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Frequently Asked Questions

Select a link to quickly view relevant FAQs for GS1 US Data Hub.

GS1 US Data Hub | Product

To create and manage your own products with GS1 US Data Hub | Product you must obtain a GS1 Company Prefix directly through GS1 US. Anyone, however, can subscribe to GS1 US Data Hub | Product to view products shared by create/manage users.

GS1 US Data Hub | Product automatically calculates the check digit for you. There’s no need to create your GTINs in one system, type them into the check digit calculator, and retype the final GTINs—think of all the opportunities for error with that process. Plus, GS1 US Data Hub | Product automatically incorporates your GS1 Company Prefix, and reserves just the right number of digits for your item reference number, so there’s reduced possibility of overwriting your GS1 Company Prefix and mistakenly using someone else’s. It’s all about accuracy and scalability.

GS1 US Data Hub | Product automatically incorporates your GS1 Company Prefix, reserves just the right number of digits for your item reference codes, and automatically calculates the check digit. You can have confidence that you created your barcodes right the first time. And it’s easy to use.

If you choose to add users, you’ll sign up for an additional user subscription through our online application. The application will allow you to add up to 5 users, up to 10 users, or an unlimited number of users for GS1 US Data Hub | Product. The fees will be listed right in the online application. Within 1-2 business days after that subscription fee is paid, the User Administrator for your company will be able to set up those additional users in the GS1 US User Portal, which will give them access to GS1 US Data Hub | Product.

The tool allows you to assign a unique GS1 Global Trade Item Number® (GTIN - more commonly known as a U.P.C.) to every product, which helps retailers, marketplaces, and brands offer consumers a consistent search, discovery, and purchase experience. And if you later decide to sell your products in brick-and-mortar stores, you’re already using the global standard of product identification – no need to create a new identification system for your products.

The product data that you provide through GS1 US Data Hub | Product is fundamental and includes far fewer attributes than you’d provide through a data pool or through a product catalog. That being said, the fundamental product data that you choose to enter in GS1 US Data Hub | Product is well-formed, adheres to GS1 Standards, and is a great source for your chosen data pool or product catalog to use to start the process of importing your data into their database, all without you having to re-enter any data. Just choose to share your GTIN/product data with your data pool (if they’re not subscribed to GS1 US Data Hub | Product yet, suggest they look into it) and they can export and upload your records directly into their databases. From there, you can supplement your records by adding additional attributes, just as you do today.

GS1 US Data Hub | Product allows you to share your product data in the tool with other GS1 US Data Hub | Product subscribers who have a “view/use” subscription. You choose which products to share, and which trading partners to share with – a specific trading partner, or all GS1 US Data Hub | Product subscribers who have a “view/use” subscription. You can add or remove who you share data with at any time. Or you can choose not to share any product data. You’re in control.

The GS1 US Data Hub | Product subscriber that you’ve chosen to share with would see all the data you input for a product that you categorized as “In Use.” They would see your company name, the product brand name, a brief description of the product, the GTIN (or U.P.C.), what industry you are in, the level of packaging (each, case, etc.), your GS1 Company Prefix number and the date you last modified that product’s information. They would also see some basic product information if you included it, such as dimensions, weight, your SKU, and a product photo. They can also see your packaging hierarchy (e.g., each, inner pack, case, etc.) by GTIN.

GS1 US Data Hub | Product has in import feature that allows users to import GTINs created outside of the tool. Importing your GTIN data into the tool allows you to validate your GS1 Company Prefix data, which is particularly useful if you’ve acquired or merged with another company. It shows you how many more products you can identify with your GS1 Company Prefix. Data Hub flags duplicate and incorrect GTINs. Think of it as an easy way to audit and improve the quality of your GTINs and more efficiently manage your GS1 Company Prefix capacity.

Absolutely. The tool allows you to select the area in which the barcode will be scanned, the package level of the product, choose which type of barcode you want to use, and allow you to add your variable measure product details by selecting from a pre-defined list of attributes.

Product data is updated instantaneously.

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The new ‘Target Market’ field allows the Brand Owner to specify the primary market (globally) where their products will be sold. The field is optional.   

