SKU Length for Bar Code Label

[Horsefeathers]

Keep getting the "SKU for ... is too long for the chosen template". But nowhere do you tell us what the maximum SKU length is for each type of label. Please provide this information, and it would be great if you added that to the error message!

Thanks.

[Chad]

Hello @Horesfeathers! 

That's weird, it should tell you the maximum SKU length. The SKU can't be longer than 80 characters. 

If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out! 

[Horsefeathers]

The SKU length varies by label, and none of those support 80 characters. From my testing it is 8 to 14, but I'm looking for Square to give me a list of max SKU length by label type.

[Chad]

@Horsefeathers sorry for the confusion.

I thought you were looking for the max character limit for SKU's in general. Off the top of my head I don't know if we have a document that lists the maximum amount of characters for each label type. 

I'm going to reach out to a Square for Retail Specialist to see if I can get a list for you. I should have an answer at the beginning of next week.  🙂

[Chad]

Hello @Horsefeathers!

 So I heard back from our Retail Specialist. Unfortunately, we do not have a document that lists the max SKU length for each label. The reason being, that some characters take up more space than others for example "K" vs. "I". So, depending on which characters you use and the size of the label the results can vary. 

I know this isn't the answer you were hoping for (It wasn't what I was hoping for either), but I hope it provides a little bit of guidance.🙂

If there's anything I can help out with, please feel free to reach out to me. 

[GiftShopElNino]

Hi @Chad , Its been several months now, has there been any further development on the sku barcode length? We are looking to transition our retail store to square and all of our products have been labeled. My fear is that the sku length will be less than what we currently use and we will need to relabel everything.

[kellyj]

@GiftShopElNino

Hey there! Jumping in for Chad. Currently this is still being tracked as a Feature Request for longer SKU numbers.

Do you happen to know how long yours currently are? And more so, if you reach out to our Retail Support team, perhaps they can test your barcodes with a demo of our products in office if you were to scan one and send it in?

[Horsefeathers]

I gave up on Square providing the functionality we need for barcodes and SKU's, and we use a third party for barcodes.

[tartanlady]

Horsefeathers,

Can you tell me what third party you used for barcodes.  I am having same issues.

[Candlestore]

https://barcode.tec-it.com/en/Code128   this is a free site that generates all types of barcodes.

What I have done, was I bought a Zebra printer and the software generates barcodes 1D or 2D which works with Square.  I bought a Zebra 420D printer and Direct Thermal labels.  No ink to replace.  I make up a SKU or Make up a barcode in the printers Barcode generator and print it out.  Scan it with Square, Square says item not found  would you like to create item.... Yes.... then enter the info and the SKU is already prefilled.  Or you can copy the SKU from Square and enter text EXACTLY into the printers software.  I say this because I have enter the SKU from Square then pressed <ENTER>..... this gives additional character based on the barcode you chose to use.  When you choose the Barcode font in the printer software just make sure you scanner can scan that Barcode Font.

Meaning if you have a 1D scanner don't print 2D barcodes.  I printed out a bunch of test barcodes to see which ones would read the easiest and which ones my scanner could read.  I have a 2D scanner so mine reads most 1D barcodes and some 2D barcodes.  So then I had to choose which barcode style I wanted for my products.

I ended up choosing a 2D Aztec code since it can hold well over the 80 character SKU limit Square has AND be from 3/8 - 3/4 inch square, which works for me.

Hope this helps

[Horsefeathers]

Good information. When I scan a bar code for a SKU not in the database, the system says "we couldn't find this item". Are you using Square or Square for Retail? Also, how large is your items database? As we build ours out, we'll have tens of thousands of SKU's, and need a way to bulk generate and load.

[Candlestore]

We use Square for Retail Free.  My Item database is about 2500 items.  Square has a limit of 25,000 items as most POS inventories do.  I found out QB's POS system has a limit of 20,000 items when I was looking at it before.  You can bulk load items by first downloading your Item Library and adding items to it and then upload it.  I do this all the time when I buy new items.  The big downfall I see is not being able to upload bulk images with the other information about the item.  If you are going to be adding and deleting 10's of thousands of items you may need to get a bigger POS system specifically designed for you business.  That sounds almost like a POS system for a store the size of Wal-Mart for example.