Cape Coral, FL Business Licensing & Operations: Secondhand Dealers (2026)
Key Facts
- Register required
- police-approved form, every transaction (§ 11-43)
- Resale hold
- 5 days after police transcript (§ 11-44)
- ID required
- name, DOB, ID number, right thumbprint
- Minors
- no purchases from anyone under 18 (§ 11-46)
- License
- Lee County + Cape Coral BTR (§ 11-48)
- Junk dealer (non-metal) fee
- $33.00 flat (§ 11-16(428))
- General penalty
- $100-$500 fine or up to 60 days (§ 1-14)
Summary
Cape Coral requires anyone buying old, used, or secondhand gold, silver, or platinum to keep a police-approved register of every seller and item, hold purchased items five days before resale, and never buy from anyone under 18. A separate flat $33.00 local business tax covers general junk and scrap metal dealers who are not handling precious metals.
§ 11-44 - Disposal within five days of receipt prohibited.
(a) Except for the exempt transactions hereinafter provided, no articles of personal property made of precious metals shall be sold, melted, altered or otherwise disposed of by any dealer until five days have elapsed from the time the Chief of Police has had made available to him or her a copy or transcript of the register in which such articles of personal property made of precious metals are entered, and the articles shall not be transferred from within Cape Coral during the five day period of time.
§ 11-46 - Dealing with minors prohibited. It shall be unlawful for any dealer to buy, take or receive, by way of purchase or exchange, any articles made of precious metals from any person under the age of 18 years.
§ 11-48 - License required. All persons dealing in precious metals such as gold, silver and platinum shall have a current local business tax receipt issued by Lee County and the City of Cape Coral.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 38).
Full Breakdown
Article III of Chapter 11, Precious Metal Dealers (§§ 11-41 to 11-48), targets any Dealer defined as a person engaged in purchasing, selling, or otherwise dealing in old, used, or secondhand precious metals, meaning gold, silver, or platinum. Section 11-43 requires the dealer to keep a register, in a form approved by the Chief of Police, recording each seller's name, date of birth, sex, race, address, and driver's license or other government ID number, plus a description of the item purchased; the customer must sign the form, show ID, and provide an original right thumbprint used only to trace stolen goods, and the register must always be available for police inspection.
S. Chapter 538. Section 11-44 bars a dealer from selling, melting, or altering any purchased item until five days have passed after giving police a transcript of the register entry, and the item cannot leave Cape Coral during that hold, with narrow exemptions for buybacks from the same seller, bullion coins, and dealer-to-dealer transfers. Section 11-45 requires dealers to hand police a full transcript of the prior day's transactions by noon daily, and § 11-47 requires purchased stock to stay attached to its bill of sale and arranged so police can inspect it.
Section 11-48 requires a current local business tax receipt from both Lee County and Cape Coral. 00, without the register or hold-period mechanics that apply specifically to precious metals.
Violations & Fines
Section 11-43(d) makes it unlawful for a customer to give or display false identification or sign a false name when selling to a dealer. Article III does not set its own penalty, so a violation of the register, hold-period, minors, or inspection requirements falls under the citywide general penalty in § 1-14: a minimum fine of $100 and a maximum of $500, plus court costs, or up to 60 days' imprisonment, or both, with each day a violation continues counted as a separate offense.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a Cape Coral pawn or gold-buying shop resell an item the same day it's purchased?
What information must a secondhand precious metal dealer collect from a seller?
Does Cape Coral let dealers buy precious metal items from minors?
Is a general junk or scrap metal dealer regulated the same way as a precious metal dealer?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Cape Coral
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