When it comes to retail arbitrage, removing the price tags (or any other stickers) from your products is the most annoying thing you have to do before you can sell them on Amazon. Sure, you could use your fingernail to try and slowly peel the sticker off the box, but that takes a lot of time and sometimes the price sticker still causes a tear in the box.
I’m here to show you there is a better way. In fact, toward the bottom of this blog post will be a video of me showing you exactly how I remove price stickers.
How to Safely Remove Price Stickers:
1. Heat up the price sticker.
Use this heat gun to heat up price stickers so they can be removed easier. When heat is applied to a price sticker or label, the sticky part of the adhesive gets soft and makes it so much easier to remove the price sticker from the item’s packaging. Just be careful. The heat gun can easily burn your skin, so make sure the focus of the heat is only on the price sticker.
2. Use a Scotty Peeler to peel the price sticker off.
This handy little tool is the perfect way to peel off the stickers from the item without damaging the original package or ruining your fingernails. Plus, if you just used the heat gun, the box might still be hot, and these tools are much better to use than your fingernails.
3. Use Goo Gone to remove any excess sticky residue.
If there is any remaining sticky residue on the item’s packaging, then use some Goo Gone Spray Gel. This spray gel is the perfect solution to help get any excess sticky “goo” off your item. Simply spray some Goo Gone onto the sticky residue, and it will wipe off fairly easily. For really stubborn “goo,” use the Scotty Peeler in combination with the Goo Gone to scrape away the excess goo. Note: There are many different products that you can use to remove the sticky adhesive left behind from a sticker. Some other alternatives are Un-Du and even lighter fluid.
4. Use a paper towel to clean up any left over mess.
I use the choose-a-size paper towels because I rarely ever need a full-size paper towel when removing stickers. I always just tear off one small sheet of the choose-a-size paper towels and tear that sheet in half. I use one half to spray the Goo Gone onto the item (see step 3 above), and then the other half I’ll use to clean what’s left of the Goo Gone and residue.
Here’s a video to see these steps in action! After you watch the video, don’t forget to scroll down this post for bonus tips on removing price stickers from inventory items.
BONUS TIPS!
Peeling stickers off of plastic – Sometimes the price sticker is stuck on the clear plastic window or blister of an item. When this is the case, it’s important to be very careful with the heat gun. Plastic melts in heat, and you don’t want to ruin your inventory item because you melted the plastic. I’ll usually keep a close eye on the plastic area when I’m using the heat gun, and the moment I see the plastic start to warp, I’ll turn the heat off. After some practice you’ll start knowing the best times to turn the heat gun off before the plastic even begins to melt.
When the sticky just won’t come off – In a perfect world, all of the sticky residue would come off easily, but there are times where it just won’t go away. This is also a concern if the item you’re removing the sticker from could potentially be damaged if there were too much Goo Gone absorbed into the packaging. When this happens, I place a clean label over the sticky part or perhaps a Thank You sticker.
Removing pre-cut price stickers – Have you ever had to remove a price sticker that is impossible to peel off all in one piece? You know, you start to peel the sticker off, but it’s pre-cut so you end up having to peel off multiple pieces? That can waste time and cause frustration, but I’ve found a simple solution. Put a piece of tape over the price sticker. That way, when you peel it off, it will all come off as one piece
Outsource – Peeling of price stickers is a job that almost anyone can do and provides a great opportunity to outsource. I currently have our assistant remove most of the price stickers for our items, but I’ve also had my kids perform this job. If your child is old enough to handle the heat gun, then now is a good time to train them how to use it properly. Perhaps you can even show them the video from above to teach them.
Ok, now you are equipped with the knowledge of the best ways to properly remove a price sticker. Did I miss something? Do you have another way that works best for you? I’d love to hear how you remove stickers in the comment below.
*This post was updated for 2022
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I use a hair dryer. It might be a better option when a sticker is on plastic since the heat is not so intense.
Good idea for the price stickers on plastic!
W-D40!!! Remove sticker…spray with W-D40 let sit 30 seconds wipe CLEAN with paper towel. DONE
On thin plastic I soak the sticker with water on a section of paper towel for several minutes. Then it peels off like mush. Usually the glue will roll off too with more soaking.
Instead of Goo Gone I sometimes use car wax (Maguiar’s Cleaner Wax) to remove sticky residue on glossy packaging. It also works great to clean up the glossy dust jackets on books.
Undo sticker remover fluid is fantastic with the blue Scotty Peeler and a quick clean up with lighter fluid.
I sometimes use a very damp rag to rub the paper tag off, and then use rubbing alcohol or goo gone to remove the residue. This works well on shrink wrap and also works on 99% of book jackets. I haven’t met residue that one of those two solvents didn’t work on.
I use microfiber towels that I had laying around instead of paper towel. I just throw the towels in the wash after a while. No waste and cheaper in the long run.
