A Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) is the international barcode identifier — UPC, EAN, JAN, or ISBN — that uniquely identifies a manufactured product worldwide, issued by GS1.
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GTIN is the umbrella standard managed by GS1 that covers four regional barcode formats: GTIN-8 (EAN-8, short codes), GTIN-12 (UPC-A, used in North America), GTIN-13 (EAN-13, used globally outside North America), and GTIN-14 (used for cases and pallets). The number itself encodes a country prefix, a manufacturer code, an item reference, and a check digit calculated from the other digits.
Google Shopping and most major marketplaces require GTIN for products from brands that are part of the GS1 system — effectively every consumer-goods brand. Submitting an invalid GTIN, or omitting it for a product that should have one, triggers a disapproval. For products without a GTIN (private label, custom-made, vintage, refurbished), the feed must set identifier_exists=no to tell Google the omission is intentional rather than missing data.
A common mistake is to copy an internal SKU into the GTIN field. SKUs are not GTINs — they have no check digit, no GS1 prefix, and Google validates the check digit on every submission. Another common issue is leading-zero loss: GTIN-13 codes that start with 0 are sometimes truncated by spreadsheet software to 12 digits. FeedArc preserves leading zeros and validates check digits at import time, so invalid GTINs never reach the export.
Where the concept above breaks down or needs careful application — written honestly so you can make better decisions.
The official GS1 reference for the modulo-10 algorithm used across GTIN-8, GTIN-12, GTIN-13, and GTIN-14.
Open-source TypeScript implementation of the GS1 modulo-10 algorithm. Zero dependencies, tested against public GS1 vectors, MIT licensed.
An MPN (Manufacturer Part Number) is the unique code a manufacturer assigns to one of its products, used together with the brand field to identify products that do not have a GTIN.
Google Merchant Center (GMC) is the Google platform where you upload, validate, and manage product feeds that power Google Shopping ads, free listings, Performance Max, and Demand Gen campaigns.
Feed validation is the process of checking a product feed against a channel's schema and rules — required fields, data types, value formats, and business logic — before upload, so errors are caught locally rather than after disapproval.
Feed rules are transformations applied to a product catalog before export — mapping internal field names to channel-specific schemas, filtering out ineligible products, enriching data, or applying conditional logic per channel.
Build a Google Shopping XML feed that clears Merchant Center review. FeedArc maps required attributes and fixes GTIN and category errors before export.
Export an Amazon product feed in the flat-file layout Seller Central expects. FeedArc maps feed_product_type, validates fields, and flags errors before upload.
How AI is reshaping product feed management — from AI-generated titles in 7 languages to vision-based image quality, taxonomy mapping, GTIN validation, and POAS signals.
A diagnostic guide to Google Merchant Center disapprovals: the 12 most common causes, how to fix each one, and how to stop them recurring before re-upload.
How to turn a valid product feed into one that wins clicks and sales: title structure, complete attributes, custom labels, and error fixes across every channel.
Validate a GTIN, UPC, or EAN and verify its GS1 check digit — GTIN-8/12/13/14, one or many at a time. Detects the type and the classic stripped-leading-zero error.
Enter the data digits and get a complete, valid GTIN — the GS1 check digit is computed and appended for you (GTIN-8/12/13/14). The inverse of the GTIN validator.
FeedArc handles global trade item number — and 31 other feed concerns — automatically. Free to start, no credit card needed.
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