Scalez Barcode Scanner FAQ

Scanning products

What are the different ways I can get a barcode into Scalez?

Three ways, and you can mix them depending on the product:

Type or paste it into the scan field on the app's Home or Scan barcode page.
Scan it with a hardware barcode scanner (USB or Bluetooth) — see the hardware scanner section below.
Scan it with your camera, using the "Scan with Mobile/Tablet Camera" button, which opens a dedicated camera page in a new browser tab.

All three land in the same field and trigger the same lookup, so pick whichever is fastest for your setup.

I don't have a GTIN/UPC for this product. Can I still use it?

Yes. If what you enter isn't recognized as a barcode, or no provider has a match for it, Scalez shows a "Find this item" section instead of failing. From there:

Fill in the item name, vendor, and (optionally) a SKU or model number.
Click "Search for matches" to search the web for the product using those details.
Pick the correct result from the list, or click "Enter product manually" to type everything in by hand if nothing comes back.

So a SKU or manufacturer/model number works fine as your starting point, you don't need a GTIN to create a product in Scalez. If you've already created a product under that same SKU before, Scalez will pre-fill the details it remembers, with a note that you should double-check them before creating the draft.

My camera won't open, or I get an error about camera access.

This one has a specific cause: the Shopify admin loads apps inside an embedded window (an iframe), and browsers don't allow camera access inside that embedded window at all, no app can grant it from in there. So "Scan with Mobile/Tablet Camera" always opens a separate, full browser tab instead. That's expected behavior, not a bug.

If that new tab shows "Camera access is turned off. Allow camera access in your device or browser settings, then try again.", your browser or device has camera permission blocked for the app's site specifically. Check your phone or browser's site permissions and allow camera access, then try again from Shopify.

If nothing happens when you tap the button, check whether your browser blocked a pop-up, if so, allowing it once should be enough for future scans.

I scanned with my camera, but nothing showed up back in Shopify.

A few things to check:

Did you switch back to the Shopify tab? The camera page can't automatically close itself or jump back to Shopify for you, browsers don't allow a page to do that unless it opened the tab itself. After a successful scan you'll see a confirmation on the camera page ("Barcode sent! Return to the Shopify app to continue.") — switch tabs manually and the barcode should already be filled in and looked up.
Did too much time pass? A camera scanning session stays open for about two minutes. If you leave the camera tab open longer than that without scanning, you'll see "This scanning session has expired." Go back to Shopify and tap "Scan with Mobile/Tablet Camera" again to start a fresh session.

Hardware barcode scanners

Can I use my handheld/USB/Bluetooth barcode scanner?

Yes, as long as it's set to keyboard mode (sometimes called keyboard-wedge or HID mode), which is how most retail and handheld scanners work by default. In that mode, the scanner acts just like a keyboard: it "types" the barcode into whatever text field is focused and then sends an Enter/Tab keystroke.

To use it with Scalez:

Open the Scan page in the app, the scan field is focused automatically.
Scan a product, your scanner "types" the code into the field and the lookup runs automatically when it sends its ending keystroke.

If your scanner supports keyboard mode but isn't behaving like a keyboard on your device (this shows up occasionally on tablets and some mobile browsers), check your scanner's manual for how to switch it into that mode, it's usually a specific setup barcode you scan once. Some scanner brands (Socket Mobile is a common one) also offer their own companion app that helps a Bluetooth scanner behave reliably as a keyboard input on iOS and Android; if your scanner ships with one, installing it can help.

If your scanner genuinely can't act as a keyboard input on your device, you're not stuck, both bulk CSV upload and camera scanning work as alternatives and don't depend on your scanner's input mode at all.

Why does the scan field look different from other fields in the app?

You may notice the scan input looks like a plain browser text box rather than the app's usual styled fields. That's intentional: some hardware scanners couldn't reliably type into the fancier field style on certain devices, so the scan field uses a plain input specifically to make sure scanner keystrokes always land correctly.

Bulk CSV import

What format does my CSV need to be in?

Download the built-in template from the Bulk tab, it has the columns Scalez expects: a code column (UPC, SKU, or barcode — several header names work), plus name, vendor, price, tags, weight_lb, length_in, width_in, and height_in. Common variations of these header names (like title instead of name, or brand instead of vendor) are recognized automatically, so you don't need to match the template exactly, just keep the codes in the first column.

You can upload up to 500 products per file. If your file has more rows than that, you'll be asked to trim it or split it into batches. Files can be up to 2 MB. You can also skip the file entirely: paste a list of UPCs or SKUs, one per line, and click Look up products.

My CSV upload didn't import properly. What went wrong?

