Beer, Spirits & Wine Barcodes

We supply lots of barcodes for craft beer, spirits and wine. Barcodes are required so that retailers can easily keep track of their inventory and simplify the sales process. We have been selling barcodes to customers in Australia and worldwide for many years. Many of our customers are vineyards, wine distributors, and companies that specialise in wine, beer and spirits, including NSW-based Boydell’s, beers by Victoria-based Banks Brewing and 2 Brothers Brewery, Adelaide’s brewery Shifty Lizard and Tasmanian Lawrenny Gin.

Spring Bay Distillery is available on their website and Dan Murphy’s

Lawrenny Gin is available at their website, Dan Murphy’s and Amazon

Barcodes for wine and beer products can be purchased below. If you purchase “Barcode Packages” below, you will receive EAN-13 barcodes that are suitable for use on all food and beverage products (including wines and beers) in Australia and worldwide. For more information about barcodes for wine bottles, please see the FAQ at the bottom of this page.

FAQs about Barcodes for alcohol

What type of barcode do I need for beer, spirits or wines?

Alcohol products usually have a 13-digit “EAN-13” barcode on them. You can purchase this type of barcode above and receive it by email instantly.

The Winemakers’ Federation of Australia Packaging Guidelines for barcodes states that wine bottles should have “a standardised approach to numbering and barcoding trade items”. Our EAN-13 barcodes meet these guidelines. The EAN-13 barcodes we sell are globally unique barcodes that comply with the standardised retail barcoding system used in Australia and worldwide. Our barcodes are compliant with all retail barcoding software and barcode scanners, both in Australia and worldwide.

How many barcodes do I need for my wine (or beer) products?

Generally speaking, you need a unique barcode number for each different retail product (this includes different product variations – e.g. different craft beer flavours or sizes). If your product is for sale both individually (e.g. individual bottles) and in a multi-unit set (e.g. a 6-pack of beers), you’ll need one barcode for the bottle and a different barcode for the 6-pack.

You definitely need a different barcode for each product when the price changes. If the price is the same (across all the product variations), then you might get away with using the same barcode number on all the product variations. This depends a bit on which retail stores you are selling your products in – the larger retail stores, in particular, might require a different barcode for each product variation (especially if they do stocktaking automatically instead of manually).

Do I need to get different barcodes for different vintages of wine?

Possibly. If different vintages are available for sale at the same time in the retail stores and have different prices, then you will definitely need a different barcode for each vintage (so that the correct price appears when the barcode is scanned at checkout).

What type of barcode do I need for the outer delivery cartons of wine?

You may need to put an ITF-14 carton code (a 14-digit Shipping Code) onto the delivery boxes that contain your wine bottles – please discuss this with your retailers to find out if they require this. ITF-14 barcodes are 14 digits long and are based on the 13-digit EAN barcode on the wine labels. They are scanned when each delivery carton enters the warehouse/storage area so that your retailers know how many bottles of wine are in each box (this helps them to keep track of the remaining stock that’s in their warehouse and to know when they’re running low on a particular product and need to order more). Usually, you’ll need one ITF-14 barcode for each EAN-13 barcode that you have. You can purchase an ITF-14 carton code here if you need one.

Do we need to give you any product information?

No, you don’t. All you need to do is buy the barcodes you need below on our website and pay by credit card. You will receive your barcodes automatically by email as soon as we receive your payment. The barcodes will be a globally unique sequence of 13 digits encoded into a barcode image (the vertical black bars and white spaces). No product information will be encoded into the barcodes – your barcodes and products will only be linked together once you give them to your retailers, and they enter the information into their inventory system (after that, when the barcode is scanned, the product/price information will appear on the retailer’s checkout screen).

How do we use our barcodes?

For information about how to use your barcodes, please see this page. We also have a short (7-page) Barcode Buyer Document PDF that explains how to use your barcode.

Do we need to register the barcodes in a  database? 

No, you don’t. You can allocate the barcodes to your products, get them printed onto the labels, and start using the barcodes immediately. There is no compulsory (or comprehensive) barcode database for alcohol products or any other retail product in Australia or worldwide.

There are several general barcode databases online (where all types of retail products – food, beverages, clothes etc. – can be listed), but none of these databases is complete. One of the best ones is the International Barcodes Database. If you purchase “EAN-13 Barcode Packages” (above), you’ll be able to register your barcodes for free on that database. Registration is an optional service. It is not compulsory. For more information about barcode registration, click here.

Can we purchase a roll of sticky barcode labels from you?

Yes. We can send you a roll of barcode labels (via courier). We also do round labels suitable for 4-pack carriers. This could be a good option if your labels were printed before you got a barcode (or if the barcode printed on the labels is not scanning correctly for some reason). You can purchase barcode labels here.