About Shipping Games,
Check out this link, it's actually about shipping carded action figures, but the same method is applicable to boxed games.
http://www.actionfigurefury.com/h...
My adjustment would be wrapping actual game in bubble wrap first. (bubbles facing out, because these can transfer dirt/grime and cause marks on the box, don't wrap too tightly either)
Seal bubble wrap with scotch tape, the kind that's easily removed. This will prevent the buyer crushing the box just trying to unwrap it.
Also using paper is pretty cheap IMO, bubble wrap would be preferable shipping boxed games. Use their method but with bubble wrap, create 'walls' of bubble wrap around the boxed game to prevent any impact. Do not pack too tightly thou. If you still have room at the top of the box, you can add some packing peanuts on top of the bubble wrap to get a nice seal. (also saves a bit less bubble wrap) Never use newspaper or crap like that, even if the game is protected from it, the buyer will get ink all over them.
--my 2cents on cleaning
IMO another must have in the tool box is a soft 'horse hair' brush, like the kind you'd get in PC cleaning kit. (preferably ESD safe) For basic surface dust on PCB's you can easily brush it off using this. A paintbrush or even a shaving cream brush will do, but it's preferable to have something with long bristles. Just make sure they are soft bristles. Apply light force, don't try and do the whole board in one go, work around the board components.
As far as rubbing alcohol and q-tips, I find this ineffective for heavily oxidized games that have probably never been cleaned. Remove PCB from case, lay it on a clean cloth/rag. Use a small blob of brasso and a clean towel or micro fibre cloth (something that is a little rough) and work over the contacts. Redo this using a clean part of the cloth and fresh brasso until there is no black coming off. Do not let the brasso dry off, quickly polish off with a clean part of the towel as you go. Once your satisfied, clean as usual with rubbing alcohol and q-tips, polish it up with a clean cloth. Your contacts will look shiny and new
I think this is a must for cleaning the connector on the mainboard of old NES toasters, the amount of black junk that comes off those is incredible sometimes. I think this is best unless you are going to de-grease and wash the whole board like game-tech.us method. Isopropyl and q-tips doesn't really cut it for really oxidized pins... Also a bottle of brasso could last you a lifetime if you're only doing this every so often. If you're cleaning dirty games quite often it will at least save you going through as much isopropyl and q-tips
It's magic stuff, I'm kinda surprised it's not already on the list, but I know some people are against using it. I'd probably only recommend it for dirty old games and consoles that have never seen cleaning. If your personal collection is already well maintained iso alcohol and q-tips will do just fine for general cleaning.
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(hope it's okay posting all this)
