Removing old stickers without leaving residue? Impossible?

[JSR]

Got a NES game from ebay in the mail today. On the front of the box there's a big ass white sticker. After having groaned for a good few minutes I started carefully pealing at the corners. The sticker is difficult, starting to dissolve leaving a fat white layer under whatever I manage to tear off. I started digging in deeper, but then I actually started doing damage to the art on the box itself. So I'm hoping that there's a super secret technique to removing old stickers without damaging what's under?

And is this something I should give the seller negative marks for? The sticker is visible in the item picture, but it's not mentioned in the description. I just assumed it was just a card lying on top of the box for proving its validity in the picture.

[Kit]

I'd be interested in this advice also. Totally ruined a mint copy of Zelda: A Link to the Past by pealing the sticker off.

[teddymeow]

For plastic cases with a sticker I just spray furniture polish on the case until it pretty much dissolves the glue.

I wouldn't want to be the one to advise it with cardboard though.

[JSR]

I read something about heating it up with a hairdryer, anybody tried that? Don't really want to experiment too much with this, as I don't want to have a ruined NES box on my conscience.

[MiG]

On my Super Famicom boxes I have used white spirits, just a little on a soft cloth and then rub it on the sticker residue and it rubs straight off.

[JSR]

I got off the sticker with a hairdryer, but there's still some residue left. Maybe I'll buy some white spirits and try that.

[noobish hat]

Isn't Goo Gone or whatever designed for this exact purpose?

Sometimes I like to leave stickers on things, if they're from when it was current. A nice ?49.99 sticker on a Saturn game I got for ?2 makes me smile, especially if it's from a shop that no longer exists. Reminds me of walking into a game shop and seeing rows of games I was actually interested in. Happy times.

[EvilBoris]

We used to use a bottle of lighter fluid for this in the shop I worked in.

Just squidge a little on and wipe.

But as noobish says, there are probably over things that are actually designed for it.

[Anpanman]

I developed a technique for getting old gummy labels off 3 1/2 disks by using bits of the old sticker or sellotape I've used it loads of times since for getting labels off plastic game boxes etc. By using a sort of rolling/dabbing motion you can get every bit off and the result is absolutely perfect.

Getting the stuff off cardboard is also easily doable (assuming it's printed and has that shinyish finish) you just have to be a bit more gentle by dabbing the tape on your skin a few times to lessen the sticky strength.

[EvilBoris]

Yeah, you can sometimes use the actual label/sticker to remove the residue as you say.

[mekanor]

Eucalyptus oil works really well. I usually get most off by dabbing with the sticker like ampanman said and then use a rag with a bit of eucalyptus oil for the rest.

[Decider-VT]

I use isopropyl alcohol, lightly dabbed onto the sticker until it starts lifting and I can peel it off safely.

[JSR]

Used some WD40 to get rid of the last residue. Looks pretty good now.

[Kit]

I use isopropyl alcohol, lightly dabbed onto the sticker until it starts lifting and I can peel it off safely.

That's the stuff you use for cd cleaning and thermal paste removal right? will have to give this a go.

[Decider-VT]

I'm not sure, but I've used it for removing stickers and permanent marker from SNES boxes before and it's always worked well.