Sun Prairie, WI Business Licensing & Operations: Pawnbrokers (2026)

52 folds Wisconsin's pawnbroker statute, Wis. 71, directly into city law and then layers on Sun Prairie's own licensing and reporting system. Subsection D bars anyone from operating as a pawnbroker, secondhand article dealer, or secondhand jewelry dealer in the city without a license issued through the city clerk, and Subsection F requires the applicant to disclose ten years of residence history, business ownership structure, and any prior criminal convictions or license revocations before the council will consider the application. Subsection H sets the financial backstop for a pawnbroker specifically: before the council grants a license, the applicant must post a $1,000 bond with at least two sureties covering compliance with municipal, state and federal pawnbroker law.

Subsection I lays out day-to-day operating rules: dealers must check photo identification on every transaction, generally cannot buy from anyone under eighteen unless a parent or guardian signs off, and must hold most secondhand articles for thirty days (twenty-one days for jewelry, gold or silver) before reselling them. 5 gives a customer pawning an item a minimum of sixty days from the transaction date to redeem it before the shop can treat it as forfeited and sell it; the item cannot be moved off the licensed premises during that sixty-day window.

All licensed dealers must also report every reportable transaction to the Sun Prairie Police Department daily through the department's electronic reporting system, and the chapter authorizes police officers to place an investigative hold on any item for up to fifteen days.