Global Trade Item Number(GTIN)

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.