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

Chapter 3-359 of the Codified Ordinances of the City of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, regulates pawnbrokers, antique or secondhand dealers and transient merchants, and § 3-359.1 is the pawnbroker section. It defines a pawnbroker as any person who lends money on the deposit or pledge of personal property (other than choses in action, securities or written evidence of indebtedness), who purchases personal property with an express or implied understanding to sell it back at a stipulated price, or who lends money for goods, wares or merchandise pledged, stored or deposited as collateral.

Every pawnbroker must keep a book, legibly written in English, recording five items: a full and accurate description of each article purchased or left in pawn, the date and time of pledging, pawning or purchasing, the date and time within which the article is to be redeemed, the amount of money lent or paid, and a description of the person making the pledge, including name, address, date of birth, sex, race and vehicle operator number.

The daily report is the central compliance step. Before 12:00 p.m. of the following day of business, the pawnbroker delivers a written report to the Bureau of Police listing every article received during the previous business day, the ticket numbers, and the same identifying details for each person making a sale. The Bureau of Police supplies the forms.

Two restrictions follow. A pawnbroker cannot accept a pledge from a person under 18 or from any intoxicated person or known thief; the section defines a thief as someone the merchant knows has been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude, or who in the transaction at hand has stolen or knowingly received stolen items. And no article can be sold or disposed of, except as provided by state law, until seven days have elapsed from the time the police were furnished the form.

Section 3-359.4 gives an affirmative defense to retention violations involving precious metals, if the dealer proves by a preponderance of the evidence that holding the metal would have caused serious and substantial economic losses under rapid and highly fluctuating market conditions. Section 3-359.5 requires pawnbrokers to give a police officer who shows a badge and proper identification the information legitimately required for police duties, including records of transactions over the past 24 months; failure to provide it results in revocation of any and all licenses.