GTIN No Reuse

First seek clarity on intent.  Is the InUse record in the market?  How long has the product been in the market? There is no official workaround for this situation. These may be some scenarios to consider on single cases. 

  1. If the Brand Owner intended to create a Case as Each, there is nothing incorrect in retaining the GTIN as an Each.  Brand Owner may use the comments field on the Additional Information screen to clarify the packaging.
  2. The Brand Owner can clone the record, adjust the packaging level and assign a new GTIN.   
  3. If the In Use record is not in the market, has not been announced and never communicated publicly, there may be an option to assign that GTIN to a product that requires that packaging level.  The Brand Owner would change the modifiable fields and save the record.  Modifiable fields on an In Use record include the Product Description, dimensions and weight.  For more information on this, please consult the Product Create/Manage User Guide.

For situations where the Brand Owner made a bulk status change to more than one product record and the packaging levels are incorrect on all of them, technical support will be required.  Member Support is required to file a JIRA ticket with a detailed explanation, list of GTINs, account number, action requested, etc. Member should be advised that turnaround time for correcting these records depends on several factors, resource availability and may take some time to reverse.

There is no notification.  When the GTIN is eligible to become available, Data Hub will automatically move the GTIN to the Available pool.  A Brand Owner may check on the available date of GTINs marked For Reuse prior to 12/31/2018 by navigating to Product Manage and clicking on the For Reuse/Retracted tab. A Brand Owner may override the Available Date by changing the GTIN Available Date on the Product Detail screen and entering a reason for the override.

The GTIN No Reuse standard required many changes to Data Hub functionality to support the new standard. In addition, we wanted to ensure Data Hub was extended to enable our user community in working with Certified Content Providers to enhance their product records.

Our members may view recorded webinars supporting the changes.  One provides the background on the reasoning behind the GTIN No Reuse Standard and one is a walkthrough of changes made to Data Hub.  These are available at no cost to our members.  The notification email will provide a link to the webinar which may be played on demand when the Brand Owner has time.  We will also post a link to the webinar on the Data Hub Home page.

When a GTIN is in PreMarket status and never went to market as an In Use record, the brand owner may retract the GTIN.  The GTIN Management Standard requires the GTIN to be held for a 12-month period and Data Hub will then return the GTIN to the Available pool.   The Brand Owner may check on the available date of retracted GTINs by navigating to Product Manage and clicking on the For Reuse/Retracted tab. 

When the date comes when that GTIN is eligible to become available, Data Hub will automatically move the GTIN to the Available pool.  A Brand Owner may check on the available date of GTINs marked For Reuse prior to 12/31/2018 by navigating to Product Manage and clicking on the For Reuse/Retracted tab. 

The 12-month holding period of a retracted GTIN is a requirement under the new GTIN No Reuse Standard.  There are no exceptions to allow an override to change the date.  We encourage users to carefully form their product records and complete the drafts as much as possible. Once the GTIN is assigned, the only actions available are to retract the GTIN, keep the record in PreMarket, or to advance to InUse.  

More than 20M records have no information in these attributes which were introduced as part of the Certified Content Provider program with Release 3.3. The GTIN Management Standard specifies that once an item is put In Use, its net content fields cannot be modified.    Data Hub has exception logic that allows the fields to be modified only if the original value is blank or null. 

Unfortunately, there is no workaround for this situation.  GS1 US cannot verify if the product was communicated to or used in the supply chain.  A Brand Owner will need to change the status to Archived, where the record and its associated GTIN can remain indefinitely.    

GS1 US Data Hub | Company

GS1 US Data Hub | Company is a quick way to get details on all the companies that have obtained GS1-Issued Company Prefixes from GS1 US. As a subscriber, you can search by company name, by the prefix itself, or by an identifier you know such as a U.P.C./GTIN (Global Trade Item Number®) or GLN (Global Location Number). When you get your results, you can download them for use with other tools. You can also download the entire GS1 US Company Prefix list, just the active prefixes, or the additions/changes from the last month for use in your internal applications.

