Helpful Hints For Cleaning Tape and glue from Planks

parrotpaul

I'm a real pain of an eBay buyer. If I buy an expensive card with a high grade, I want the case to be as pristine as the card. Several times I have paid big bucks, but when the card came, the plank had tape, or tape glue, or a price sticker I had to peel off and then wrestle with the glue. I won't tolerate that anymore, and I usually ship the card back and ask for a refund. Neither will I tolerate cases that are scratched, dinged, or have anything that detracts from the contents. The card may be a PSA 10, but if the case is scratched or covered with pricing tape or glue, the card goes back. I don't understand why owners of graded cards don't keep them in plastic sleeves...especially card dealers. Presentation is important. If a card looks like it has been dragged through a sandpaper factory, who wants it?

I do have an incredible solution for cleaning tape or price sticker glue from grading cases. My wife pointed it out as I was swearing and trying to get a real messy case cleaned. Maybe you have heard of it, but I never did. I tried it, and it cleaned the glue off immediately. Peanut butter. Put a little peanut butter on your finger and rub it into the glue with little circles like waxing a car. The peanut butter deteriorates glue (it also takes gum out of hair). A little rubbing with a damp cotton once the rubbing is done, and the case looks like new...no glue smears all over the case.

murcerfan

parrotpaul

No, no, no...I'm not suggesting anyone alter cards. But PB does take glue off plastic. It's totally non-abrasive.

magellan

WD40 works great for taking sticker residue off also.

Aknot

When I sell slabbed cards I usually have my son put as many "smiley" face, Power Rangers, Spiderman, and any other stickers he can find. Just to show how happy we are when someone buys from us.

On a more serious note. Did you not see the sticker on the slab when bidding? Why would (if you would) you send it back if it was clearly in the scan? Or would you just not bid on it? Obviously this is in the past since you have found the healing power of PB, but Im just curious.....

WinPitcher

take 2 "planks" and spread peanut butter on one and jelly on the other and u have a slabbed sandwich...............in all honesty i use nail polish remover on a lil cotton ball to clean up my "planks" Im hoping to have everyone in a sleeve one day........maybe this week.

magellan

Jim , I often get slabs with stickers on the back which do not show in the scan.

Dave

Aknot

<< <i>Jim , I often get slabs with stickers on the back which do not show in the scan.

Dave >>



Good enough. I dont buy many slabs, and so far the ones I have bought have been clean. They always have a slight "peanutty" smell but other then that clean as a whistle...

parrotpaul

Were you the guy who bought my 86 Fleer MJ rookie that PSA rejected as having been recolored? I put it on eBay, advertised it as a recolor, showed the rejection slip along with the card, and someone paid $152.00 for it. Go figure.

nearmint

Sounds like a great marketing opportunity, Paul. Buy a few jars of Skippy, transfer it to lip-balm-size containers, label them "Paul's All-Natural PSA Plastic Cleaner," and sell 'em for $4.95 each!

Thanks for the tip. My girlfriend thinks I already have weird card habits--wait'll she sees me smearing peanut butter on them!

Mike

AlanAllen

I use Goo Gone and it works well. For scratches, try Novus plastic polish. I haven't tried it myself but some guys on the board tried it and were happy.

Joe

envoy98

AH yes, Novus and Goo-Gone. Great stuff! There are several different types of Novus too. When I was doing car stereo installs we had this stuff on hand all the time. If you scratch a piece of plastic, you're buying a new one. Thanks to Novus, I saved myself alot of bezels, trim rings and console plates. They don't take out deep scratches, but the stuff works wonders on "scuffs" and very shallow "surface" scratches. It comes in a bottle like car wax and there are either 3 or 5 different ones. Each getting less abrasive than the one before. I've used the #3 (which I still have several years after my install days) on psa holders. Be careful not to get it in the seams though, takes a little work to get it out...

They should pay me to do infomercials for them!

TCC

Interesting subject. I agree with nearmint though. My wife is really going to think I've lost it with my hobby when I start using peanut butter to clean my slabs and holders.

What about removing gum stains from card backs? Any good tips on that?

-Bob

hojodojonono

Grape Jelly.

parrotpaul

1986 Fleer Basketball stickers are difficult to find without the wax on the reverse. Any hints about getting the wax off successfully? Also, where would one find the Novus plastic cleaner?

yawie99

Novus #2 - I got my bottle on eBay, of course. I'm pretty anal about my holders, so that $10 bottle or whatever it was probably saved me at least three times as much in reholdering fees. When it gets in the seams, envoy, I first try to use a de-swabbed Q-Tip to get the dried stuff out. When that doesn't work, I'll gently scrape it out with an unfurled paper clip.

Goo Gone is indispensible too - you can get it anywhere.

TheRoach

Thanks for nothing!! Next time be more specific when suggesting peanut butter. I grabbed some at the store which turned out to be the CHUNKY kind. I scratched the sh*t out of my PSA cards after examining them a bit closer afterwards.





TheRoach

envoy98

Roach...

We used to get the Novus at the local Checker auto. I would imagine most car care/auto parts stores sell it. For a PSA holder, I would suggest #3 or #4, unless you have deeper scratches, then maybe a #1 or 2. I think there is 5 bottles w/ #5 being the least abrasive, more on the lines of a mild rubbing compound.

envoy98

I take it back, there are 3 levels. Here is a link... $15 for the 3 small bottles.Novus Polish

This is the first site I came up with. I did a search for Novus Plastic Polish. There is another company "javlin" or something to that effect that has the same kind of stuff. I don't know the price difference and I haven't used it, but it's supposed to be the same thing.

parrotpaul

Nice roach.....I'll bet you also tried the grape jelly solution...LOL

parrotpaul

I wonder how that liquid scratch remover they advertise for plastic eye glass lenses works?

Mantlefan

EBAY has it for $9.95 BIN with only $3.75 for shipping. Search "Novus"

magellan

Novus

There's all kinds of Bins & auctions for it.

parrotpaul

I just got Novus 1 and 2...2OZ for $9 shipped.