Selecting the Status for a Product

This article explains the PreMarket status, and questions you should ask before setting a product's status to In Use.

Think of this status as the “Pre-production stage.” Your product is set to PreMarket when you assign the GTIN and save the product detail record. If you no longer want this product detail record, you can "retract" the GTIN by clicking the Retract PreMarket GTIN button. This will retract the GTIN and make it available to be assigned again. The product detail record will be deleted.

Note: Per the GS1 General Specifications: “an allocated GTIN shall not be reallocated to another trade item.” So there are questions to consider before you click the Retract PreMarket GTIN button. Refer to the GS1 General Specifications, section 4.3.5, for more details.

While the product is in the PreMarket status, you can modify product attributes - except for Packaging Level. Also, while the product is in the PreMarket status, you can click the View Barcode button to generate a “For Placement Only” - or FPO – barcode symbol file (in PNG format only). You can send this file to your packaging designer, to ensure it fits properly on your product artwork. This watermark barcode symbol is NOT the final artwork, but it can be useful for testing the placement of the barcode symbol on your packaging.

Before You Set the Status to In Use:

Before you change the product’s status from PreMarket to In Use, here are three questions to consider:

1. Are the product attributes and packaging final?
   
2. Are you ready to produce and sell this product to consumers?
   
3. Are you ready to start sharing this information with trading partners?
   

If you answer “Yes” to each of the questions, you're ready to set the status to In Use.

When you are ready to launch your product into the marketplace, click the Set Status to In Use button. Think of In Use as your “Production” stage. The product and the assigned GTIN are now permanently linked to each other. As the GS1 General Specifications states: “An allocated GTIN shall not be reallocated to another trade item.” Certain attributes, such as net weight and unit of measure, cannot be changed. If these attributes change, you should set the status to Archived, then create a new product and assign a new GTIN.

For more details, view the What Fields Can Be Changed article.

By default, an In Use product is shared with all GS1 US Data Hub Product View/Use subscribers - and with global marketplace via the GS1 Registry Platform. But you can change these sharing options.

In GS1 US Data Hub, when you set the status to In Use, you can now generate a scannable barcode image that you can download. You can also export the barcode definitions to send to a GS1 Standards Professional Barcode and Image Print Vendor.