Why Your Barcode Shows as 12 Digits (and how to fix it)

We receive a few reports per year that our barcodes starting with ’07’ are being read by a customer’s scanner as a 12-digit number (e.g. 762497001804). If this is happening to you, don’t worry, it’s an issue caused by barcode scanner settings, not by the barcode itself.

What’s Happening?

We supply barcodes in EAN (13 digits) and UPC (12 digits) versions. For Philippines and the world (except USA and Canada), retailers expect the EAN format, which always has 13 digits and can start with a leading zero. However, the customer’s own barcode scanner is unknowingly set to treat these EAN numbers as UPC format. In this mode, scanners may drop the leading zero, displaying only 12 digits.

How to Fix It

Most scanners can be configured to recognise and keep the leading zero. Here’s what to try:

1. Put Your Scanner into EAN Mode

Look in your scanner’s user manual or configuration software for barcode types or symbologies. You’re looking for options like:
• Enable EAN-13
• Disable UPC-A only mode
• Don’t strip leading zero from EAN-13
• Transmit UPC-A as EAN-13

If there’s a configuration barcode for enabling EAN-13, scan it using your scanner. This often solves the issue.

As an example, here is how to set a Honeywell scanner into EAN-13 mode and here’s how to remove the configuration option for Zebra’s Datawedge scanner that strips leading zeros.

2. Check Your Scanner’s Output Settings

In some software or POS systems, the scanner passes raw data, but the software applies formatting. Look for settings in your software or POS that determine how barcode input is handled.

3. Check with a Retailer

When a retailer first receives your product, they either scan the barcode or type the number into their system, and also enter your product details, price, reordering information and so on. After this, when they scan your barcode, your product information appears on their screen. As they entered your barcode number with the full 13 digits, this is what will appear when they scan the barcode.

Test with Our Free Online Scanner

To verify what your barcode actually encodes, try scanning it using our free online barcode reader.

This works with phones, tablets, and computers that have a camera. It will show you the number encoded in the barcode image.

Note: we have supplied millions of EAN-13 barcodes that are in use around the world, and the issue is not with the barcodes we provide. It is always a local scanner issue.

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If you still have trouble after checking these steps, contact your scanner’s manufacturer or POS provider. They should be able to guide you to the right configuration for EAN-13 support.