ComplaintsforBar Codes Talk, LLC

• Initial Complaint

  12/05/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This business is intentionally misleading potential buyers into buying a product that is not true to its original purpose and/or use. The company is an online webpage that offers the sale of usable and legitimate *** codes for retail businesses. The company advertises that it is able to offer *** codes to a business for a lower price because it is able to buy them in bulk. Bar Codes Talk knowingly misrepresents its database of "for sale" *** codes by failing to reveal, in its informative sales pitch, that the *** codes it is selling are pre-owned and do not fall within the category of first time ownership or use. Pre-owned *** codes can never legally be used by another company to sell online products unless the two companies have a merger, are somehow legally affiliated with one another, or there is a complete sale of one whole company to another company, in a full sales acquisition. Unsuspecting new businesses owners will believe the ***s offered by Bar Codes Talk are new and ONLY for their business, purchase them, and once use is attempted, the outcome can be financially catastrophic. The unknowing buyer of the (previously owned) ***s can be accused of misuse and illicit trade among other illegal business practices which can lead to governmental regulation that can freeze and cease all attempts of online product sales or interaction and penalize the unknowing company. The not for profit business that regulates the legitimacy of ***s, the Global Electronic Party Information Registry (GESPIR) can potentially discover companies who misuse ***s and alert government officials. Companies have completely lost their ability to sale their products online because of Bar Codes Talk. I have copied and pasted one of its misleading paragraphs below: Will my bar code be unique to me?Yes. Our bar codes originate from GS1-USA before ****. They are guaranteed to be one of a kind. You are the only person in the world who can legally use the bar code number(s) you purchase.

  Customer response

  12/19/2023

  Per our phone conversation, I have attached the "certificate" that was provided to me by BarCodesTalk, LLC following my purchase of UPCs. I circled the area on the certificate that states the current owner of the GS1 prefix. In my case, all UPCs under the GS1 prefix given to me by BarCodesTalk, are owned or have been previously owned by a company called ***************  When I searched the GS1 database, the GS1 prefix has *************** listed as the owner, and therefore all of the UPCs will represent their products and their company.
  
  I have also attached the email written to me from Amazon's Support Team, explaining that I needed to prove my association with *************** in order to use their UPCs. Again, I was unaware that previous or current companies would hold ownership of these codes at all, and that when searched in the GS1 system, it can be proven that my company (Time Apparel LLC) is NOT the sole owner of the GS1 prefix that I was sold.
  
  Lastly, I attached a Trustpilot review (that has not been deleted) that is stating the same thing I have been stating.  Other informative and "buyer beware" reviews I have previously seen in the past are somehow now gone.  My own personal review was flagged and removed for weeks, but then returned today.
  
  Potential purchasers should CLEARLY and IMMEDIATELY be advised, prior to purchase, that all or some of the GS1 prefixes being sold are listed in the live GS1 database as being owned by other companies and that this could potentially cause legal charges and/or the inability to legally use the UPCs affiliated with the GS1 prefix in retail.
  
  Thank you for your assistance,
  
  Regards,
  
  ***********************

  

  Business response

  12/19/2023

  Consumer is misinformed.

  We explain exactly what we are selling multiple times throughout our website and also include a checkbox during checkout that the consumer understands what they are purchasing.

  This specific consumer is misunderstanding what "Pre-Owned" and "Pre-Used" are. All of the barcodes we sell have never legally been used anywhere. GS1 is not a government organization and misinforms the public that resellers can legally exist. Resellers have existed for well over a decade and GS1 has not once brought any to court, in fact they have voluntarily dismissed cases that would have resolved if a reseller is legal or not because they would expect to lose the case.

  Here are some of the visible and accessible links on our website:

  *******************************************************************************************************************

  **********************************************************************************************

  ************************************************

  ****************************************************

  *****************************************************

   

  Does the consumer really think that over ********* barcodes were sold to over ******* different companies and they were the only ones smart enough to say this is a scam? No, they were just too lazy to do research.

  Uninformed Consumers have no business calling legitimate companies a scam and do a disservice to the tens of thousands of companies that save a ton of money by purchasing legitimate barcodes from us and other resellers.

