UPC Numbers and DVDs

While books have special ISBN numbers that are unique for every book, DVDs are considered "mass merchandise" and have a regular UPC code, just like all the other things you buy in stores have. So you get your UPC code from a different place than you get ISBN numbers.

UPCs are nation-wide (and world-wide) unique IDs, so they are managed by a HUGE organization. This organization, GS1, is geared towards large corporations who are putting their stock into Wal-Mart, Staples and other stores. So they charge a huge fee - $750 - to become a member. Most small publishers can't pay this!!

What you do instead is go through a reseller. One such reseller is Buy A BarCode. They have a $65 enrollment fee, then you pay $35 for each UPC code that you want. They send you it with the matching barcode. So if you are selling a number of DVDs, it ends up being $35 for each DVD once you get enrolled with them.

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