UPC and SKU Settings for Barcode Scanning

Updated

ShipStation includes barcode scanning to both verify the products you or your fulfillment provider pack into a shipment and to initiate printing labels for those shipments. Adding a barcode to your Product Records can help improve accuracy in inventory tracking and reduce shipment packing issues.

Add UPC Barcode or Fulfillment SKU to Product Records

If you scan UPC barcodes, you must add UPCs to your Product Details to scan your items successfully. If you scan SKU barcodes that represent your product's fulfillment SKU, you must add Fulfillment SKUs to your Product Details to verify products successfully.

UPC codes or Fulfillment SKUs can be added to your product records individually in the Product Details view or in bulk via a CSV upload.

To add a UPC barcode or Fulfillment SKU to an individual product record

  1. Navigate to the Products tab.

  2. Double click on the desired product in your product grid.

  3. Add the UPC barcode to the UPC field on the General tab of the Product Details pop-up.

    Product details general tab with UPC text box highlighted.

  4. (optional) Add your SKU to the Fulfillment SKU field on the Shipping tab of the Product Details pop-up.

    Fulfillment SKU field highlighted in Shipping tab of Product Details window.

  5. Click Save.

To Add UPC Barcodes or Fulfillment SKUs in Bulk

  1. Export your existing product records:

    To export your product list as a CSV file:

    1. Go to the Products tab.

      Closeup of Toolbar. Box highlights Products tab.

    2. Select the products you’d like to export, or if you wish to export all of them, do not select any products.

    3. Click Export.

    4. Choose if you’d like to export only the selected records or all of your records.

    5. Click Export Now.

  2. Update the UPS and/or FillSKU in your CSV file.

    Scan to Add UPC to a CSV File

    For a faster, more accurate way to add UPCs to your CSV file:

    • Place your cursor in the UPC field of your Product import CSV and scan the product barcode. The UPC will be automatically entered into the field.

    • Remember, each product SKU and UPC in ShipStation must be unique.

  3. Import the updated file to ShipStation .

    To import the edited CSV file:

    1. Go to the Products tab.

      Closeup of Toolbar. Box highlights Products tab.

    2. Click Import.

    3. Click Select File and choose your updated CSV.

      CSV data replaces existing details!

      Be sure your CSV file contains all the information you need for your product records. The CSV import process will replace the data in ShipStation with the data from the CSV. This means if you have a blank cell in the CSV for a field that currently contains data in ShipStation, the CSV import will overwrite that data with a null value and that data will no longer be available in ShipStation.

    4. Select your import options.

    5. Click Start Import.

SKU stands for Stock Keeping Unit. A merchant’s unique alphanumeric identification code for each product that can be purchased. SKUs differ from universal product codes (UPCs) in that they are not universal. This means that every retailer has their own unique set of SKUs to track their merchandise.

Product records in ShipStation are identified using the SKU by default (though if you don’t use SKUs, this can be modified so Product records are identified by the product name instead).

Stands for Universal Product Code. UPC is a “barcode symbology” uniquely assigned to “trade items” to help track items at the point of sale in an automated way.

ShipStation’s Product Details support adding a UPC, and you can use a barcode scan in the advanced search to find orders with these products as well as with ShipStation's Verify & Print workflow.

SKU stands for Stock Keeping Unit. A merchant’s unique alphanumeric identification code for each product that can be purchased. SKUs differ from universal product codes (UPCs) in that they are not universal. This means that every retailer has their own unique set of SKUs to track their merchandise.

Product records in ShipStation are identified using the SKU by default (though if you don’t use SKUs, this can be modified so Product records are identified by the product name instead).

Stands for Universal Product Code. UPC is a “barcode symbology” uniquely assigned to “trade items” to help track items at the point of sale in an automated way.

ShipStation’s Product Details support adding a UPC, and you can use a barcode scan in the advanced search to find orders with these products as well as with ShipStation's Verify & Print workflow.

Configure Scan to Verify by

Depending on your item and warehouse configuration, you may want to scan SKU barcodes or UPC barcodes. In ShipStation, you can scan both SKU and UPC barcodes, but you must enable these options in the Workflow Settings screen in the Scan to Verify Items By section. This setting will determine what types of barcodes Scan to Verify will recognize for your products.

You can find the Scan to Verify ByWorkflow Settings by going to Settings > Shipping > Workflow Settings.

You can select UPC, Item SKU, and Fulfillment SKU.

Scan to Verify Items with options for UPC, Item SKU and Fulfillment SKU.

These options correspond with the product fields in ShipStation. For example, for Scan to Verify to recognize a UPC barcode, the UPC number must be saved in the product default's UPC field.

The Item SKU corresponds to the product's SKU field and the Fulfillment SKU corresponds to the Fulfillment SKU field in the Product Details in ShipStation.

Additionally, Fulfillment SKUs and UPC codes must also be added to product records if you wish to successfully scan those types of barcodes.

SKU stands for Stock Keeping Unit. A merchant’s unique alphanumeric identification code for each product that can be purchased. SKUs differ from universal product codes (UPCs) in that they are not universal. This means that every retailer has their own unique set of SKUs to track their merchandise.

Product records in ShipStation are identified using the SKU by default (though if you don’t use SKUs, this can be modified so Product records are identified by the product name instead).

Stands for Universal Product Code. UPC is a “barcode symbology” uniquely assigned to “trade items” to help track items at the point of sale in an automated way.

ShipStation’s Product Details support adding a UPC, and you can use a barcode scan in the advanced search to find orders with these products as well as with ShipStation's Verify & Print workflow.

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