Alexandria, VA Business Licensing & Operations: Secondhand Dealers (2026)

Article B of Title 9, Chapter 8 covers junk dealers, antique dealers, canvassers, pawnbrokers and secondhand-article dealers together under one permit scheme. Sec. 9-8-12 bars any "dealer" (defined in Sec. 9-8-11(4) as anyone in the business of purchasing or pawning junk, antiques or secondhand articles) from operating without a permit from the chief of police, separate from any city business license. To apply, Sec. 9-8-13 requires a written application disclosing the applicant's name, business address, any itinerant locations used in the prior six months, and any felony or crime of moral turpitude conviction in the prior seven years; a false statement on the form voids it and is a misdemeanor.

Under Sec. 9-8-14 the chief of police investigates and must issue or deny within 30 days, and can refuse a permit for a disqualifying conviction, fraud on the application, or failure to hold a state junk-dealer or canvasser license under Va. Code Secs. 54-825 and 54-829. Applicants may get a 72-hour temporary permit while the investigation is pending. Established dealers pay a $10 annual fee and renew yearly; itinerant dealers pay $10 per day of operation, and the permit must be posted conspicuously. Sec. 9-8-15 requires a 24-month transaction record with the seller's name, address, driver's license or Social Security number and physical description, though junk dealers buying rags, bones, old iron, paper or aluminum cans, and any transaction under $25, are exempt.

Sec. 9-8-16 requires reporting each off-the-street purchase to police within 24 hours, and Sec. 9-8-18 forbids selling, melting or altering a purchased item for 15 days after that report. Junk dealer premises must be enclosed by an eight-foot fence under Sec. 9-8-22.