Counterfeiters do not copy your product. They copy your listing. On a marketplace where many sellers share one product page, a fake can sit in the same bin as your genuine stock, ship under your brand name, and cost you the review. Amazon's Transparency Program is the mechanism built to stop exactly that: a unique code on every single unit you make, checked at the warehouse and checkable by the customer. This guide covers what the programme actually is, who it is worth it for, what it costs once you count the parts Amazon does not charge you for, what is really printed on the label, and the three realistic ways to get several thousand unique codes onto physical stock.
What the Transparency Program Actually Is
Transparency is unit-level authentication. Not batch-level, not SKU-level — every individual unit you manufacture gets its own code, issued by Amazon, that exists exactly once in the world. You print that code on the unit before it ships. From then on the code is the unit's identity.
That single change moves the burden of proof. Without Transparency, a counterfeit is discovered after a customer receives it and complains — by which point the damage is a one-star review on your listing. With Transparency, a unit arriving at an Amazon fulfilment centre either carries a valid, unused code or it does not, and the ones that do not can be stopped before they are ever offered for sale.
One code per unit
Issued by Amazon, never reused
Checked on inbound
Scanned at the fulfilment centre
Shopper verifiable
Scanned in the Transparency app
Applied by you
Before the unit leaves your line
Transparency vs Brand Registry vs Project Zero
These three get conflated constantly, and the difference matters because they sit on top of one another rather than competing. Brand Registry is the foundation; the other two are tools you unlock once you are in it.
| Programme | What it does | Works at | Requires |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brand Registry | Control of your listings, plus tools to report infringement | Listing level | A registered or pending trademark |
| Project Zero | Lets you remove counterfeit listings yourself, without waiting on Amazon | Listing level | Brand Registry, plus an invitation |
| Transparency | Proves a specific physical unit is genuine, and blocks ones that are not | Unit level | Brand Registry, plus printing a code on every unit |
The one-line version: Brand Registry and Project Zero act on listings. Transparency acts on units. Only Transparency can tell two physically identical boxes apart, and that is the whole reason it involves a printing job.
Who Should Enrol — and Who Shouldn't
Transparency is not free, and applying a unique label to every unit is real operational work. It pays for itself in some categories and is an expensive habit in others.
✅ Worth it if
- You have found counterfeits of your product, or unauthorised sellers on your listing
- Your margin per unit comfortably absorbs a few cents of code and label cost
- You sell something people are cautious about — supplements, cosmetics, electronics, auto parts, baby goods
- Returns or negative reviews mention items that "aren't the real thing"
- You already pack units by hand, so applying one more label costs little
❌ Probably not yet if
- You are a reseller rather than the brand owner — only the brand can enrol
- You sell low-value, high-volume commodity goods where cents per unit decide the margin
- You have no trademark yet, so you cannot get into Brand Registry in the first place
- Your units are too small or irregular to carry a scannable code cleanly
- Nobody is counterfeiting you and nothing on your listing suggests they will
Note the first exclusion carefully: Transparency is a brand owner's programme. If you buy and resell someone else's brand, enrolment is not available to you — and if the brand you resell does enrol, you will need to source units that already carry codes.
What Transparency Really Costs
Amazon charges a per-unit fee for the codes, tiered so the rate falls as annual volume rises. Published rates have generally sat in the region of roughly one to five US cents per code, with the lower end reserved for high volume. Treat that as a planning range, not a quote: the tiers change, and your rate is agreed with Amazon during enrolment. Confirm the current figure in the Transparency portal before you build it into a costing.
The number that catches brands out is the second one. A Transparency code is worthless until it is physically on a unit, and getting it there has three costs Amazon does not bill you for:
- Printing. Every label is different, so this is variable-data printing. You cannot order 50,000 identical stickers; you need a printer and software that change the code on every impression, or a supplier who does.
- Application. Somebody has to put the label on the unit. At a few seconds each, 20,000 units is a meaningful number of hours — and it is the line item most often left out of the business case entirely.
- Waste and rejects. Codes are single-use. A misprinted label, a code applied to a damaged unit, or a roll that jams is a code you cannot recover. Plan a small overage.
💡 A quick sanity check
Add Amazon's per-code fee to your per-label printing cost, then multiply by your annual units. If that total is smaller than what a single counterfeit-driven listing suspension would cost you in lost sales, the programme pays for itself. For most brands selling anything above a few dollars a unit, it does — comfortably. You can price the printing half of that sum in about two minutes with the free Transparency label generator, without creating an account.
