If you've tried to enter giveaways, you may have discovered that you need a UPC (usually located on the packaging or the bottom of a product) to submit your entry. While there are many ways to find UPCs without making a purchase, there are also plenty of resources for determining where to buy specific products. So before you skip such sweepstakes with chances of winning some great prizes, try these free and easy ways to find product codes online.
What are UPCs?
A UPC is a unique barcode that’s printed on products. The UPC or Universal Product Code is a 12-digit number that uniquely identifies most trade items. It can be found on almost everything you buy, from food at the grocery store to cleaning supplies at the home center and toys for kids. UPCs are also found on books, DVDs, CDs, and a wide range of other consumer goods. Each UPC contains the product's name, manufacturer's info, checksum characters, and encoded information about the type of product that it describes.
Use online retailers to find UPCs
Thanks to all of the online stores these days, finding UPCs is as easy as typing in the name of the product you need and pressing enter online. UPCs are almost always in numerical order by product. So look for products with numbers that look like they go in order, and you should find the UPCs that you need.
Find free UPCs in the internet UPC database
The Internet UPC Database is a collection of UPCs that have been scanned from products. It typically includes the name of the product, the price paid to purchase, and notes from the person who scanned it in. The info is entered by volunteers. This means that some of these codes could be outdated or incorrect. But it’s still a useful resource for locating hard-to-find codes.
Use the BarcodeLookup website to find free UPCs
BarcodeLookup is a free site that searches its database for product listings and then returns the UPC for any matches found. To use the site, you need to enter a product name, number, or series, and choose a retailer - once this is done, the product information will be pulled up from one of their many data sources.
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