Those pesky price stickers

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Some people like to keep the price tags on their books to remind them of the book’s provenance. I’m  not one of them.

Aside from being  a compulsive plastic coverer (I can’t read a book that has not been covered in protective plastic), I’m a price sticker remover, and whenever I buy a new book my nails automatically itch to scrape off the price sticker. It just drives me crazy.

The problem is most price stickers are awfully sticky, and peeling them off takes forever, especially when the adhesive is so sticky that you can’t peel the sticker off as a whole (bookstores, please, do something about this!) and ten minutes later you’re left with a smudgy, sticky mess. It’s also annoying when the price sticker eats into the cover, leaving you with an ugly squarish patch (which is a regular occurence at my favorite bargain bookstore), or lifts some of the gloss from a brand new book.

Because I keep my nails short, they don’t offer much leverage when picking at price stickers, especially the really stubborn ones that refused to budge. So eventually I had to resort to other removal procedures.

Here are are two methods I use to remove price stickers.

The sticky tape technique

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Get a piece of sticky tape (the good quality type, not the cheapo ones that lose their stickiness after a few fingerprints) — masking, clear tape, packaging tape,or duct tape (for heavy hardcovers only — you might tear off the whole cover using duct tape on a paperback)  — and stick it on top of the price tag.

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Rub the tape over the area that touches the price tag with your fingernail or a coin.

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Lift tape. Repeat until the whole price tag and residue is removed.

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This works okay, but it gets tiresome after one book. Also, if you’re not careful and if the book cover is uncoated or porous, you can rip out the cover with the tape.

WD-40 magic

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My recent discovery is a solvent called WD-40 (available in supermarkets and hardware stores).  I find that dabbing it on to a price tag dissolves the adhesive and loosens the tag from the cover. Like the first technique, WD-40 is not recommended for uncoated/ non-laminated covers, as the solvent will seep through and leave an oil stain.

Spray WD-40 into a small receptacle.

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Use a cotton bud to apply WD-40 to the price tag (you don’t want to use an excessive amount).

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Leave on for 2-3 minutes. You can apply WD-40 on other books while waiting.

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Lift off the treated price sticker. For coated price stickers (thick, glossy ones), repeat until the whole sticker (and/or the residue) comes off.

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Wipe dry to remove traces of WD40.

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WD-40 doesn’t smell very good and it’s flammable (don’t spray near a heat source/ open flame) , but it works great. I hear Goo Gone also works similarly, but WD40 is easier to find in the Philippines.

Both methods still take time, and prone to damage if you’re not familiar with cover surfaces that work with the technique. If you have doubts, test on an inconspicuous portion of the book. Combining both methods works well, too.

How about you, do you remove the price stickers from your books? If anyone out there has any other ways to do it without causing damage to the book, I’d love to hear from you!

21 thoughts on “Those pesky price stickers”

  1. Hi Blooey.

    This is so informative! I usually use rubbing alcohol. Sometimes it works and sometimes NAH! Thanks for the tips! =)

  2. Kaye, yup, especially when they’re layered one over the other! But that usually means they’ve been marked down several times, too.

    Using WD-40, Book Sale price tags come off easier though, as their price tags are uncoated (so is Fully Booked’s). For NBS, Powerbooks, and Books and Mags which have thicker price tags, I usually have to do 2 rounds of WD-40, or I have to pick off the top layer first before applying WD-40 to the residue.

  3. Blooey, I’ve learned to live with those price tags. I just remove price tags if the book is quite new. But if I know that they’ve been on the shelves of bookstores for quite some time, I just let them be. Hehehe.

  4. Peter, taking off price tags does take a lot of time… When I buy books for mooching (specifically for mooching) I leave the stickers on hehe

  5. Ray-ann- Hahaha! Yeah, my brother uses WD-40 on his bike. Now it’s become a favorite household item for everything sticky :D

    Hey, you okay after the floods? I remember you live up North.

  6. @Aloi – I knooow! That very frequently happens with book sale purchases.

    It’s great to see you back!!!! How are you? :)

  7. I have to warn you that there’s a downside to removing the price stickers from old glossy paperbacks. Sometimes you also tend to remove the thin plastic lamination from them. Hence the book will become more vulnerable to water damage.

  8. I really hate those price tags!

    I usually buy old second hand books from booksale (for some reasons, old books appeal to me).
    Some of my favorite books are actually old, If I use your techniques they might be damaged.

    It is really hard to remove old price stickers from old books.

    Still… I find this blog entry of yours to be informative and will consider this techniques whenever I face another book with an annoying price sticker.

  9. @austenfan – wd-40 removes the stickyness

    @led- I read somewhere you can also steam the price sticker off, although I’ve never tried it because it will also cause moisture

  10. Hi! I’ve been lurking here every now and then, and just wanted to say thanks for these tips! I’ve researched on different ways to remove stickers, because I am also very OC about this!

    My Dad recently found some Goo Gone at True Value (the hardware store, about P380 – though it was the last piece at the Park Square branch). It works great!:)

  11. @Celina! Hi. Glad to be of help.

    Yup, Goo Gone is more expensive and at a smaller volume than wd-40, which is about P200 for a medium-sized spraycan

  12. Hi Blooey,

    I usually use WipeOut cream, (available at hardware & supermarket) its a dirt/stain remover creme. I used it after i remove the stickers to well “wipe out” the remaining stickiness, they’re applicable to matte & glossy areas.

    Sometimes, if i want to leave the bookstore logo & the barcode intact for sentimental purposes but would want to remove the price, an ordinary eraser will do, just erase the price, and it all comes off like pencil leads on paper. :)

  13. I’ve been removing traces of sticky price tags using alcohol and it’s not an ideal method. Nice tip about WD-40 but they won’t work specially if the book doesn’t have jacket or if the book is a paperback not in glossy cover. I cringe shopping in Booksale because they tie a bundle of them using rope which damages the books specially hardcovers.

    In National Bookstore though their book have plastic covers i wish they don’t put price tags in the barcodes. I wish i can just scan them instead of typing the book title which saves a lot of time.

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