Salem, OR Business Licensing & Operations: Pawnbrokers (2026)

SRC 30.005 defines a pawnbroker as any person who loans money against personal security, pawns, or pledges, or who buys personal property under an agreement to resell it to the vendor at a price set at or before the purchase. The same section folds pawnbrokers into the defined term dealer in used merchandise, which also covers junk dealers and secondhand dealers, so a pawnshop answers to one set of record, hold and reporting rules. A dealer in used merchandise needs a license under SRC 30.010 before opening, and the Director runs a criminal background check on every applicant.

SRC 30.200(a) requires a full, true, and complete record of every article received, pledged, or purchased, with ten items: the date, the pawn ticket number if any, the amount of the purchase or pledge, a description of each article, any numbers, words, initials or settings marked on it, the borrower's or seller's name, address and description with the type and number of identification shown, a declaration of ownership on each purchase, the right thumb print, a copy of the photo identification, and the signature. A transaction of more than 20 articles from one seller can use a general description sufficient for the Chief to compare the record to lost or stolen property reports. Subsection (b) requires every dealer to photograph, maintain, and provide to the Chief on request all jewelry and all scrap platinum, gold and silver.

Volume sets the format. A dealer with 50 or more transactions in a calendar year takes the thumb print on a scanning device acceptable to the Chief of Police, keeps electronic records, and enters each day's transactions into the computer media system the Chief selects by the end of business that day. A dealer under 50 transactions can take the thumb print in ink, keep written or electronic records, and submit daily transactions to the Chief within three days, or mail them within two days.

Subsection (c) excludes purchases from manufacturers or wholesale dealers, books, articles received solely in trade, renewals of a previously reported loan, and media purchases from a single seller valued at less than $75.00. Under SRC 30.205, property is held without alteration, change or subsequent sale for 14 days after the Chief receives the report, cannot be commingled so that it cannot be identified, and must be produced for any peace officer. The hold does not apply to the 30.200(c) exclusions or to redemption by the original pledgor or borrower.