Goo-Gone, Oops!, ...paint thinner? Etc.
 

Those of us who are anal about having a sticker-free DVD case (especially those of us who make used purchases) have likely tried some of these substances. Just drench a pawn-shop price sticker with it, let it sit for a brief period of time (less than a minute, typically), and your sticker will come right off.

My questions are:
1) What brand, substance, or method do you use to remove stickers?
2) How does it work? Have you compared it to other methods?
3) Anybody have any horror stories?

I use "Oops!" and it works magic. There's one pawn shop in Houston that writes their prices on the keepcase in sharpie. I simply pour five or six drops of "Oops!" onto a washcloth, rub over the sharpie-price a time or three, and it comes right off. I haven't used Goo-Gone, or any other methods, simply because "Oops!" has never done me wrong.

There are instances, though, when it's too strong for it's own good. If you get it on your coverart, it'll take the ink right off. I've only had that happen once, with a disc I've long since traded...but needless to say I've been much more careful ever since.

My most recent horror story, though, is as follows:

I was doing some pawn shopping when I ran across the Jerry Maguire 2-disc Special Edition. I pulled it out of the case, looked it over...and everything from Digipack, to discs, to the insert were in pristine condition. For $6.99, I was quite pleased with my find (I'd even traded my 1-disc in a few month prior with hopes of finding the 2-disc at a price like this).

I got it home, opened it up, and peeled off the price sticker (which was stuck on the inside of the digipack, right above disc one). It left quite a bit of residue behind, so I got my trusty old "Oops!" and went to work. I poured a bit on the case, wiped over it with a cloth...and the sticky residue just spread. I kept drenching the case, and running over the residue with a razor blade, each time ending up with a nice sized gloop of sticky stuff on the edges of the blade.

This went on. And on. And on...for about 5 minutes. This stuff just kept coming. It was then that my grandma (I was in town for spring break) said, "maybe it's melting the plastic?" I laughed at her and went back to work...but this residue just kept coming and coming...spreading everywhere. I thought to myself, "maybe she's right," and poured some "Oops!" on the side that holds disc two (the side with no original sticker residue). Sure enough, I was left with a sticky substance that eventually hardened into an unattractive spot. This substance was so strong that it was melting the plastic part on the inside of the digipack.

I took it to my local Best Buy to exchange ("look it melted, maybe it was hot in your truck." "....oh, yeah, I know. I've never seen anything like that, either.") They were out of stock, as was every other store in the greater Houston area. I ended up driving about 45 minutes to the only store with a remaining copy, and trading it in for that one.

Anyway, what product or method (I've heard of people using hair-dryers) do you use to remove stickers and/or sticker residue, how does it work, and have you ever had any mishaps?

-JP

Am I understanding this correctly?

You bought it at a pawn shop and returned it to Best Buy?

So, you are a thief?

:lol: Well, what do you expect from a high school/college-aged film snob. Not only does he brag about his "taste" in film, he obtains them using the 5 finger discount.

In his defense he didn't exactly walk out of the Best Buy with the disc tucked under his shirt...

He might as well.

BWAHAHAHAHA!! :lol:rotfl:lol:

Amazing story. Too bad that you didn't spill some on the DVD and melt it too! You thief!
Anyway, I use Zippo Lighter Fluid - never had any kind of problem with it at all. Removes any kind of sticky stuff on anything.

Goo-gone has never failed me when it comes to removing residue.

No kidding. They send it to their distributor for replacement anyway...and I've seen my fair share of people on this site saying, "oh, there's a defect...well just take it to your local wal-mart and exchange it." Figured I'd take their advice, and it worked like a charm. Thanks, dvdtalkers.

-JP

-ohbfrank-

And people complain that Best Buy's prices on DVDs aren't deals anymore. They probably raised them when they factored in the overhead of people scamming them.

They give you 3 trades without a receipt. I used up one of mine.

-JP

I dunno 'bout that.

Best Buy will barely take anything back even when you have the receipt (and even then)... not sure how the OP got them to do a straight exchange without one.

They allow for three exchanges without the receipt (and mark down your information and whatnot to keep track of how many exchanges you've done), and only accept opened discs if you're trading for the same release. I assume this has a bit to do with preventing copywrite infringement, and a bit to do with the fact that they can send damaged product back to the distributor for credit (so they wouldn't want somebody trading a damaged MGM disc for a Fox disc, and so forth).

The franchise doesn't take a hit on people trading in damaged products, regardless of whether they were originally bought at the store or not.

-JP

Well, they do take a hit, they may not take a huge financial bath, but they just lost a product they could sell for profit. They make no profit sending back your pawn shop DVD and getting credit. All the time spent sending it back cost money and freight as well.

They don't send most of it back because it takes too much time and money. They sell it by the pallet to return liquidation companies such as Essex Tech in Nashville. I should know, I buy hundreds of bucks worth of stuff from them regualry. Almost half of it still has Best Buy return paperwark or tape attached.

So yes, they do take a hit - not just send it back to the distributor.

Oh, I will return something someplace I did not buy it or without a receipt if the item is unopened, but I have never taken a product I damaged back to the store.

A pawn shop copy going back to the distributor? That doesn't even seem as close to ethical as a Wal-Mart DVD going back to Best Buy.

There wasn't anything wrong with that DVD when it was bought by the original purchaser. So it's ok that the distributor's costs go up which results in higher costs for all of us, no matter where we buy them?

