Most of what a brand says about a product is true for every pack ever made. Occasionally it is true for one lot only: a recall, a correction, a replacement part. A batch link covers exactly that case and nothing else.
How it decides
- A scan of a code carrying lot A42 looks for a link scoped to A42 first.
- If there is one, that is what opens.
- If there is not, it falls back to the product's own links, exactly as before.
So you never register a link per batch. You register one for the batch that needs saying something different, and the rest of the run is unaffected.
The pack has to carry the lot
Heads up. A batch link only fires when the lot number is inside the printed address, as the /10/ segment. If the pack carries the GTIN alone, every pack scans identically and a batch link can never be reached.
This is a decision made at artwork time, not afterward. If a recall is something that could ever happen to this product, and for food, cosmetics, supplements and anything with a safety sheet it can, print the lot in the code. The generator builds the address with the lot segment for you.
https://id.yourbrand.com/01/00860001234567/10/A42
A recall, start to finish
- 1Write the notice first
A page on your own site that says what the product is, which lots are affected, what a person should do, and who to contact. Publish it before you point anything at it.
- 2Add the link to the affected lot
Products, the product, Links, Add link. Type: Recall status. Batch: the lot code exactly as printed. Paste the notice address.
- 3Make it the default for that lot
So a phone camera opens the notice rather than the usual product page.
- 4Scan a real affected pack
Not a mock-up. The one from the shelf, with that lot on it.
- 5Leave the other lots alone
They keep going to the normal page. You do not touch them, and you do not reprint anything.
Tip. A retailer's system can ask for the recall status by name without opening any page. That is the quiet half of why this link type exists: it is checkable by machine before a pack is sold.
When it is over
Delete the batch link, and that lot falls straight back to the product's normal links on the next scan. There is nothing to undo and nothing cached. Keep the notice page itself online: printed packs stay in circulation for years and an address that 404s looks worse than the recall did.
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