Coeur d'Alene, ID Business Licensing & Operations: Pawnbrokers (2026)

Chapter 5.52 of the Coeur d'Alene Municipal Code defines a pawnbroker as anyone who loans money and receives personal property as security for the loan. It folds pawnbrokers into the wider class of used merchandise dealers, alongside gold buyers, silver buyers, coin dealers, precious metals buyers, recyclers and secondhand dealers. Applications go to the city clerk, who inquires into the applicant's qualifications and requires fingerprints for a criminal history check through the Idaho state police and the federal bureau of investigation. The license is issued to a specific person, firm or corporation for a specific location, it cannot be transferred to another person or location, it cannot be granted to anyone under eighteen, and the fee is set by the city council by resolution.

Once licensed, a pawnshop keeps both a permanent computerized record and a written invoice book, in duplicate at a minimum, for every loan, sale, consignment or purchase. Each record lists the date, hour and place, a description of each article including serial number, the amount loaned, and the borrower's name, street address, date of birth, physical description and identification. Under section 5.52.050 the chief of police or a representative can enter the licensed premises at any time to inspect any article pawned or purchased. Section 5.52.060 requires a transcript of each business day's transactions to go to the police department, and each purchase or loan must be reported within forty eight hours.

Section 5.52.070 requires a pawn ticket for every pledge, treated as the customer's receipt, with a tag on the property carrying the matching number. A borrower gets twelve days before an item becomes forfeitable when the loan is twenty dollars or less, and thirty days when the loan is over twenty dollars (section 5.52.110). Purchased goods cannot be sold for at least twelve days, except firearms (section 5.52.100). When the police department reports an item stolen, the dealer holds it for twenty calendar days on a verbal notice and for sixty days on a written notice (section 5.52.130). Section 5.52.040 bars purchases from anyone under eighteen and any article with its serial number removed, altered or rendered unreadable. Nonprofit charitable organizations recognized by the internal revenue service are exempt from the chapter (section 5.52.030).