I find video games, movies, books, and laying on the beach (even though I am capable of sunburn in the winter) to be the best things on Earth and I try to do a little of it all in between my daily rut managing a much hated specialty video game retail store. 5 cool points for those who can guess which one that is.
So, I always hear people bitch about GameStop's stickers on their used games and the shit residue they leave when they unsuccessfully try to peel the buggers off. So, I decided to create a little how-to video to show these kids how to remove these stickers because, to be honest, I am so sick and tired of reading and hearing about how GameStop sucks ass because they put tons of stickers all over their shit. I am mostly sick and tired about the bashing because plenty other retailers do it too.. Play N Trade, for example, uses stickers the size of a pornstar's dick on their games.
So, without further ado, here is the video how-to.
There you have it. Now you know how to remove stickers without using chemicals like Goo Gone and if you are too lazy to do this and still complain, you should be dressed in a cheddar suit and thrown in a pit of rabid rats.
When I worked for Gamestop I shared my own method on sticker removing with customers. Of course, in classic Gamestop fashion, I would get in trouble for this.
I wonder if it works on the stickers stuck onto the manuals? I have a couple of preowned games that I've managed to free of cover stickers, but the ones on the front of the manual will tear the paper if I try to slowly pull it off. :\
Usually I'm pretty good at getting them off the case without any problems, but every once in a while I lose a corner and half the sticker goes with it. I'll remember to file this one away.
I wish I knew this a year ago...a few of the gamecube titles I picked up for cheap have res all over them. I usually try to avoid buying used, especially from Gamestop, but this is definitely useful for some occasion in the future.
@Cadtalfryn: Using a pencil eraser helps remove sticker residue from the cases. Just don't go too crazy or you'll wind up with eraser smudges instead. Wash it off with a little bit of water and you should be fine.
This is handy, as I don't want to leave them on the case, making the cover art look stupid with all the stickers, which in turn makes me look like a fool. A fool like Milis.
Lighter fluid is without a doubt the easiest to find substance to wash away the adhesive. I believe it acts as a solvent to wash it away, but that means you can leave streaks if you wipe it haphazardly.
I recommend squirting a bit of lighter fluid onto the case/paper insert, then wiping it toward the nearest edge with a lighter-fluid-damp cloth, using a different side of the cloth for each wipe. Repeat the process two or three times and everything should be cleaned away.
The lighter fluid has a very high evaporation rate, causing it to completely disappear within seconds, and leaves no residue of its own on the materials. This might not be as easy as blow drying a sticker on a case, but if you've already unsuccessfully peeled stickers, it works wonders on cases, paper manuals/inserts, or essentially any material you'd like to clean.
That's largely useless. When stickers are newish they're piss easy to take off. When they get a year or 2 they're fuckign impossible without massive work, so bitching will continue :P
Yeah was gonna say was DAO2 said, this works wonders on newer games since the stickers are fairly fresh, hell half the time you don't even need the blow dryer. But if you buy some 5 year old ps2 game be prepared for several hours of work and solvent trying to get the stickers off. The old square gamestop stickers are by far the hardest fucking ones to remove. Oh and one other thing, your lucky as your gamestop aren't full of assholes as your spine sticker was just slipped into the case, where as at most of gamestops in my area that decide it's much more awesome to actually stick the sticker onto the cover art's spine which will potentially damage the paper sleeve if your not super careful in removing it.
I bitch about the stickers...but I just peel them off slowly. If people stopped trying to be in a rush to pull them off, they'd come off right clean 8/10 times.
either way. All this could be said for ANY used store business. Gamestop is just special because kids wahhwahhwahh on the internet about it.
Holy shit, commenting again to thank Arttemis for the lighter fluid suggestion, that just worked fucking wonders on my copy of Panzer Dragoon Orta which looked like shit thanks to a bazillion really old stickers not coming off, for anyone with old cases with tons of sticker residue do was Arttemis says, I'm about to go through my whole collection now and find all those cases I failed miserably at removing stickers from!
Good job! The hairdryer thing... so obvious it hurts that I didn't think of it sooner! My only complaint however is the fact that most people love to put those damn stickers RIGHT over the summary of the game/book/whatever. That drives me absolutely nuts when I'm trying to figure out what a game is about and I keep running into price stickers and such!
I slowly peel off the sticker and then use the sticker itself to bring up the rest of the residue. What I can't pick up with the sticker I use window cleaner and a tooth brush to remove.
Yeah, every time I've tried this it gets the plastic under the sticker so hot that when I pull the sticker off it warps the case itself.
And yeah, the worst thing is when they pull the paper cover art out and put the sticker directly on that. My copy of Ico is like this, it always makes me cringe.
@arttemis unforunately gamestop (or at least the 2 in the mall near me) have gotten to putting stickers UNDER the plastic cover and right ontop of the paper insert, and I fear that it'll rub off/stain it :(
I'll give it a go on some crappy game ;p Btw if it's because of the fast evaporation I might all try some 98% isopropyl.
There's always using a wet wash cloth and soaking the stickers with water before removal but that doesn't guaranteed that no residue will remain behind.
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I'll be sure to remember the hairdryer method.
...And also I don't a hair dryer.
When I buy used games, I usually leave the stickers on anyway.
I don't know how I always miss these things in comments.
I recommend squirting a bit of lighter fluid onto the case/paper insert, then wiping it toward the nearest edge with a lighter-fluid-damp cloth, using a different side of the cloth for each wipe. Repeat the process two or three times and everything should be cleaned away.
The lighter fluid has a very high evaporation rate, causing it to completely disappear within seconds, and leaves no residue of its own on the materials. This might not be as easy as blow drying a sticker on a case, but if you've already unsuccessfully peeled stickers, it works wonders on cases, paper manuals/inserts, or essentially any material you'd like to clean.
Anyone with little or none other option, like myself. It ain't perfect, but suffice.
This is what I need. My covers look like a million germs had a party and repeatedly threw up on it. It's small but ugly.
However you do not want to use it to get a sticker off a manual.
I bitch about the stickers...but I just peel them off slowly. If people stopped trying to be in a rush to pull them off, they'd come off right clean 8/10 times.
either way. All this could be said for ANY used store business. Gamestop is just special because kids wahhwahhwahh on the internet about it.
Keep heated air well away from the dvd cover.
And yeah, the worst thing is when they pull the paper cover art out and put the sticker directly on that. My copy of Ico is like this, it always makes me cringe.
I'll give it a go on some crappy game ;p Btw if it's because of the fast evaporation I might all try some 98% isopropyl.