Auburn, WA Business Licensing & Operations: Pawnbrokers (2026)

210 defines a pawnbroker as anyone engaged in lending money on the security of pledges, deposits or conditional sales of personal property. Every application must include a complete set of the applicant's fingerprints on forms the police chief prescribes. Once licensed, the pawnbroker must keep a permanent English-language record of each transaction listing the date, the employee who handled it, the customer's name, age, address and physical description, the property owner's name and address, a detailed description of the item (including maker and serial numbers for watches, and inscriptions for jewelry), the price paid or amount loaned, witnesses, and the pawn ticket number, and must verify the customer's identity against a valid government photo ID.

That ledger and all goods received stay open to inspection by the city attorney or any peace officer during business hours. Before noon each day, the pawnbroker must hand the police chief a full transcript of the prior day's transactions, and must flag any item suspected stolen along with the owner's name if known. Pledged or purchased property cannot leave the shop except when an owner redeems it, and only after four days have passed since the transaction was reported to police. 060, adopted by reference and kept on file with the city clerk. The police chief also runs a do-not-buy list that pawnbrokers must consult at no charge.