Anatomy of a Transparency Code
A Transparency label is a small, strict piece of artwork, and almost every field on it is fixed. The one thing that changes from label to label is the code — which is precisely what makes printing them harder than printing an ordinary sticker.
Figure 1 — What is actually printed on a Transparency label
1. The DataMatrix
The code Amazon issued you, encoded. Not a QR code, and not a GS1 barcode.
2. Transparency wordmark
Amazon's mark, so a shopper knows what the code is for. Identical on every label.
3. Scan prompt
Static text. It never changes from one label to the next.
4. The code, human-readable
The same value in plain text, for when a scanner cannot read the symbol.
Three of the four elements are identical on every label. Only the code changes — and it changes on every single one.
⚠️ It is a DataMatrix, not a QR code
This trips people up constantly. A DataMatrix holds more data in less space than a QR code, which is why it is used where the label has to be small. It is a different symbology with different quiet-zone rules, so artwork or a printer set up for QR codes will not necessarily produce a readable Transparency label. If you want the detail, our complete guide to GS1 DataMatrix covers how the symbology works.
Enrolling, Step by Step
Enrolment is more paperwork than technology, and the sequence is strict — you cannot skip ahead to the codes.
Figure 2 — From trademark to verified unit
Brand Registry
A registered or pending trademark, and your brand enrolled.
Enrol the product
Apply per GTIN or ASIN. Amazon approves each product.
Codes issued
Amazon mints a unique code for every unit you will make.
Print and apply
One code on every unit, before it ships.
Scanned, verified
Amazon and shoppers check individual units.
Step 4 is the only one Amazon leaves entirely to you — and the only one that repeats on every production run.
Steps 1 to 3 are administrative and, once approved, largely repeat themselves. Step 4 is the one that becomes a permanent part of your operation: every production run from then on needs codes printed and applied before the units can ship.
Getting Your Codes Out of the Portal
Once your product is enrolled, you request codes for a production quantity and export them. What lands on your machine is a plain data file — typically CSV or Excel — with one code per row and, depending on how you exported, a few extra columns you do not need:
transparency_code,asin,batch
AZ7K4Q2M9XPD,B0XXXXXXXX,RUN-2608
AZ7K4Q2M9XPE,B0XXXXXXXX,RUN-2608
AZ7K4Q2M9XPF,B0XXXXXXXX,RUN-2608
… one row per unit, for as many units as you requested
Three things about that file are worth internalising before you send it anywhere:
- It is irreplaceable. These specific codes belong to this production run. Losing the file means asking Amazon for more codes, not re-exporting the same ones.
- Every code is single-use. Printing the same code on two units defeats the entire mechanism and will be caught. Deduplicate before you print, not after.
- Nobody can generate these for you. Only Amazon mints valid Transparency codes. Any service offering to "create Transparency codes" is not selling you something real.
Label Specs: Size, Material and Placement
There is no single mandated label size. What is mandated in practice is readability — the DataMatrix has to scan first time, on a warehouse conveyor and in a customer's hand, under whatever lighting happens to be there. That gives you three practical decisions.
Size
Bigger is more reliable. Go as large as your packaging comfortably allows, and leave clear quiet space around the symbol — a DataMatrix crowded up against artwork or a fold is a DataMatrix that fails intermittently, which is worse than one that fails consistently. These are the sizes that cover almost every case:
| Label size | DataMatrix | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| 48 × 20 mm | 18 mm | Small cartons, blister packs, cosmetics tubes — where space is genuinely tight |
| 50 × 25 mm | 20 mm | The default. Comfortable to scan, fits most retail packaging |
| 60 × 30 mm | 24 mm | Larger boxes, and anything scanned quickly at a distance on a line |
Material
Match the stock to what the unit will go through. Matte paper is the economical default and scans well because it does not throw glare. Gloss polyester survives moisture, refrigeration and handling, and is the right answer for anything that might get wet. Tamper-evident stock tears or leaves a void pattern if someone lifts the label — worth the premium if the counterfeiting you are worried about involves moving a genuine label onto a fake unit.
