the brand on the box.
- The code belongs to a different product, size or variant from the one you're holding.
- A boxed retail product has no barcode at all, or a sticker pasted over the original.
Any of these is a reason to look harder, not a verdict. Our guide to spotting counterfeit products covers the in-hand checks that do the real work. Medicines are a special case: many carry a serialized 2D code that can be verified, which our fake medicine guide explains.
A barcode tells you what a product claims to be. It can't tell you whether the claim is true.
How do you look up a barcode number online?
Start with Verified by GS1, the free search built on GS1's global registries. Enter the number and it answers the question GS1 designed it for: which company the number is licensed to. GS1 says that basic licensee information is the data it can almost always provide; fuller product details appear only when the brand owner has uploaded them through its national GS1 office.
Then compare. Does the licensee match the brand on the pack, or its known parent company? A small brand may still show its own name while a big multinational may show a regional subsidiary, as with that French-registered Nutella number. National GS1 offices run their own lookup tools too.
Free consumer apps and open databases are handy for ingredients or product photos, but they're built from user submissions and retailer feeds. Expect gaps, stale entries and the odd wrong photo. Plenty of real products, especially from small makers, won't appear anywhere, and restricted in-store codes never will. "Not found" is normal; a match to a different company is the result that deserves attention. You can paste a code into our barcode checker to validate it and see the issuing GS1 office before searching further.
If you're checking a barcode because of a recall notice, the matching process (UPC plus lot codes and dates) has its own steps in our guide to what to do about product recalls.
QR codes on packaging: what's changing with Sunrise 2027?
The striped barcode is about to share the pack with a square one. GS1 calls the industry milestone Sunrise 2027: by the end of 2027, retail point-of-sale systems should be able to read 2D barcodes as well as traditional ones, according to IFPS's 2026 summary of the program. GS1 US says shoppers may see both a 2D code and a standard UPC on the same pack during the transition, and that brands don't have to switch everything over by that date.
The new codes use GS1 Digital Link, a standard that wraps the GTIN inside a web address. One square can then serve the till (which reads the GTIN), the warehouse (which can read batch, lot and expiry data) and your phone camera (which opens a product page with allergens, recall notices or usage information). GS1 US lists batch and lot numbers, weight, price and expiration date among the data 2D codes can carry. Even produce stickers are getting guidance on 2D codes, published by the produce industry in 2026.
Medicines got there first: many prescription packs already carry a DataMatrix code with a serial number under US and EU traceability rules, which our fake medicine guide covers in detail.
Source: GS1, About GS1 (2026).
A QR code on a pack is still just a link, though, and stickers can be placed over real ones. Before you open one, preview where it goes with our QR code scanner.
How do businesses get a real barcode, and are cheap UPCs a risk?
If you're launching a product, you license numbers from the GS1 office in your country. In the US, GS1 US currently charges $30 for a single GTIN with no renewal fee, or you can license a company prefix sized to how many products you'll need, with an annual renewal.
Show as table
| Item | Value (USD) |
|---|---|
| 1 GTIN | 30 |
| Prefix for 10 items | 250 |
| Prefix for 100 items | 750 |
| Prefix for 1,000 items | 2,500 |
| Prefix for 10,000 items | 6,500 |
| Prefix for 100,000 items | 10,500 |
Source: GS1 US, How to get UPC barcodes (2026). Annual renewal fees: $0 for a single GTIN, then $50, $150, $500, $1,300 and $2,100 for the prefix tiers shown.
Websites selling UPCs for a dollar or two each are reselling numbers carved out of old prefixes licensed to someone else years ago. The digits will pass a check-digit test and scan at a till. The problem is ownership: a GS1 lookup will show the original licensee, not your brand. GS1 Australia says Amazon verifies product IDs against GS1 data and that GS1-issued numbers prevent listing rejections, and large retailers increasingly run the same check. For a hobby seller at a craft fair this may never matter. For anyone planning to sell through a big marketplace or chain, a resold code can mean a pulled listing, so ask the retailer what it accepts before you print packaging.
Shoppers don't need to worry about any of this when they buy, but it explains one oddity: a small brand's product can look up as belonging to an unrelated company simply because the maker bought cheap numbers. That's sloppy, not necessarily shady.
Frequently asked questions
What country is barcode 888?
On a 13-digit EAN, a code starting 888 was issued by GS1 Singapore to a company that licensed its numbers there. On a 12-digit UPC, though, the first three digits aren't the prefix: GS1 adds an implied leading zero, so a UPC starting 888 carries prefix 088, which belongs to GS1 US. Count the digits first. Neither case tells you the factory location.
What does a barcode starting with 5 mean?
