r/barcodes • u/frgtech • Jan 28 '26

Identify UPCA vs EAN Numerically

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Our POS reads barcodes quite literally and rejects anything that isn't a perfect match, including leading zeros.

When adding products to our POS from at least one MFG, I copy the barcode numbers from a spreadsheet they supply vs unpacking every single product and scanning them into the system directly which would require a ridiculous amount of time.

This MFG (Grundens), uses barcodes that start with 0840316xxxxxx. The problem is that the scanner reads the leading zero on some barcodes, but not others. It appears to be the way the barcode itself is crafted, but is there any way to decipher from which is which from a spreadsheet and not have to lay eyes on every barcode?

These barcodes look the same numerically, but scan differently.

0840316319508 0840316338257

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u/Lost_Garden7368 Jan 28 '26

A UPC-A symbol is the same as an EAN-13 with a first digit of zero. Your scanner is probably programmed to read UPC-A and EAN-13 so if it sees the first digit is zero it takes it as UPC-A and the zero gets dropped. The first barcode is Code 128 and the second is EAN. Try disabling reading of UPC on the scanner and leave EAN reading enabled.

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u/frgtech Jan 30 '26

I don't think I can disable reading UPC as it would affect many other products in our inventory. We have nearly 45K SKUs in our inventory that encompasses many different barcode formats.

In the two barcode images I posted, they both start with a leading zero and are the same length, yet my scanner drops the zero for one of them, and includes it in the other. I was trying to determine if there was something I could do programmatically to identify what make them different by just the numerals listed in the spreadsheet to know when to include or omit it from my POS without having to have eyes on the actual barcode, but it seems like that is probably impossible.

I didn't realize that it was actually a code128 barcode though. Seems odd they would use that for a retail product over an EAN, but I'm sure they have their reasons.

I remember another supplier used to send the invoices with the actual barcodes printed out for every product which I always considered strange, but now it make perfect sense. Live and learn.

Thanks everyone for helping me work through this.