Placement
Put it on a flat, uninterrupted area. Avoid seams, folds, tape lines and sharply curved surfaces — a DataMatrix wrapped around a curve distorts and stops decoding. Keep it clear of your existing EAN or UPC barcode so that a scanner cannot pick up the wrong symbol, and be consistent about position across a run: warehouse scanning is much faster when the code is always in the same place.
Figure 3 — Who scans the code, and what each of them learns
Three Ways to Print Your Transparency Codes
This is where the programme stops being paperwork and becomes a production problem. You have a file of thousands of unique codes and you need each one on its own label, exactly once. There are three honest ways to solve it, and which one is right depends almost entirely on your volume.
| Approach | What it needs | What it costs | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Print it yourself | A 300 dpi+ thermal label printer, label stock, and variable-data software | Printer and consumables, plus your time on every run | Brands already running an in-house labelling setup |
| Free label generator | Your code file and any printer — we produce the print-ready PDF | Free, up to 1,000 labels | First runs, samples, and testing scannability before you commit |
| We print and ship | Your code file. Nothing else — no printer, no software | From ₹0.60 per label | Any run above about a thousand units, and anyone who would rather not own a printer |
Option 1: Print them yourself
Perfectly viable if you already have the kit. You need a thermal label printer at 300 dpi or better — 203 dpi is where small DataMatrix symbols start failing — and software that merges your code file so every label gets the next code in the list. Print a test strip, scan every code on it, and only then run the batch. The failure mode to watch for is a printhead that drifts mid-run: labels 1 to 400 scan, labels 401 onward do not, and you find out at the fulfilment centre.
Option 2: Generate the artwork free, print it anywhere
Our Amazon Transparency Label Generator is free and takes the layout problem off your plate entirely. Upload the file Amazon issued you — CSV, TXT or Excel — and it finds the code column on its own, strips duplicates and blank rows, tells you exactly how many usable codes it found, and lays them out as print-ready artwork at true physical size. You choose an A4 sheet (36 labels per sheet at 48 × 20 mm) or one label per page for a thermal printer's pre-cut roll, then download the PDF. No watermark. Free for up to 1,000 labels, and the on-screen true-size preview costs nothing at all.
To be explicit about what it does and does not do: we never generate Transparency codes. We lay out the ones Amazon issued you, printed verbatim. Nobody but Amazon can mint a valid code.
Option 3: We print the run and ship it to you
Above a thousand or so units, printing in-house stops being the cheap option once you cost in the labour. Upload the same file and we produce the whole run: every code printed verbatim at 600 dpi, one code per label, supplied precut on a 76 mm core roll ready to apply. Production takes three to five working days from payment, then tracked courier — to you, or straight to your packer or 3PL. Each uploaded code list can be ordered exactly once, so there is no way for the same code to go out twice.
Per-label pricing, inclusive of GST, with the band matching your run size applied to the whole run. Minimum order 250 labels:
| Material | Up to 2,000 | 2,001–10,000 | 10,001–50,000 | 50,001+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paper, matte | ₹1.10 | ₹0.90 | ₹0.72 | ₹0.60 |
| Polyester, gloss water resistant |
₹1.65 | ₹1.35 | ₹1.10 | ₹0.95 |
| Tamper-evident void if removed |
₹1.75 | ₹1.45 | ₹1.20 | ₹1.05 |
Shipping calculated at checkout. Printing and delivery are currently available within India only — the free label generator works anywhere. Runs above 200,000 labels and non-standard sizes are quoted individually: email Ratna@truegtin.com.
Get a price for your run in about two minutes
Upload the code file Amazon issued you, pick a size, and see the exact price — no account needed for the quote. Or download print-ready artwork free for up to 1,000 labels and print them yourself.
Why Transparency Labels Fail — and How to Avoid It
A label that does not scan is worse than no label, because it holds up a shipment. Nearly every failure traces back to one of a small handful of causes.
✅ Do
- Print at 300 dpi or higher — 600 dpi if the symbol is small
- Scan a sample from the start, middle and end of every run
- Leave clear quiet space all around the DataMatrix
- Deduplicate the code file before printing anything
- Apply to a flat area, in the same position on every unit
- Order a few percent more labels than units, for wastage
❌ Don't
- Shrink the symbol to fit a space it does not fit
- Print on gloss stock that throws glare under warehouse lighting
- Place it over a seam, fold, tape line or tight curve
- Reuse a code, ever — not even on a replacement unit
- Let a label overlap or crowd your existing EAN or UPC barcode
- Assume a run scanned correctly because the first label did
How Transparency Fits With Your GS1 Barcodes
A Transparency code does not replace anything. Your GTIN, EAN or UPC still identifies the product — the model, the SKU, the thing a retailer scans at a till. The Transparency code identifies this one unit of it. They answer different questions and they coexist on the pack, which is exactly why placement matters: two 2D-adjacent symbols close together invite a scanner to read the wrong one.