I use a blow dryer instead of a heat gun, works like magic and works every time.
I use UnDu in the 4 ounce sizes. I have two bottles in addition to the 32 ounce container that is SO much cheaper than the 4 oz items. When one of the 4oz containers runs out, I carefully pry the plastic top off the bottle, fill it up again from the 32 ounce bottle and re-insert the plastic spout. Cost effective and economical.
I saw a video recently where the person uses lighter fluid, which is supposed to dissolve the adhesive just as effectively as UnDu does.
When a book has a matte cover instead of a gloss one, what’s the best way to remove the glue. I’m always afraid of leaving a greasy spot.
That’s a good question. I would suggest buying some “throw away” books with matte covers that you can test different levels of Goo Gone (or any other sticky residue remover) on and see how the matte covers react. Then, you’ll know in the future how much to use (or not use).
I discovered a cool trick to take off left over glue residue AFTER the sticker is off. Spray a little goof off over it and gently rub the area with a used dryer sheet. Then just wipe off with a clean rag. Works every time.
I’ll have to use the dryer sheet sometime soon. Sounds like a great idea. Thanks for sharing!
I use an embossing heat tool like this one to remove the price tags. It’s very hot, like a heat gun, but smaller and easier to handle. It also has a smaller tip, so easier to focus right on the price tag. I purchased mine at Michaels, and used a 40% off coupon, for about $16.
https://amzn.to/2IkIZj9
I recently purchased a pair of white jeans. There was a big clearance sticker on one of the legs. I peeled it off but the spot is still sticky. I don’t know how to get rid of this. They’re white jeans so I don’t want to keep rubbing the spot and make it worse. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!!!
This is one of those times when we say, “why would the store put a sticker on the clothes!” I have no idea how to get it out besides washing the clothes, but then you couldn’t sell it as new anymore. This might just need to be a “lesson learned” situation where you know now to not buy clothes with stickers applied directly on them. I wish you all the best.
Cigarette lighter fluid is 100% Naphtha, and naphtha was the product used to dry-clean suits back in the day. Try naphtha. You’ve got nothing to lose.
Masking tape, duct tape, or even another sticker label can be used to blot sticky residue. Try a quick tapping motion so the adhesive sticks to the residue but not to the item. I have used this to successfully remove residue on cloth before.
when you have clothing with a price tag from lets say Kohls, do you leave the tag attached?
If the price tag is perforated above the price, i’ll remove the price portion of the tag. If not, I may just cut the price part off the tag with scissors. It all depends of which is the best way to leave the tag on but remove the price.
When selling clothing on Amazon the items MUST be new. So I would do everything possible to leave the tags on there and just remove the price.
Sometimes price stickers are affixed to the inside cover or the first page of a book, which can make removal tricky. You can’t use GooGone to remove the residue because it leaves a grease spot. I have found that I can “erase” the sticky residue with a pencil eraser.
What should I do a have a new product to send to Amazon FBA when I was removing the sticker top left hand corner of the box a small section of original box cardboard cam off now it shows a little white where the cardboard came off the box. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks
You have 2 options… You can sell it as “like new” and note the minor wear on the box… or you can take your chances with covering up the tear and hope the customer is ok with that. I’d suggest selling it as “like new” to best protect your account
Thanks for the great tips!
I bought my first heat gun and Scotty Peelers from Amazon, and they arrived yesterday! I’ve been using my fingernails and other methods that are not efficient. I can’t wait to try this! Thank you for yet another post that is simple to execute!
Awesome! So glad you’re saving your fingers from the annoyance and frustration of price stickers!
Any suggestions on removing clearance stickers from paper hang tags on handbags without ruining the original tags? I’m assuming you can’t use goo gone. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!
I’m not sure as I’ve not sold handbags. Some sellers say that lighter fluid is the way to go as it removes stickers and leaves no trace of moisture behind, but I’ve not done that myself.
I remover a sticker from a box & it left a little white hole on the bottom of the box. Should I cover the “white” spot with a white sticker? What about the plastic wrap on a product that was a little stretched from the price tag removal? The plastic wrap isn’t broken or sticky, just a little more lumpy than the other corners. When is best to cover with white stickers & which ones to use?
You have 2 options… You can sell it as “like new” and note the minor wear on the box… or you can take your chances with covering up the tear and hope the customer is ok with that. I’d suggest selling it as “like new” to best protect your account. Same with the warped plastic on your item…. Sell it as “like new” or you’ll be taking your chances with negative feedback and a return.
I have two price tags on a Barbie plastic part. Is it safe to use a hair dryer on this part of the Barbie box??
You can use the heat gun but be very careful not to warp the plastic. The process will take longer, but you want the item to not be damaged by the heat gun. Hope this helps.
I use baby oil to remove the adhesive residue.
I have found Tea Tree Oil works great on most things to get the sticky residue off.