LaFactory Barcode Free

Scan, print and sell from the WooCommerce shop you already run

LaFactory Barcode turns the SKUs already in your WooCommerce catalogue into Code 128 barcodes. It prints the label sheets, reads them back with an ordinary keyboard scanner to move stock, and records a counter sale as a real WooCommerce order. Nothing is duplicated into a second system: the SKU is the native one, the stock is the native one, the order is a native one.

The free edition is a working till, not a demo. Labels, inventory scanning, the counter and the 80 mm receipt are all in this package, because a shop that cannot ring up a sale has not been given anything.

What changes at your counter

Every product gets a barcode, including the ones without a SKU

A Code 128 barcode is generated for each product and each variation from its WooCommerce SKU. Products that have no SKU can be given one automatically, on a prefix you choose, so you are not blocked by the half of the catalogue nobody ever finished filling in.

Print label sheets that scanners actually read

Print by category, by product selection or by quantity. The physical module width is held constant so the same sheet reads on a 203 dpi desktop printer and on a 300 dpi label printer, which is where most homemade barcode sheets fail.

Move stock by scanning, and undo the mistake

• Any USB, Bluetooth or wireless HID scanner that types the value and finishes with Enter. No driver, no pairing service, no cloud.
• Three modes: search without touching stock, receive stock, remove stock.
• Each movement can be undone from the scan log, on the spot.
• Native WooCommerce stock by default, or LaFactory Multi Inventory when that plugin is installed.
• AIM prefixes and control characters sent by scanners are normalised rather than left to corrupt the reference.
• A scanner set to a French keyboard layout is recovered: the reading is replayed through the French and French Macintosh layouts, and a candidate is only accepted when it matches an existing SKU exactly. A scan can never land on the neighbouring item.

Ring up a sale at the counter

Build the basket by scanning, adjust quantities, apply a discount, pick a counter payment method, take the money. The sale is written as a paid WooCommerce order, so stock, reports and accounting follow the path they already follow. An 80 mm PDF receipt prints for the customer, and an anonymous counter sale does not fire customer emails at nobody.

Fix a catalogue from the command line

Three WP-CLI commands cover the bulk work: wp lfbc backfill assigns the missing SKUs (with --dry-run first), wp lfbc list reads back what was assigned, and wp lfbc scan-misses shows the scans that matched nothing, which is how you find the labels to reprint.

How it goes in

1. Install and activate WooCommerce.
2. Upload and activate LaFactory Barcode.
3. Open LF Barcodes > Settings and review the SKU prefix, the stock mode, the counter payment methods and the scanner sound.
4. Open LF Barcodes > Labels to print your first sheet, Scan / Inventory to move stock, and Order to open the till.

There is nothing else to connect: no account to create, no key to paste, no external service to authorise.

Compatibility

• WordPress 6.0 or later, tested up to 7.1. PHP 7.4 or later. WooCommerce required.
• Simple products and variations, each with its own SKU and barcode.
• Counter sales are stored as ordinary WooCommerce orders, so HPOS, reporting and your accounting export keep working.
• Stock is read and written through WooCommerce, or through LaFactory Multi Inventory when it is installed.
• Interface in English and French.
• GPLv2 or later. The scanner integration bundles @point-of-sale/keyboard-barcode-scanner 1.1.4 under the MIT licence, whose text ships with the plugin.

Questions merchants ask before installing

Does the plugin send anything anywhere?

No. No licence check, no activation call, no telemetry, no analytics, no remote font, no announcement feed. The free edition has no code that talks to LaFactory at all, because the file that would has been left out of the package rather than switched off.

What does it record about my customers?

For diagnostics the plugin keeps a bounded local log of the last 100 unrecognised scans: the value submitted, its length and its hexadecimal bytes. No identity, no IP address, no browser fingerprint. Counter sales become WooCommerce orders because that is the point of a till, and WooCommerce applies its own privacy rules to them.

Do I need a special scanner?

No. Any HID scanner that behaves like a keyboard works, which is nearly all of them, including the twenty euro models. If yours is configured for a French layout, the plugin already knows.

What is not in the free edition?

Pro adds the other symbologies (EAN, UPC, Code 39, QR Code, Data Matrix, PDF417) and a label designer. It adds warehouse operations: locations, picking, stocktake sessions and a full audit trail. It adds the larger till: multiple registers, split payments, returns, offline mode, and Stripe and Square terminals. It adds the A4 invoice, a legal document with its own header, legal mention and order currency. And it adds the LaFactory update channel, which is what carries new versions to a licensed site in one click.

Why is the till free when the competition sells it?

Because a point of sale that only prints a receipt is not a paid feature. What is paid is what a shop with a warehouse and several registers needs, and that is a different problem from ringing up a customer.

What if I remove it?

Uninstalling leaves your products, SKUs and orders alone. They were never the plugin’s data: they are WooCommerce’s.

If you need the extra symbologies, the label designer, picking and stocktake, the multi-register till or the A4 invoice, they are in LaFactory Barcode Pro.