  Customer response

  01/01/2024

   
  Complaint: 20959543
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  BARCODESTALK is stating on their website that the Barcodes are UNIQUE to the purchaser alone, WHICH IS NOT TRUE, in fact, THIS IS A LIE.  Following customer purchase, ********************** CLEARLY performs a bait and switch by providing PROOF in a certificate to the purchaser that shows the ACTUAL owner of the GS1 and UPCs that Barcodestalk is providing to the customer. The ********************** CANNOT be unique to the purchaser if they are ALSO owned by someone else! BARCODESTALK IS CLEARLY MISLEADING CUSTOMERS AND CLEARLY LYING with repetitive unnecessary rhetoric in an attempt to further manipulate and try to confuse both the BBB and potential customers. THE **** IS: any purchaser of the UPCs that come from Barcodestalk, CANNOT use them online to sell their own companys goods BECAUSE the UPCs being provided are CURRENTLY listed in the GLOBAL AND RECOGNIZED UPC database as being owned by another company! Barcodestalk has flagged all consumer one star reviews in Trustpilot.com that attempt to warn others of this inability to use the UPCs and in their opinion, this scam. Barcodestalk has flagged these honest reviews from customers by lying and stating that the experience and factual information the customer is providing is somehow illegal or harmful in order to have the Trustpilot bot system algorithm immediately remove it. Customers are not even being allowed to warn each other of this companys blatant deceit. Customers should be protected from this companys dishonesty and IT NEEDS TO BE FORCED TO STATE ON ITS WEBSITE THAT THE UPCs ARE CURRENTLY LISTED GLOBALLY AS BEING OWNED BY OTHER BUSINESSES AND THE CODES ARE ACTUALLY NOT UNIQUE TO THE PURCHASER! CONSUMERS CANNOT USE THESE UPCs to sell their goods online! CONSUMERS ARE BEING RIPPED OFF!

  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

  

  Business response

  01/03/2024

  Our response has not changed. Consumer has unfortunately been fed incorrect information. In regards to GS1 being a non profit - ***********************************************************************;You can see that their executives have been compensated generously.

  "The unknowing buyer of the (previously owned) ***s can be accused of misuse and illicit trade among other illegal business practices which can lead to governmental regulation that can freeze and cease all attempts of online product sales or interaction and penalize the unknowing company."

  Consumer is fabricating potential issues and would not be able to cite any source where this has ever happened because it doesn't and wouldn't.

  We purchase *** Prefixes where none of the *** numbers allocated have ever been used. There is nothing misleading or false from our website or business practices.

  At this point, this uninformed consumer is alleging illegal activity which is easily ground for defamation of our business and we request the BBB not entertain this bogus complaint without obtaining proof of consumer's claims.

  

  Business response

  01/09/2024

  This response was taken verbally by BBB:

  The **** error the customer received by Amazon is a branding related error; the *** is not correct for that specific brand. The customer does not have rights to the brand. If the customer listed a generic product she would not receive this error. The is not an issue with the code, but with the product she is listing.
  The customer was refunded in full for the ********************** she purchased from us on December 23rd.

  Customer response

  01/12/2024

   
  Complaint: 20959543
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  The owner of Barcodestalk has no idea of what my product is and stated his comment with the hopes that I am trying to resell someone elses product. 

  
  

  In fact, I am not. Not only is the product generic, but it is a creation of mine that has never been affiliated with any other company or brand. The *** code will be the first AND major step in affiliating this product with MY company outside of packaging when shipped.

  
  

  The owner of BARCODESTALK, LLC is simply stating his comment in hopes that you do not understand how all of this works.

  
  

  The problem of selling my product occurs when I attempt to add the *** code I bought from Barcodestalk that is supposed to be linked to my company name ALONE.

  
  

  The ***s I was sold belong to AMERICALDE INC

  
  

  Again, please be advised that the word brand, in the instance of using ***s, means the COMPANY NAME that is selling the product technically most products are generic until a company prints its brand name on the product itself or its packaging. 

  
  

  More than one company can sell paper clips, a generic product when seen out of packaging, but they cannot all use the same *** code to sell the product. They must each have THEIR OWN affiliated *** code.

  
  

  For example, ******** and Target can both package and sell paperclips but they cannot use the same *** code as each other for the product on their individual shelf. 

  
  

  Hypothetically, if Barcodestalk were to sell *** codes to ******* the codes would be actually already owned by Target in the global database. 

  
  

  The owner of BARCODESTALK would then be manically telling each company that it is a brand issue so that they will not understand what is being said. This is how he is getting away with ripping people off.stating constant rhetoric.

  
  

  The *** codes main purpose is to list the company or business selling the product. 

  
  

  Barcodestalk is selling *** codes that belong to other companies. so if your product makes it to the shelf and gets scanned, it will show the OTHER company as being the company that placed it on the shelf, not your company. 

  
  

  ALL ***s sold to a consumer for their company should be solely available for the consumer to use.  

  
  

  The *** code I was sold by BARCODESTALK, LLC is listed in the global database as being ALREADY owned by the company AMERICALDE, ***** located in *******.

  
  

  I included the email written by Amazon stating that I needed to show my affiliation with the company, AMERICALDE INC. 

  
  

  Please re-open this case and use this response as evidence that the product being sold by Barcodestalk is not being sold as advertised.

  
  

  My request to the BBB was for this company to clearly state on their website that there is not going to be a solo owner of the ***s they are selling. I request that the people buying these ***s are aware that they will not be able to use them as their own.

  
  

  I want this company to comply with my request of being honest and forthright on its website by ceasing to say that the *** codes will be owned by the purchaser and the purchase alone. It is not true, the codes already have an owner listed in the global database. 

  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