Why

I also have a question for everybody who has spoken out against my trade...is what I did any worse for the franchise than those of you who take the Target misprint ads to Best Buy for an under-cost price match (buying the $25 West Side Story S.E. for $7.50, for example)? You don't seem to mind the stores losing revenue that way...

-JP

I always go to the store where it was mispriced first. Then I will try to price match. They have the choice whether or not to match it. My Best Buy never has. Wal-Mart does usually. Target does not anymore. I am not telling anyone a lie. I may be leaving off the fact that I know it is a misprice, but they know that too or at least should. I just say yes it is a great price and ask if they will match it. If not, no biggie. I do not take a DVD and lie to get a new copy of the one I already had. I have a copy of Blues Brothers 2000 that stopped working - no scratches - mint condition. I have not taken it to get a new one because if I told the truth I know they would not exchange it - I have had it for like 4 years. If I lied they may do so, but then everytime I watched it I would feel bad.

I am amazed that you are defending your actions. You not only returned an item that you bought used at a pawn shop to Best Buy, but only after you ruined it. That is real nice.

What you did is a crime in many states, by the way(if you had to sign the receipt).

Isn't driving 45 miles to swap it, kind of a deal breaker?

Best Buy never asked me if I purchased the disc at their store, and I never outright told them that I did. So, if you want to get technical about it, I never lied either. I, as you say, only "left off the fact that..."

Point is, when people price-match an ad that they know full well is a misprint, they have no second thoughts about the fact that the store doing the price-match is taking a financial hit.

When you take in an ad to price-match a sale that you know full well wasn't meant to be offered in the first place, you're taking advantage of Best Buy (or whatever other store), at their expense. I'm not denying that I took advantage of Best Buy (though I'm still uncertain it was at any expense to them), nor do I deny that I take advantage of them when I price-match a misprinted Target ad. However, it seems you all are much more eager to criticize an act that you don't partake in, ignoring the fact that when you price-match an obviously misprinted ad, the same amount of detriment is being done to the franchise.

-JP

Shame you can't have a non-linear narrative in real-life huh? :D

Ok, I will accept that price matching can be negative. But, not all misprices are misprices. Those $7.50 deals at Target, they have been being honored by Target - they even ring up as such if you can find them thus pricematching is perfectly respectable. The Seinfeld at Hollywood - No hollywood that I know honored it, so there you may have a point.

However, I still fail to see how there is anyway to argue what you did was ok. I also fail to see how you can not see the store taking a hit. I just told you that Best Buy sends returns to liquidators. I have even bought returned DVDs from them in the some of their auctions. They do not get what they paid for the merchandise back from these companies so they took a loss on that DVD, absolutely no way they did not. I don't see how that is not clear.

The company I refer to:
http://www.buyessex.com/info/index.cfm

Maybe gas is cheaper where he lives?

rotfl

I'm unaware of what they do with each and every damaged film that's returned to them. If they all go to a liquidator, I assume they're getting something in return (in much the same way that they're getting something, namely $7.50, from the people price-matching their $25 West Side Story set). I won't deny that I've taken advantage of them, likely at a financial hit assuming they never send anything back to their distributors. I also admit that I'm taking advantage of them whenever I pricematch an ad that has no business being honored.

I just think the outcry is hypocritical when the site promotes the posting of misprinted Target ads to be pricematched elsewhere, or Blockbuster's misprint of a South Park collection for 1/5 the price...all things that are a financial burdon on the respective franchises. Both instances are taking advantage of franchises at a cost to their overhead...I'm condemned for one, while another has it's own forum. Silly.

45 minutes, not miles. About 35 miles round trip. Traffic is a bitch in Houston.

-JP

Taking advantage of a misprice is alot different from returning a damaged used item as new.

I'm surprised that a mod hasn't locked this thread yet.

Both have the same effect on the store's financial status (a negative one)...they're only "different" because you're used to one being accepted as okay.

-JP

One is unethical and illegal(usually)......the other is a misprice.

How is taking advantage of an obvious error at somebody else's expense not unethical?

-JP

...

Way to not respond to my post.

-JP

If you do not understand the difference, I am not interested in getting in an e-argument with you. Be proud, be real proud.
Thank you, that is all.

I actually agree with this. The pawn shop/Best Buy thing was blatantly unethical.

The PMing of a misprice is also wrong but ppl consider it ok cuz they rationalize that the store doing the PM has the right to reject it. If you know that it's wrong, why are you trying the PM in the first place?

Two wrongs make a right?

You rationalize one unethical behavior by saying that many people participate in another unethical behavior?

I use "Un Du" and it works like a charm.

I rationalize it in a different way altogether (and rationalizing my actions isn't something I feel the need to do for anybody other than myself). No, right now I'm just pointing out the hypocrisy shown by the people here who are jumping on me, when they (as often as they can) do something that is just as unethical and detrimental to the stores they're trying to "stand up for."

-JP

I've always been a Goo-Gone guy, but I don't like how it smells. One time, I was in my local used CD place, and showed the counter guy a DVD was considering, but it was kind of smudgy and a little scratched. I wanted to see if they'd lower the price or promise me I could return it if it was defective, but instead, the guy just took the disc from it's case, and proceeded to spray Goo-Gone DIRECTLY ON THE SHINEY SIDE OF THE DISC! Yikes! "Can you do that?!?", I wondered aloud. "Oh sure, works like a charm", the guy told me, as he rubbed the disc down. So I bought the disc and never had a problem with it. Weird huh? But to this day, I can't bring myself to spray Goo-Gone directly onto my DVDs.

Guess that's a bit off topic in this thrad as it is now, but there you go anyway.

JIM T