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A Chinese supplier’s quotation and a product package can show the same barcode number while describing different quantities. Checking the final digit will not resolve that discrepancy. Start by identifying the exact item, its packaging level and the Chinese labels attached to each company name.
A GTIN is an identifier, not a certificate of origin or authenticity. Its check digit tests the number’s arithmetic structure. The prefix does not establish where the product was manufactured. For purchasing, the useful result is a clear record of what agrees, what differs and what the supplier still needs to explain.
Read the Chinese fields before comparing numbers
Keep the quotation and a readable photograph of the actual label. Record 产品名称 for product name, 品牌 for brand, 规格型号 for specification and 净含量 for net content. Preserve the original Chinese alongside your translation: a short English product name can omit a size, flavour or packaging distinction present in the Chinese text.
Enter the explicitly labelled 商品条码 or GTIN. Do not choose a nearby licence number, telephone number or internal stock code merely because it contains digits. If a label has several barcodes, record which one belongs to the consumer unit and which belongs to a carton or another trade item. Photograph enough of the surrounding text to make that relationship visible.
ChinaClue’s Chinese product comparison tool extracts labelled fields from the two texts. Review the extracted values before comparing them. When the document contains conflicting values, return to the original instead of accepting whichever one looks familiar. A missing field should remain missing until you obtain it; filling it from the other document would hide the very difference you are checking.
Use the check digit for the narrow job it performs
For the fictional example number 6901234567892, the last digit is 2. Take the preceding twelve digits and, starting at the right, multiply them alternately by 3 and 1. Their weighted sum is 128. The next multiple of ten is 130, so the required check digit is 130 − 128 = 2.
This confirms an arithmetic relationship. It does not confirm that the number was allocated to this product, that the supplier owns the brand or that the printed symbol will scan reliably. Replacing an incorrect final digit yourself would produce a different identifier; ask the supplier to confirm the original instead.
The tool checks GTIN-8, GTIN-12, GTIN-13 and GTIN-14. Store identifiers as text when moving them through a spreadsheet. For comparison in a fourteen-digit field, shorter GTINs can have leading zeroes added. Thus 06901234567892 is the padded representation of the example, not evidence of a new product. Do not remove a nonzero leading packaging indicator to force two different numbers to match.
Compare net content and the packaging level
Consider a fictional quotation for 茉莉花茶, jasmine tea, with GTIN 6901234567892 and net content 0.5千克. The photographed package shows the same number but says 250克. Half a kilogram is 500 grams, so the records differ by a factor of two. A matching barcode does not make that difference disappear.
First establish whether the quotation is for a consumer bag, a multipack or an outer carton. Then ask for the exact net content and GTIN of the item that will be delivered. A genuine document error, an outdated photograph and a different packaging level require different corrections. The discrepancy itself does not prove which explanation is right.
The tool can compare simple amounts expressed in mg, g, kg, mL and L, including supported Chinese unit labels. For example, 0.5千克 and 500克 are equal quantities. A string such as 6 × 250克 also describes a pack arrangement; do not reduce it to 1,500 grams and assume it is the same trade item as a single 1,500-gram bag. Preserve the arrangement and compare equivalent packaging levels.
Keep company roles and origin separate
Chinese packaging may identify a 委托方, the commissioning party; a 生产商 or 受托方, the manufacturer or contract maker; and a 经销商 or 供应商, the distributor or supplier. Copy each name under its stated role. The company sending the quotation need not be the company physically making the product, and different role names are not automatically a contradiction.
Conversely, similar names are not enough to establish that two entities are the same. Keep the full Chinese company names and ask for clarification when the quotation uses a trading name while the package gives a legal name. The comparison tool reports text differences; it does not resolve corporate ownership or verify a business relationship.
Record 原产地 or the stated origin independently. Do not infer “made in China” from a familiar barcode prefix or from the supplier’s Chinese address. GS1 prefixes relate to the organisation allocating the number, not necessarily the place of manufacture. To check who assigned a GTIN, use the registration information returned by Verified by GS1 and compare it with the product record. That is a separate enquiry from the local check-digit calculation, and a database result is still not a physical inspection of the goods.
Leave a usable record before ordering
Keep one comparison for each exact item and packaging level. Record the quotation reference, the label photograph, the date and the unchanged source values. Separate a missing value from a mismatch. Ask the supplier a concrete question, such as which net content and package the quoted unit price covers, rather than asking only whether the barcode is correct.
When the supplier sends a correction, retain the original and note which field changed. Recheck the affected quantity, specification or identifier without silently replacing unrelated information. This makes a later sample inspection or delivery check easier: another person can see what was agreed and which document supports it.
The downloadable comparison sheet provides a blank record and the fictional tea example. Its spreadsheet flags exact text differences; the online tool additionally normalizes supported simple quantities and checks GTIN digits. Use those results to prepare focused follow-up questions, not as a product authentication decision.
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