What is an sku? Is that the barcode thingy on the box?

[davidos]

Thanks, I have to mail this in to get a rebate....

 

[Jedibus]

Yup.

 

[Davegod75]

well it's the number that goes with the barcode

 

[JKurtz]

No, a SKU is a number used by a company to identify an item. The number below a UPC bar-code is the UPC code in numeric form.

Yes, some companies do use the UPC as the SKU, but in inventory terms, the SKU is basically the in-house item number (for example, Staples and CompUSA have differing item numbers (SKU's) for the same item, but the UPC is the same).

Hope that helps.

 

[MontyBurns]

Well, I'm not looking to touch off a huge debate on SKU's, but... SKU is technically any number that the merchant assigns to the product. Often it's the barcode, since that is easiest to use. But sometimes it's just a piece of the barcode, or an entirely different number all together.

The numbers below the bar code are the UPC number.

If you're filling this information in on a form, I'd use whatever numbers appear on your receipt. But if they're asking you to physically cut some numbers from the box and mail them in, then they're likely talking about the UPC (bar) code.

EDIT: looks like we posted our responses at the same time jkurtz...

 

[RandyL]

The SKU is just a number assigned by the merchant to manage their stock. It may not be on the box at all or be on a sticker printed by the store, That sticker may or may not include a barcode.

Its unusual for a rebate to require an SKU to be removed from a box. Almost all rebates require you to send in the UPC which is a barcode placed on the package by the manufacturer. The UPC uniquely identifies the product. The first half of the UPC number represents the manufacturer; everything they make will have a UPC starting with those numbers. Each product they make has a unique number that makes up the second half of the UPC.