Tips to remove gamestop/ebgames sticker off from manual

[JC48573]

back then (like a decade ago), Gamestop had this crazy idea where they would put a sticker on the manual or even the artwork itself. The stickers become harder to remove over time, so it's going to take quite a bit of muscle work to remove them now.

1. Soften the sticker with alcohol. You should let it dry a bit.
2. Start by scraping off all of the paper material of the sticker.
3. All what's left is the sticky stuff. We cannot use another type of adhesive (like tape or another sticker) to remove it because will damage the artwork. What to do? Use Rubber Cement Eraser. You can pretty much buy the eraser at any art store and they are inexpensive.

The eraser takes away the sticky stuff w/o damaging the paper, so no matter how much force you are using, it won't take the color out (maybe a little, very little).

[Cronozilla]

Honestly, the easiest way to get a sticker off is heat. If you use a low heat hair dryer it should work well ... depending on the type of adhesive.

You can still use something like GooGone to get rid of adhesive on paper ... you just have to be quick about it and do shorter rounds of rubbing so you don't remove the ink.

[Hobie-wan]

It very much depends on the paper and print process used between inserts, booklets, boxes, and cart labels. Good older super glossy NES and SNES labels are much easier ot clean since there's the plastic layer on top.

A white plastic eraser often works too.

[01toubib]

I deal with postage label stickers all the time at my work place. Your best bet is to work slow and be patient. No matter the sticker I've found if you get the corner with your nail and keep working it to a large enough space you can remove the sticker with no harm done and no left over residue. Some stickers are harder than others so you'll need to grab more surface area when you start at the corner.

[Hobie-wan]

No matter the sticker I've found if you get the corner with your nail and keep working it to a large enough space you can remove the sticker with no harm done and no left over residue.

A lot are removable after warming with a hair dryer. Though it does depend on the glue and age. There are old stickers where the glue has been baked to the point where it crystallizes and the paper part practically falls off. Masking tape does the same thing in the sun. Sensortmatic tags are bastards too.

[01toubib]

A lot are removable after warming with a hair dryer. Though it does depend on the glue and age. There are old stickers where the glue has been baked to the point where it crystallizes and the paper part practically falls off. Masking tape does the same thing in the sun. Sensortmatic tags are bastards too.

Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I never dealt with extremely old stickers, but I have dealt with poor quality stickers in which the paper is the only part that wants to come off. I'm not sure about the hair dryer trick just because it isn't the glue causing the trouble it's the paper being too weak/brital. But I'll give it a shot and see how it works.

[JC48573]

I've tried the hair dryer and it didn't work out well for me. When I got a game few days ago, I was dealing with the exact same problem. I knew the sticker was more than a decade old. I did my little research first and thankfully found this method which I haven't tried in the past. I will be posting pictures a little later just to show you how it turned out. You will notice a color difference of where the sticker used to be. The sticky "feeling" is pretty much all gone after a day or so.

[Hobie-wan]

Sometimes you have to use both. But a hairdryer will often at least soften the glue so you have a better chance of getting the paper bit off without it being little shreds at a time.

[dust_hound]

Only tangentially- related to the thread, but i just received a used copy of the Ghost in the Shell game for PSP. The manual had a horizontal tear going across the front cover, which was 'repaired' by a piece of tape almost as long as the manual itself, which was affixed not in the direction of the tear, but at a 90-degree angle to it. Seriously, who the fuck does that???