Bensalem, PA Business Licensing & Operations: Pawnbrokers (2026)

Chapter 234 defines a "pawnbroker" as any business, itinerant merchants included, that lends money against pledged personal property or buys and resells merchandise from a pledger or seller. Section 234-2 layers three requirements on that business: a Township license from the Building and Planning Department for each location, a $200.00 annual registration fee per location, and, specific to pawnbrokers alone, no Township pawnbroker license until the applicant already holds a state license under the Act of April 6, 1937, P.L. 200, 63 P.S. § 281.

Section 234-3 requires pawnbrokers to log every pledge, loan, purchase, and sale in English, with the pledger's or seller's government ID photocopied and a color photograph taken of items lacking identifying marks or of any precious metal received; those records sit on file for two years. Section 234-8 requires pledged items to be held unaltered for ten working days so officers can inspect them without a warrant during business hours, and section 234-9 bars any pawn transaction with a minor. Section 234-10 ties enforcement directly to the state license: if the Township suspends a pawnbroker's license, the Building and Planning Department must notify the Pennsylvania Secretary of Banking, who holds a hearing to decide whether to revoke the state license outright, and a pawnbroker whose state license is revoked is permanently barred from ever holding a Township operating license at that location again.