A barcode is a machine-readable representation of a unique number, allowing retailers to track product sales in their inventory system. It typically consists of dark ink on a light background, forming high and low reflectance patterns that are converted to binary digits. UPCs (12 digits) and EANs (13 digits) are common types of barcodes.

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Getting more information from a barcode

Database websites or apps search the internet for information about a particular barcode number. The information found is generally company name and/or contact details and relevant product information. Sometimes it can even show where you can purchase the product from.

You can search for any EAN-13 or UPC barcode on various sites or apps (such as International Barcodes Database, IBNREG, or using smartphone apps). If you own a barcode number and no results are found when you run a search, you can have your barcode registered to ensure your information is displayed when searched.

Internet search success depends on which search engine you are using and how well that has been indexed. There are a lot of barcode scanning apps, with more being released regularly. The places they search vary from app to app. Some apps assume the user wants to find the product for sale in an online shop in their vicinity. Hence, these apps will search nearby, so they are more likely to find your product if it is for sale in stores in that area. And some apps have other search algorithms which are hard to understand. Most apps change or update where they search regularly so that the results can change over time. Some apps, such as the Zebra Scanning App, look directly in databases and find barcodes/products registered through our registration service. In conclusion, the success of searching or scanning depends on which search engine or app you use and how much information is available on the internet, including online stores.

Barcode Registration Service

Our registration service helps with this visibility, depending on which search engine or app you are using and where that app is currently searching. Our registration service registers the barcode number and product/manufacturer in an online database. This data is then fed to several other online databases. This makes it easier for people to find your barcode number or product via an internet search or scanning app.

The Zebra Barcode Scanner App (free) works on Apple and Android devices and finds the correct product details from barcodesdatabase org. It is available as a PWA (Progressive Web App) here https://zebra.barcodesdatabase.org