How do you sell a product retail in Taiwan?

Business Money
1

Does anyone know the process of how to sell a product retail here? In particular I am wondering how you get that bar code you see on all products…I would also be interested if anyone here knows how to get an ISBN number, and are ISBN numbers only for books?

Any help is appreciated…

2

I was informed recently that to get an ISBN for a book (or whatever, don’t know about that) your business license should specifically include publishing.

3

[quote=“dvasas”]Does anyone know the process of how to sell a product retail here? In particular I am wondering how you get that bar code you see on all products…I would also be interested if anyone here knows how to get an ISBN number, and are ISBN numbers only for books?

Any help is appreciated…[/quote]

ISBN numbers are indeed only for books (and closely related paraphenalia). If you still want info on how to get one, let me know and I’ll dig up the research I did.

If you want to sell something else, I’m afraid I can’t help you.

4

[quote=“dvasas”]Does anyone know the process of how to sell a product retail here? In particular I am wondering how you get that bar code you see on all products…I would also be interested if anyone here knows how to get an ISBN number, and are ISBN numbers only for books?

Any help is appreciated…[/quote]

ISBN numbers are for printed materials only (books, magazines etc.) What you need are UPC or EAN barcodes, which involves a 2-step process:

  1. contact EAN International at gs1.org/ to apply for membership and receive a manufacturer’s code (this is the first bit of any barcode that stops numbers getting doubled up and allocates space for each company. Obviously you will have to pay, and if your operation is too small you will be refused membership. Once you get your code you just number the rest of your barcodes however you see fit. Don’t be tempted to make up your own mfr. code because you’re liable to mix up EAN IDs with some other manufacturer and break everything.

  2. generate the barcodes with something like this: idautomation.com/java/linearservlet.html

There are many companies who will use their own manufacturer code to make one-off barcodes for you, so it’s worth contacting your printer/packager first if you have a small number of goods.

I work with barcodes for music products on a daily basis so this comes with Llary’s very rare I Know What I’m Talking About Here Guarantee.

5

Thanks so much IIlary I checked out both sites and I think this will be enough to get me started!

Do you know if this is the only BarCode company in Taiwan or are there many types of companies that provide the service?

Cheers.