The most common causes:

"We couldn't find any UPCs or SKUs." — the app couldn't find a recognizable code column. Check that your first column actually contains the barcode or SKU values, not just descriptions.
Codes that look like scientific notation (e.g. 1.95951E+11 instead of 195951690200) — this happens when a spreadsheet program "helpfully" reformats a long number. Scalez detects and skips these rather than importing a broken code, with a message telling you how many were skipped. Fix it by formatting that column as text in your spreadsheet before re-entering the codes, then re-upload.
Duplicate codes within the same file are automatically removed, you don't need to clean those out yourself.
A code that's already a product in your store shows as "Already in your store" rather than creating a duplicate.
A code with no match anywhere shows "No product found for this barcode" and asks you to add a name and vendor manually for that row, it still lets you create a draft, it just can't pre-fill the details.

What can I do in the bulk editor table before I create products?

Quite a bit. After your file is uploaded and looked up, every row appears as an editable row where you can:

Edit any field directly (title, vendor, price, tags, weight, dimensions) without re-uploading.
Search or filter the list by UPC, SKU, product name, vendor, or tag.
Select multiple rows at once and apply a single value to all of them, useful for setting the same vendor, adding a shared tag, or setting a price across a batch.
Stop an in-progress lookup batch if you need to pause partway through.
Choose exactly which rows to actually create, rows without a product name can't be created, everything else is your call.

Nothing is written to your store until you choose to create the selected rows.

How long does a bulk lookup take, and what if I leave the page?

Looking up a long list can take a few minutes, and each product looked up uses one scan. Keep the tab open until it finishes. If you do navigate away, your progress is saved for two days: when you return to the Bulk upload page you'll see "You have a recent bulk upload" with how many products were processed, and you can click Resume to continue or Start new instead. While a lookup is running you can also click Stop after current product to pause it.

Duplicates

What does "This product may already be in your store" mean?

Before looking anything up, Scalez checks your store for a product with the same barcode. If it finds one, it shows this warning with the existing product's name instead of creating anything. Choose View existing product to open it, or Create another anyway if you really do want a second listing. A duplicate warning doesn't use one of your scans.

Drafts and publishing

I created a product, but it's not showing up in my store. Why not?

This is expected: every product Scalez creates, whether from a single scan or a bulk import, is created as a draft. That's by design, so you always get a chance to review details (price, description, images) before anything goes live to customers.

To make it visible in your store, open the product in Shopify (Scalez has an "Edit product" shortcut that takes you straight there) and change its status from Draft to Active. Once it's Active, it'll appear in your storefront the same as any other published product.

Templates

What's a product template for?

A template lets you pre-fill details you'd otherwise set the same way every time, like product category, which collections it belongs to, tags, and your target profit margin. Once you've created a template, you can apply it from a dropdown while reviewing a scanned product, instead of setting those fields manually on every single item. Applying a template fills in the fields you haven't completed yet and won't overwrite what you've already entered. Templates can also set your default weight and dimension units. Create and manage them from Product templates in the app's menu.

Settings

What's on the Settings page?

Three sections:

Billing: your current plan and price, how many scans you've used, when your allowance resets (paid plans), and buttons to switch plans.
Integrations: if you have another compatible app installed, Scalez can send product weight and dimensions to fields that app exposes. Available fields depend on what the other app allows. If nothing on your store accepts that data, you'll see a note saying so rather than an empty, confusing list.
Support: ways to reach us (see below).

Where do length, width, and height go in Shopify?

Shopify has a built-in field for product weight, so Scalez saves weight there. It has no built-in fields for length, width, and height, so Scalez saves those as custom metafields instead.

If you'd like them to show up in your product's Metafields section, create a custom metafield definition in Shopify with the namespace barcode_importer and the keys length_in, width_in, and height_in. Scalez already saves the values, so the definition only makes them visible. You can also map them to another app's fields in Settings.

How do I get help with the app?

Open Settings and scroll to Support. On desktop you can use the blue chat bubble for live support, or you can email support@scalezbiz.com. The section also links to these help center articles.

Plans and scan limits

How do plans and scans work?

Every product lookup uses one scan. A duplicate warning (when the code matches a product already in your store) doesn't use a scan.

Free: 20 scans in total. This is a one-time allowance that doesn't reset.
Starter: $7.99 per month, 100 scans per month.
Scale: $19.99 per month, 1,000 scans per month.

Paid plans are billed through Shopify on a 30-day cycle, and your scan allowance resets with each billing period. Paid plans don't include a free trial, and there are no overage charges. You can switch plans at any time from Settings.

What happens if I hit my scan limit?

On the free plan, you'll see "You've used your free scans" with a View plans button. Choose a plan in Settings to keep scanning.
On a paid plan, new lookups pause until your allowance resets. Settings shows the date.
During a bulk upload, if your list is longer than the scans you have left, Scalez tells you how many you can upload. You can re-upload a smaller list or upgrade your plan.

Nothing you've already created is affected. Only new lookups pause.