Barcode Label Generator: Avery & Thermal

Which barcode should I print for an internal SKU?

Code 128 can encode an internal alphanumeric SKU and is useful for warehouse labels when your scanners and inventory system support it. Retail supply chains commonly require assigned GS1 identifiers instead. Choose the symbol required by the receiving system, then test the printed label.

Why should I print a sample sheet first?

Printer scaling and paper feed can move labels even when the PDF dimensions match the sheet. Print at 100% size, check the first and last labels against the stock and scan a sample. Adjust the printer settings before committing to a full batch.

How should you structure a SKU?

Keep it short, unique and consistent. Start with a fixed segment for the product family, add one segment per attribute that changes stock (colour, size, pack), and finish with a zero-padded sequence so two products can never collide. Use uppercase letters and digits only, separate segments with a hyphen, avoid letters that look like digits (O and 0, I and 1), and keep the whole thing under about sixteen characters so it fits on a label and a pick list. Do not encode price, supplier or location, because those change and the SKU must not. TS-BLK-M-002 says everything a picker needs; a SKU that is the supplier’s part number says nothing when you change supplier.

What is the difference between a SKU and a barcode?

A SKU is your internal identifier; you invent it and it is unique inside your business. A barcode number (a GTIN, printed as an EAN-13 in Australia) is a global identifier issued under a GS1 company prefix so a product scans the same at your warehouse, your customer’s warehouse and a retail checkout. A product has one SKU and may have one GTIN per sellable unit and another for the carton (a GTIN-14). Internal-only items such as bins, locations and bulk stock can be barcoded with a Code 128 of the SKU itself, which needs no GS1 membership.

How do you calculate an EAN-13 check digit?

Take the first twelve digits. Starting from the rightmost, multiply the digits alternately by 3 and 1 and add the results. The check digit is the number that brings that sum up to the next multiple of ten (zero if it already is one). For 400638133393 the sum is 89, so the check digit is 1 and the barcode is 4006381333931. The same rule applies to GTIN-8, UPC-A and GTIN-14. The calculator on this page does it for one code or a list, and validates codes you already have; a wrong check digit is the most common reason a barcode “will not scan” into an ERP.

How do SKUs and barcodes get into an ERP?

Every product record carries the SKU as its code and the GTIN in the barcode field, and variants carry their own of each. Export the list from this page in the Odoo layout (internal reference, name, attribute columns, barcode) or the MYOB Acumatica layout (inventory ID, description, attributes, alternate ID) and it loads through the standard import. Getting the scheme right before the import is the point: renaming SKUs after transactions exist is painful in any system, and matrix items in MYOB Acumatica generate the child SKUs from the scheme you define once.