A List Match feature lets you match Company Prefix information to a list of U.P.C.s/GTINs or GLNs that you might already have.

GS1 US Data Hub has an API available too, so you can connect directly to GS1 US Data Hub data from an external application. If you are a retailer, GS1 Company Prefix data from GS1 US Data Hub | Company is invaluable for confirming that you are buying authentic products from a named manufacturer. If you are running an information business, like a data pool or other repository of product or location information, starting from validated data from GS1 US Data Hub | Company improves the quality of the data you make available through your product.

The GS1 Company Prefix is a globally unique string of numbers that is assigned by GS1 US to a particular company. The company then uses that Company Prefix (and the GS1 Standards) to generate identifiers for their products and locations that will now be unique anywhere in the world. The GS1 Company Prefix helps us to know who generated a GTIN (or U.P.C.) or a GLN. The GS1 US Data Hub | Company database also provides some basic contact information for that company, if you need to reach out to them.

GS1 US Data Hub | Company is a repository for information about the companies that have obtained GS1 Company Prefixes from GS1 US. A GDSN-certified data pool contains detailed information about specific products (identified by U.P.C./GTIN) from a host of companies. The Company Prefix data from GS1 US Data Hub | Company is the root of the product identifiers in the data pools. In fact, some of the data pools use GS1 US Data Hub | Company to confirm company and prefix information for new entries in their databases.

Think about what the term “crowd-sourced” means – it’s searching for what we believe is related data from multiple sources, most often through the Internet. To get that crowd-sourced data narrowed down to a definite answer about which company generated a particular U.P.C. or GTIN involves either some subjective measure of trust of the data sources or some pretty complex mathematical approximation of which is the most likely “right” answer. Why guess, when the Company Prefix information in GS1 US Data Hub | Company comes right from GS1 US—the only body in the United States authorized by GS1 to assign Company Prefixes that are unique in the GS1 numbering system.

The GS1 Company Database (GEPIR) is a free resource available on the GS1 US website. It’s designed for one-off inquiries about companies that obtain GS1 Company Prefixes. The GS1 Company Database does allow you to enter a U.P.C./GTIN or GLN value and search for the related company and its GS1 Company Prefix. However, it is limited to one result per query and a limited number of queries per day. The GS1 Company Database does not allow you to export your results, nor does it support the download of groups of GS1 Company Prefixes. If you have a small number of queries, the GS1 Company Database might be a good first step. If you need to perform a lot of searches, or you need to download the entire GS1 US Company Prefix database to feed your enterprise applications or information service, GS1 US Data Hub | Company is a better alternative.

GS1 US Data Hub | Company focuses on GS1 Company Prefix information, but we can match a particular GTIN (in 8-, 12-, 13- or 14-digit format) back to the GS1 Company Prefix that originated that number. If we can’t find the Company Prefix in our own US database, we do reach out through an API to the global GS1 database and make that query to the appropriate GS1 Member Organization. If we can find the data from one of our affiliated GS1 Member Organizations, we will return it through the GS1 US Data Hub | Company search function. Be aware that prefix data outside the US may not reflect status (active/inactive) or last modification date, as it’s up to each Member Organization whether or not they share that information outside of their membership.

The download file shows both the GS1 Company Prefix and the U.P.C. Company Prefix. You can download the whole GS1 US prefix database, which will give you all of companies that have either active or inactive Company Prefixes. If a prefix has gone inactive (maybe the company went out of business or let their prefix license lapse), we’ll provide the last known company information we have. Export is available as an add-on for an additional fee.

No. The source of information in GS1 US Data Hub | Company is our master Company Prefix database that is secured behind the GS1 US firewall. GS1 US Data Hub | Company is an unalterable source of information and only GS1 US can make changes or additions to the data in this tool.

Yes, GS1 US Data Hub | Company offers an option called List Match that will match company information against a list of U.P.C.s/GTINs or GLNs that you provide. The data that’s returned from the List Match is the same data we return from a standard GS1 US Data Hub | Company “search,” including Entity GLN, U.P.C. Company Prefix, GS1 Company Prefix, company name, address, the date of the last modification to each record, and the Global Service Relation Number (GSRN).

