Community Forums

by **TheMasterBrewer** » Thu Jun 14, 2012 11:53 am

The database field size for the UPC code in the product table is too small. We have been experiencing issues with our Google Shopping feed for some time as it keeps rejecting our UPC codes for being invalid. We have now realised that OpenCart is actually removing the last 1-2 characters of most of our products' UPC codes due to the database field size being too small, hence making them invalid. (I'm guessing that the limit is what it is because UPC codes in the US are shorter than they are in the UK?)

I would therefore suggest that the UPC field size is increased by at least 3 characters - could make a big difference to a lot of folks outside the US!

by **rph** » Thu Jun 14, 2012 3:38 pm

Are you sure you're not putting in non-numeric characters? Google expects a UPC to be 12 digits which is what the OpenCart database is set to.

by **TheMasterBrewer** » Thu Jun 14, 2012 3:41 pm

Yep, 100% certain!

by **Daniel** » Thu Jun 14, 2012 3:46 pm

so what does it need to be?

by **TheMasterBrewer** » Thu Jun 14, 2012 3:51 pm

I'm pretty confused by the different formats etc but I'd suggest 15 to be on the safe side

by **rph** » Thu Jun 14, 2012 7:21 pm

TheMasterBrewer wrote:Yep, 100% certain!

Did you check if it's an EAN code?

by **TheMasterBrewer** » Thu Jun 14, 2012 8:29 pm

rph wrote:Did you check if it's an EAN code?

That's where I'm a little confused by all the different formats - there seem to be at least 3-4 different ones. But the one we're using is the number alongside the barcode on each of our products, which is sometimes 12 numbers but sometimes more. Is the barcode number always the same format or can it vary?

by **rph** » Fri Jun 15, 2012 4:14 am

There are multiple formats but a UPC should always be 12 digits to my knowledge. UPCs are primarily used in North America and a few other English speaking countries, EAN (13 or 14 digit) is used in Europe, and JAN (8 or 13 digit) is used in Japan.

http://support.google.com/merchants/bin ... wer=160161

by **TheMasterBrewer** » Fri Jun 15, 2012 10:09 am

It seems like the more I learn about this, the more it confuses me! So in the US it's 12 digits but most other places it could be anything from 8 to 14 digits - or even more! Does that mean that Google allows products with UPCs of 14 digits if you're selling products in certain countries outside the US? What confuses me is that some of our products have UPCs of more than 12 digits (hence they must be manufactured outside the UK) but we're selling them in the UK. So surely Google needs to accept some of our UPCs as 12 digits and others as more than 12 digits? My head hurts...

by **rph** » Fri Jun 15, 2012 4:39 pm

The problem is UPC has become synonymous with barcode/GTIN when there are several different formats. Google feeds will accept multiple GTIN types (UPC, EAN, JAN, ISBN) but OpenCart only has an entry for UPCs.

http://www.gtin.info/

by **TheMasterBrewer** » Sat Jun 16, 2012 10:13 am

rph wrote:The problem is UPC has become synonymous with barcode/GTIN when there are several different formats. Google feeds will accept multiple GTIN types (UPC, EAN, JAN, ISBN) but OpenCart only has an entry for UPCs.

http://www.gtin.info/

In that case I think increasing the DB field size will indeed be necessary - some of our product codes were being rejected by Google until we increased the maximum field size in our DB and re-entered them all, so they must have been EAN or something.

by **rph** » Sat Jun 16, 2012 7:15 pm

No, UPCs have 12 digits. It's correct as it is. Feeding an EAN or JAN as a UPC through Google base will not work. You need specific entries for those GTIN types.