Same GS1 barcode on Two ASINs

Selling on Amazon Listings and Variations
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Hello!! We’re dealing with a situation on one of our ASINs where we’re no longer allowed to create FBA shipments using the manufacturer barcode. The system flags a catalog conflict because the same GS1 code is tied to two different ASINs. As a result, Amazon now only allows us to ship using an Amazon barcode.

We explored the idea of requesting a merge between the two listings, but that turned out to be a dead end, since the two ASINs have different attributes, and merges can only happen when all attributes match. In our case, it’s nearly impossible to align them because one of the listings has Retail Team contributions from Europe, while we’re operating in the US, so we have no way to control or edit their contributions. So that option is off the table.

The product itself is low-price, which makes relabeling not really viable from a financial standpoint. At the same time, we can’t just have the manufacturer print the Amazon FNSKU on the packaging either, because we use the same batch for selling to shops, which requires a GS1 barcode on the packaging.

We’re now seriously considering using a new GS1 code going forward, which would mean creating a new ASIN for the US market and abandoning the old one.

Of course, the problem with that is we’ve accumulated thousands of reviews over the years on the current ASIN. We’re aware of the (gray)possibility of linking the old and new ASINs under a parent-child variation, which would allow us to keep the reviews visible across both listings.
But now that I’m reading the relevant policy, I’m wondering if this might actually be more acceptable than it seems. Amazon says:

“You must not use an existing listing for a new version of a product. This includes changes in color, size, material, features, and product name. Instead, create a new product detail page for each new version…”

So here’s my question: If the only thing that changes is the product ID (the GS1 barcode) (which could also be seen as a change in packaging?), and everything else stays the same, wouldn’t this technically qualify as a “new version” in Amazon’s eyes?
And if so, would it actually be compliant to connect the old and new ASINs under the same parent to share reviews, given that the customer experience hasn’t changed at all?

Related to this matter, a few months ago, I reached out to Brand Registry support and was told point-blank that you cannot change the barcode tied to an ASIN. Once it’s assigned, that’s it.

But I just saw a comment on Reddit that made me question that.
Someone mentioned that a well-known law firm (I know the name and they are reputable) helped them with a similar issue. According to the comment, the firm contacted Seller Support, provided the new UPC and GS1 certificate, and Amazon updated the barcode in a couple of days.
In that case, the original barcode on the ASIN was non-GS1, so my guess is that Amazon made the change because they’re moving away from unofficial barcodes. Our case is different, as we’re already using a GS1 barcode, and we’d be replacing it with another official GS1 barcode from the same brand.

Appreciate any thoughts or experience on this. Thanks in advance!

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Our first thought would be to do the new GS1 and have it on the packaging as a new updated version of the existing one. When you set up the new listing, you would use that aspect to tie the product to the old ASIN.

That would set it up so that customers shopping on the old ASIN would see that there was a newer version ASIN. This would keep the two ASINs seperate but connected.

Someone with more FBA knowledge might be able to help a little more with this.

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This is my suggestion as well. Don’t make it a variation, make it a new version.

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Thanks so much to both of you for pointing that out! I actually wasn’t aware of that approach.

It seems that reviews aren’t shared between versions when you take that route (I’m not 100% sure about that, but I came across a couple of screenshots showing older and newer versions of a product, and the review count differs significantly).

I’m also trying to think through what would happen with keyword rankings. My assumption is that the new version would start from scratch, with no ranking momentum from the old asin. On the other hand, if we went the parent-child route, we’d have a little initial boost, as while the old asin is “dying” it still retains a bit of the ranks and captures traffic for the newer variation.

If anyone has thoughts or has tested either path, I’d love to hear your take! Really appreciate all the input so far!
@Lost_My_Marbles @HobbesIsMyTiger

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If anything can be down on the backend @oneida_books would be the one to look to for advice.

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Which product matches the GS1 database?

Who owns the UPC or EAN?

Did the Amazon retail team infringe on your IP rights?

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So, assigning a new UPC to the same product is neither a “new version” nor a variation.

Lake asks some pertinent question and I’d start here.

Why is there another ASIN with your GS1 code? Who created it?

If Amazon retail, or someone else, I would push Amazon to delete/remove the duplicate page as an “ASIN creation violation”

If you created this page and retail took it over you might be stuck.

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Would this be one of those situations where you would ask support to “cleave” the UPC from the ASIN that doesn’t match GS1 and attach your GS1 certificate as proof?

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I forgot about the cleaving solution. It has been a long time since I made such a request. Is it still done?

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I’m not sure. It’s been a while since I have dealt with a UPC issue like this, so I am not sure if that is still the process or not.

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excuse my late reply!!

The situation is a bit complicated. The ASIN we’ve been using for years, was created 3090 days ago, while the other ASIN we found (currently conflicting with “ours”) was created 3092 days ago.
How this happened is unclear.
I joined as brand manager 733 days ago, so I have no visibility into who created which ASIN, under what context, or why. That part of the story is lost to time, that’s for sure.

I reviewed some past correspondence between the brand owner and GS1, and GS1 clearly stated they do not provide certificates at the product level, only at the brand level (at least in the Country where the brand is registered).
From a listing content standpoint, our ASIN is far more accurate. The other, older ASIN has incorrect attribute data (like unit count, package quantity..), but we’re unable to fix those because of the retail contributions.

@MissMeliss Does what I’ve articulated so far still make sense in relation to your question?

the brand owns the EAN and we act on behalf of the brand in the US.
For context, no one else is selling the older ASIN in the U.S. marketplace. It wasn’t even searchable via the “Add a Product” tool until we manually restored it using a flat file. That said, it does appear to be in active use in Europe.

I don’t know the answer here. It doesn’t seem like they infringed on anything. Rather, , it might actually be us who’ve been using an “infringing” ASIN, simply because ours was created two days after. Is it?

Thanks for your time so far. I appreciate it very much

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I don’t believe this would solve the FBA item label issue. An ASIN with 2 UPC’s would very likely require the Amazon Barcode instead of the Manufacturer one.

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Do you have this figured out yet, @Spaghetti? Amazon isn’t great with understanding complicated situations.

If Amazon EU is still using the 3092 ASIN, have you tried dealing with them, instead of US?

@MissMeliss I had also thought about the cleaving route. But I honestly am not certain.

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Hey papy, thanks, and excuse my late reply.
We have outsourced this, and they are still working on it, so at the moment, I don’t know how they are operating to get this resolved. I think they are trying to get all the attributes from both ASINs to match (done by some internal team), so that we can perform a merging of the ASINs

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