Absolutely not. The information about your company and the Company Prefixes you’ve obtained are included in GS1 US Data Hub | Company as a courtesy by GS1 US, at no additional cost to your company. Your company information is also available on our public GS1 Company Database (GEPIR).

We recently added the ability for GS1 US Data Hub | Product subscribers to share their product data through the tool, so it will take time to build up the product database. If you have a trading partner that has a GS1 Company Prefix and you know they’ve created GTIN data in GS1 US Data Hub | Product, ask them to use the “Share” feature to make that data available to you through GS1 US Data Hub. We know you will see an increase in shared product records shortly.

In its current release, GS1 US Data Hub | Company focuses on providing information about the companies that have obtained GS1 Company Prefixes. You may need more product-specific information to power your service. We suggest you contact one of the many Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN)-certified data pools, many of which contain product data for thousands of food and foodservice products. View the current list of certified data pools

Just to set your expectations, the product data that will be added to GS1 US Data Hub | Product will be basic information, like U.P.C./GTIN, product name and some basic dimensioning attributes. For more detailed attributes (like chemical composition or nutritionals), you might want to work with one of the GDSN-certified data pools.

Yes, once you subscribe you can. We know if the U.P.C./GTIN was created from a legitimate GS1 Company Prefix and who obtained that prefix.

The data in GS1 US Data Hub | Company is refreshed several times throughout the day.

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GS1 US Data Hub | Location

GS1 US Data Hub | Location supports traceability and improves order-to-cash efficiency. It provides companies with a single source of information for trading partner locations, and how they are related. It provides up-to-date information direct from the trading partner and eliminates the need for interpretation (and the opportunity for misinterpretation). Using the GLNs alongside GS1 US Data Hub | Location saves time and increases order accuracy by eliminating the need for customized identification of locations.

To create and manage your own locations with GS1 US Data Hub | Location, you must obtain a GS1 Company Prefix directly through GS1 US. Anyone, however, can subscribe to GS1 US Data Hub | Location to view locations shared by create/manage users.

If you have a GS1 Company Prefix, you have an Entity GLN. You can find the Entity GLN on your prefix certificate or in GS1 US Data Hub. If you need to identify more than your headquarter location, then yes, GS1 US Data Hub | Location is your answer—it's free for one user with a prefix. The tool automatically incorporates your GS1 Company Prefix and calculates the check digit so your GLNs are properly formatted.

Once you subscribe to GS1 US Data Hub | Location, you can find it right in the tool under the “Manage” tab. It’ll be listed as your “Top Level GLN.”

Also, you can find your “Entity GLN” listed on your GS1 Company Prefix certificate. Don’t have your certificate? Log in to our online member center to download it.

GS1 US Data Hub | Location supports traceability and improves order-to-cash efficiency. Click on the "Benefits" and "Features" sections to learn more about how GS1 US Data Hub | Location can help you.

The answer is accuracy and timeliness.  The GLN:

  • Is a globally unique identification number.
  • Identifies locations and supply chain partners.
  • Identifies a legal entity, such as a whole company or a subsidiary; a functional entity, such as a purchasing department; or a physical location, such as a warehouse.
  • Is an open, global standard that supports 23 major industries conducting business in more than 155 countries worldwide.

You can have a single user, up to 5 users, up to 10 users, or an unlimited number of users using the tool. With GS1 US Data Hub | Location, you can also manage what type of role each of your users have.

No. Only you manage your own locations.

Yes, we have an API option. See more information in our "Fees" section.

With GS1 US Data Hub | Location, you can share with all GS1 US Data Hub | Location subscribers in a particular industry or supply chain role, or with select trading partners. You can share single locations or an entire branch of your hierarchy.

You can subscribe to the tool as a GPO (see more information on the "Fees" tab above) and invite your healthcare providers to join the tool. Contact us for more information.

If you are a healthcare provider, please work with your primary GPO to gain access to GS1 US Data Hub | Location. If you need assistance in connecting with your GPO, contact us.

Location data is updated instantaneously.

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