Carlsbad, CA Business Licensing & Operations: Secondhand Dealers (2026)
Key Facts
- Junk dealer license tax
- $100.00/year
- Permit authority
- City Council (special permit required)
- Adopted
- Ordinance 6040 § 23, 1967
- Secondhand dealer chapter (Ch. 5.40)
- repealed
- Governing code
- Carlsbad Municipal Code § 5.08.090
Summary
Carlsbad requires anyone running a junk business, junk dealer or junk collector operation to first obtain a special permit from the City Council and pay a $100 annual license tax under Municipal Code § 5.08.090. The city's dedicated secondhand-dealer ordinance, former Chapter 5.40, was repealed, leaving this junk-dealer license as the operative local licensing scheme for dealers in used goods and scrap.
The license tax for junk business, junk dealer or junk collector is $100.00 per year, subject to a special permit from the City Council to be first obtained.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: rev 5007221; v20 updated 2026-06-16).
Full Breakdown
00 per year license tax on any 'junk business, junk dealer or junk collector,' and conditions that license on first obtaining a special permit from the City Council, giving the council discretion to approve, deny or condition the operation before it opens. This provision has covered dealers in used and scrap materials since it was adopted by Ordinance 6040 in 1967 and has not been amended since. 40 was repealed in its entirety, leaving no freestanding secondhand-dealer licensing chapter in the current code. 090. 490 as a place of business buying, selling, trading or consigning previously owned property, but that section only sets a land-use definition; it does not create a business-licensing or reporting scheme. 04.
Violations & Fines
Conducting a junk business, or any business, without first obtaining the required city license is unlawful under § 5.04.030, with each day of unlicensed operation a separate violation. Because § 5.08.090 conditions the junk-dealer license on a City Council special permit, operating without that permit exposes the dealer to license refusal or revocation in addition to the general daily-violation penalty and the license tax itself.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Carlsbad have a separate secondhand dealer license?
Who approves a junk dealer permit in Carlsbad?
What does Carlsbad's code say about secondhand or thrift shops?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Carlsbad
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