EAN-5 Generator
5-digit add-on barcode that carries a book's recommended retail price alongside ISBN-13.
How EAN-5 is structured
EAN-5 is an add-on printed immediately to the right of an EAN-13, most often an ISBN-13 on a book cover, separated by a defined gap and its own guard pattern. The first digit is a currency indicator — 5 for US dollars, 6 for Canadian dollars — and the remaining four digits carry the price with two implied decimals, so 52495 reads as 24.95 dollars.
EAN-5 check digit
No check digit is printed. A modulo-10 checksum is still computed from the five digits, weighting them alternately 3 and 9, and the result selects which digits are drawn with odd parity and which with even. The redundancy lives in that parity pattern, so a misread digit is detected even though the number looks complete.
EAN-5 compared with EAN-13
EAN-2 is the sibling add-on, carrying a two-digit issue number instead of a price and using a shorter parity table. Both are companions to a main EAN-13 rather than standalone symbols — a scanner that has not been told to expect an add-on will ignore it entirely. Compare the EAN-13 generator page for the same breakdown of structure, check digit and use cases.
Common EAN-5 problems
The add-on is printed on its own
An add-on has no start guard of its own in the form a reader expects and is normally read only as part of the symbol to its left. Print it beside the EAN-13 with the specified gap; standalone add-ons are the classic cause of a code that reads as the wrong number.
The currency indicator does not match the price
The leading digit is not decorative: retailers use it to localise the price. A US indicator on a book sold in Canada produces a price in the wrong currency at the till, so confirm the indicator for every market on the print run.
Scanners return the main symbol only
Add-on reading is a reader setting, often switched off to speed up checkout. If the price digit must be captured, enable add-on reading and the two- or five-digit supplement option in the scanner configuration.
Where EAN-5 is used
- Suggested retail price on books carrying an ISBN-13
- Price supplements on periodicals sold in more than one currency
- Supplementary price data where the main symbol carries the item number
Not sure this is the right symbology? The barcode format guide groups every supported 1D and 2D format by industry with its character set and limits.