On a 13-digit code, 500 to 509 is GS1 UK, 520 to 521 Greece, 540 to 549 Belgium and Luxembourg, 560 Portugal, 570 to 579 Denmark, 590 Poland and 599 Hungary. On a 12-digit UPC, a leading 5 means prefix 05x. US manufacturer coupons used that range until the industry retired UPC Prefix 5 coupons after June 30, 2015. GS1 now lists 050 to 059 as reserved by GS1 US for future use.
What country is barcode 729?
Prefix 729 is assigned to GS1 Israel, so a 13-digit code starting 729 belongs to a company that licensed its number through the Israeli GS1 office. Like every other prefix, it says where the number was registered, not where the item was grown or manufactured. For the country of manufacture, read the origin marking on the pack, which is a separate legal requirement in many countries.
Can two different products have the same barcode?
They shouldn't. GS1 rules say a brand owner gives each distinct product, size and pack its own GTIN, and the same GTIN is used for that product wherever it's sold. Clashes do happen: in-store codes starting 2, 02 or 04 are reused by different shops, resold UPCs sometimes end up with two sellers, and counterfeiters copy real codes. A clash is a data problem, not proof of fraud on its own.
Can you scan a barcode to check the expiration date?
Not with the ordinary 1D barcode. A UPC or EAN holds only the product number, so the same code sits on every jar of that product whatever its date. Newer 2D codes built to GS1 standards can carry a batch or lot number and an expiry date, and that information is starting to appear on food and is already common on medicines. Until then, read the printed date.
Do barcodes contain price information?
Normally no. The scanner reads the product number and the till looks up the price in the store's own database, which is why the same item can cost different amounts in two shops. The exception is weighed goods such as deli meat or cheese: their in-store labels start with 2 or 02, and the store can build the weight or price into the digits.
What barcode prefix does India use?
GS1 India issues numbers under prefix 890, so many products from Indian brand owners carry a 13-digit EAN starting 890. Indian companies selling mainly in other markets may hold numbers from other GS1 offices, and a foreign brand selling in India keeps its own home prefix. Like everywhere else, 890 tells you where the company licensed the number, not where the product was made.
What is the barcode prefix for Nigeria?
Prefix 615 is assigned to GS1 Nigeria. One trap: a 12-digit UPC that happens to start 615 isn't Nigerian at all, because GS1 reads 12-digit codes with an implied leading zero, making the prefix 061, a GS1 US range. NAFDAC registration numbers and medicine authentication codes are separate from the barcode and are covered in our fake medicine guide.
Can a barcode be traced back to the manufacturer?
It can usually be traced to the company that licensed the number, which is the brand owner, not necessarily the factory. Verified by GS1 shows that licensee for most GS1 numbers. Brands outsource production all the time, so the licensee may be a US or European company whose goods are made by a contract factory in another country. The barcode won't name that factory.
Is it legal to buy cheap UPC codes online?
Buying resold numbers isn't a crime in itself, but it carries business risk. The number stays registered to whoever originally licensed it from GS1, so a GS1 lookup won't show your company. GS1 Australia says Amazon checks product IDs against GS1 records, and many large retailers reject codes that don't match the seller. If you plan to sell through major retailers or marketplaces, license directly from your national GS1 office.
Why does a barcode app show the wrong product?
Most free barcode apps rely on crowdsourced or scraped databases, so entries can be outdated, misspelled or simply wrong. A brand may also have changed a recipe or pack size, and in-store codes starting 2, 02 or 04 mean different things in different shops. Check the brand owner on Verified by GS1, then compare with the brand's own site before assuming anything is wrong with the product.
Sources
- GS1: GS1 Company Prefix, list of GS1 prefixes (2026)
- GS1: How to calculate a check digit manually (2026)
- GS1: About GS1, a global system used every day (2026)
- GS1: Verified by GS1 (2026)
- GS1 US: What is GS1 Sunrise 2027? (2026)
- GS1 US: 2D barcodes and GS1 Digital Link (2026)
- GS1 US: How to get UPC barcodes, GS1 Company Prefix pricing (2026)
- GS1 Sweden: How to barcode label items of varying weight (2026)
- GS1 Australia: Barcodes for selling on Amazon (2026)
- IFPS: What is a PLU code? (2026)
- IFPS / PMA Fresh Magazine: Re-assignment of Price Look-up Codes, the 8 prefix (2015)
- IFPS: New guidance supports 2D barcode implementation on fresh produce PLU stickers (2026)
- FMI / Joint Industry Coupon Committee: JICC urges retailers to prepare for retirement of coupon barcodes (2015)
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection: Marking of country of origin on U.S. imports (2026)
Figures are the latest available from each source at the time of writing. We review guides when official data or rules change. Spotted an error? Tell us.