GS1 barcodes or your own?
The answer depends on who will scan the product, not on how big your business is.
You need GS1 barcodes if
- You supply supermarkets, pharmacies, resorts or wholesalers who scan your products at their own tills
- You export, or list products on marketplaces that ask for a GTIN
- A buyer's purchasing system needs a globally unique product number
GS1 numbers are unique worldwide because each company gets its own prefix. That is what lets a Suva supermarket and a Nadi resort scan the same bottle and both find the right product.
Your own codes are enough if
- The products are only sold through your own shop, cafe or market stall
- You repackage bulk goods, weigh produce or sell house-made items
- You want barcodes on shelf labels or price tags for faster checkout
Internal codes cost nothing. You pick a number, print it as a standard barcode, and assign it to the product in your POS. They must never leave your shop, because another retailer's system would not recognise them.
How to get GS1 barcodes from Fiji
GS1 is the only organisation that issues the company prefixes behind retail barcodes. Fiji does not have its own GS1 office, so Fiji businesses join through a GS1 member organisation in the region; GS1's global member directory shows which office handles Fiji applications. Membership gives you a company prefix and the right to license individual product numbers (GTINs) under it.
- Count your products. Every size, flavour and pack variant needs its own number, so a juice sold in 500 ml and 1 l bottles needs two.
- Apply for membership. You will be asked for your business registration, your TIN and a contact person. Fees depend on how many numbers you need and are published by the issuing office.
- Assign a GTIN to each product in the GS1 member portal and record it in your product list.
- Generate the barcode image as an EAN-13 from the portal or from your label software, and check it with a scanner before you print thousands of labels.
- Share the GTINs with your buyers so they can load your products before the first delivery arrives.
Be careful with websites that sell "cheap barcodes" outright. Those numbers are resold from someone else's prefix, are not registered to your company, and some retailers will reject them. If a number cannot be looked up on the GS1 Verified by GS1 service under your business name, it is not yours.
Printing your own in-store barcodes
For products that only go through your own till, you can make the codes yourself. Keep it simple: use a numbering scheme such as 2 followed by a five-digit product number, print it as EAN-13 or Code 128, and store the same number in the product's barcode field in your POS. The 2 prefix is reserved for in-store use, so it will never collide with a real GS1 number on something you also stock.
Labels can come from a small thermal label printer, which is the cheapest option for shelf tags and price stickers, or from an office printer on sheet labels for low volumes. Any barcode generator that outputs EAN-13 or Code 128 will do, including the free ones built into most label software.
For produce and other weighed items, a price-computing scale that prints a label with the weight embedded in the barcode lets the cashier scan once and ring up the right amount. The POS reads the product code from the first part of the barcode and the weight or price from the rest.
In FiscoBridge Desktop POS you add the code in the product's Barcode field, or import your whole product list from a CSV file with the barcodes already filled in. Cashiers can then scan the code, or type a short PLU if a label is missing.
Scanning at the till
A barcode scanner is the simplest piece of hardware you will buy. Almost every model acts like a keyboard: it reads the code and "types" the number, followed by Enter. That means it works with Desktop POS out of the box, with no driver and no configuration beyond plugging it in.
Wired USB scanners are cheapest and never need charging. Bluetooth or wireless scanners are worth it for larger shops, warehouses and anywhere the stock sits far from the till. Two-dimensional (2D) scanners cost a little more but also read QR codes, which is useful for scanning the verification code on a fiscal receipt when a customer returns an item.
Desktop POS can run a whole sale from the scanner and keyboard: scan each item, adjust a quantity, take payment and fiscalise, without touching the mouse. For a restaurant or cafe, where items are picked from a menu grid rather than scanned, the scanner is optional.
Barcodes and the VMS receipt
The barcode itself is never sent to FRCS. What the VAT Monitoring System receives is the fiscal invoice: each item's name, quantity, price, tax label and total, signed by an accredited sales data controller. The barcode is only how the cashier finds the item quickly, so a wrong or missing barcode slows the queue but does not affect compliance, as long as the right product and price end up on the receipt. If you price items VAT-inclusive, the Fiji VAT calculator shows the VAT inside each price.
What does affect compliance is the till. Retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers in Fiji must issue their tax invoices through a VMS-connected system by the end of 2026. FiscoBridge Desktop POS has the accredited sales data controller built in, so every scanned sale is signed and reported to FRCS and the receipt carries the verification QR code. Stock levels are updated at the same time, which is the other reason to barcode everything you sell.
Hardware checklist for a barcode-ready till
- A Windows PC or touchscreen terminal to run the POS
- A USB or Bluetooth barcode scanner (choose a 2D model if you also want to read QR codes)
- An ESC/POS thermal receipt printer for the fiscal receipt
- A thermal label printer if you will print your own shelf labels or price tags
- A price-computing scale with label printing for weighed produce (optional)
- A cash drawer that opens from the receipt printer
- A FiscoBridge SDC licence and your FRCS VMS certificate
Local IT suppliers in Suva, Nadi and Lautoka stock all of these. Desktop POS works with standard ESC/POS printers and keyboard-emulating scanners, so you are not tied to a particular brand.
Frequently asked questions about barcodes in Fiji
Yes, for in-store use. Pick your own numbers, generate EAN-13 or Code 128 images with free label software, and store the numbers in your POS. Barcodes that other retailers will scan must come from a GS1 membership, which has a fee.
Both are GS1 retail barcodes. EAN-13 has 13 digits and is the standard in Fiji, Australia, New Zealand and most of the world. UPC-A has 12 digits and is common in North America. Modern scanners and POS systems read both, and a UPC can be stored as an EAN by adding a leading zero.
The larger chains expect a scannable barcode that is unique to your product, and most ask for GS1 numbers so the product can be loaded into their system without conflicts. Smaller shops may accept products without barcodes and label them in store. Ask each buyer before you print packaging.
Yes. A barcode identifies one sellable item, so each variant that is priced, stocked or packed differently needs its own number. A case of 12 also needs a different number from the single unit.
No. The fiscal receipt shows the product name, quantity, price and tax, plus the FRCS verification QR code. The barcode stays inside your POS as the key that finds the product.