If your GS1 side of things is not yet in order, sort that first — Transparency sits on top of a correct product identity, not instead of it. Our guides on product identification for e-commerce and validating a GTIN, UPC or EAN cover the groundwork, and you can check a whole catalogue at once with the free bulk GTIN validator.
It is also worth knowing that Transparency is not the only way to put a verifiable code on a unit. Amazon issues codes that work inside Amazon's ecosystem and the Transparency app. If you also sell through your own site, retail, or other marketplaces, a serialised QR code you own gives you unit-level verification everywhere, opens in the phone's ordinary camera with no app to install, and lands the customer on a page you control. Many brands run both: Transparency because Amazon requires it for enrolled products, and their own codes for every other channel. Our guide to protecting a brand from counterfeits compares the approaches.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Amazon Transparency Program?
Transparency is Amazon's unit-level authentication programme. Amazon issues an enrolled brand a unique code for every single unit it manufactures. The brand prints that code on each unit before it ships. Amazon scans the codes on inbound units at its fulfilment centres, and shoppers can scan them with the Transparency app, so a unit without a valid code can be stopped before it reaches a customer.
Do I need Amazon Brand Registry to join Transparency?
Yes. Transparency is built on top of Brand Registry, and Brand Registry in turn requires a registered or pending trademark for your brand. If you are not in Brand Registry yet, that is the first step, not the Transparency application.
How much does the Transparency Program cost?
Amazon charges a per-unit fee for the codes themselves, tiered so the rate falls as your annual volume rises. Published rates have generally sat in the range of roughly one to five US cents per code, but the tiers change and are agreed with Amazon during enrolment, so confirm your own rate in the Transparency portal. Budget separately for printing the codes and for the labour of applying them, which is the cost most brands forget.
Is a Transparency code a QR code?
No. Transparency codes are normally printed as a DataMatrix, a different 2D symbology. It packs more data into a smaller area than a QR code, which matters when the label has to fit on a small unit. It is also not a GS1 barcode and does not replace your EAN, UPC or GTIN.
Where do I get my Transparency codes from?
Amazon issues them to you once your product is enrolled. You export them from the Transparency portal as a file. No third party can generate a valid Transparency code, and any service claiming to do so is not giving you real codes.
Can I print Transparency labels myself?
Yes, if you have a thermal label printer capable of at least 300 dpi and software that can lay out variable data, so that every label carries a different code. The practical limits are print quality and labour: a code that is printed too small, too faint or on the wrong material will fail to scan, and a rejected unit costs far more than a label.
What label size do Transparency codes need?
There is no single mandated size. What matters is that the DataMatrix is large enough and sharp enough to scan reliably, with clear quiet space around it. Common working sizes are 48 × 20 mm, 50 × 25 mm and 60 × 30 mm, carrying an 18 to 24 mm DataMatrix. Choose the largest that your packaging comfortably allows.
Can TrueGTIN print and ship my Transparency labels?
Yes, within India. Upload the code file Amazon issued you and we print each code verbatim at 600 dpi on paper, polyester or tamper-evident stock, supplied precut on a 76 mm core roll. Minimum order is 250 labels, production takes three to five working days from payment, and the run is couriered to you or straight to your packer. You can also download print-ready artwork free for up to 1,000 labels and print it yourself.
The Short Version
Transparency is the only Amazon programme that can tell two physically identical units apart, and that is worth real money in any category where counterfeits show up. Enrolment is administrative and finite. The part that becomes permanent is step 4: every production run needs thousands of unique codes turned into physical labels, correctly, once each. Get that step right — the right size, enough resolution, the right stock, and a process that never prints a code twice — and the rest of the programme quietly does its job.
You have the codes. We'll handle the labels.
Upload the file Amazon issued you and get print-ready labels at true physical size in seconds — free for up to 1,000, no watermark. Need more? We print the run at 600 dpi and courier it to you or straight to your packer.