Re: amazon....upc required
I spoke with Amazon today in great detail about the UPC requirement.
At some point in the past, creating an ASIN didn't require a UPC. Most ASIN's created back then that haven't had a UPC added are now disabled, but there are a few that fell through the cracks and are still listed.
But, yes, making a new ASIN now requires a UPC.
Officially Amazon only supports UPC's registered with gs1.org, which is quite expensive. Using third party UPC's is working now.
Some of the third party UPC's are gs1 registered UPC's that went unused and are being resold (just like gift card resales). Amazon is working on cross-referencing with gs1, and disallowing UPC's that aren't registered there or don't match. Resold UPC's won't show you as the owner with gs1, and you can't update gs1 on the product description since you aren't the original buyer.
Other of the third party UPC's aren't even gs1 registered, and are just random numbers that fit the UPC algorithm (last digit is a checksum-type digit, i.e. not every number of the correct length you can type is a possible UPC) that haven't been gs1 registered yet. So some sites are giving you numbers you can come up with on your own, since they aren't really registered anywhere.
So be warned that you may have issues in the future. But with how expensive gs1 is, it's better at the moment to buy elsewhere for next to nothing.
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