Alachua County, FL Business Licensing & Operations: Secondhand Dealers (2026)

Chapter 62, Article I governs secondhand jewelry and metals dealers in unincorporated Alachua County, and its definition of "dealer" in Section 62.01 expressly includes "any person, including a pawnshop." Before opening, Section 62.02 requires the operator to register with the county sheriff, providing a name, home address, the business's operating name, and its address; any later change of location must also be reported to the sheriff (§62.08). Under Section 62.03, every dealer must log each purchase, the seller's name, address, signature and driver's license or other ID number, a description and estimated quantity of the item, and the date and price, retain those records for three years, keep them open to inspection by any law enforcement officer, and submit a copy of each purchase record to the sheriff's office within 24 hours.

Giving false information on that submitted record is separately unlawful under Section 62.04. Every covered item must be held 15 days from acquisition before the dealer may touch it (§62.05); if an officer discovers during that window that an item is tied to a criminal investigation, a hold order under Section 62.06 can extend the hold up to five more days, and disposing of the item against that order is unlawful. Section 62.07 makes it a chapter violation to clean, repair, melt, alter, destroy, sell, export or otherwise dispose of a covered item before the 15-day (or extended) holding period expires.

Chapter 62 itself sets no separate fine schedule, so violations fall under the Code's general penalty in Section 10.08, which allows a fine of up to $500.00, up to 60 days in jail, or both, per offense.