Charleston, SC Business Licensing & Operations: Secondhand Dealers (2026)
Key Facts
- Governing sections
- City Code §§ 17-71 to 17-73
- Police report deadline
- Within 24 hours of purchase
- Resale hold period
- 30 days minimum
- Precious metals
- Excluded, covered by state Title 40 Ch. 54
- Minors
- No purchase without written parental consent
- Violation penalty
- Up to $500 fine or 30 days jail
Summary
Charleston requires every secondhand goods dealer, other than precious-metal buyers covered by state law, to report each purchase to police within 24 hours and hold the item for 30 days before reselling it. Sec. 17-72 also bars buying from a minor without a parent's written, on-file consent.
Sec. 17-71. - Daily report to police. Every person purchasing or dealing in any secondhand goods, including jewelry, except precious metals as defined in Title 40, chapter 54, South Carolina Code 1976, shall make daily report to the chief of police of the city, within twenty-four (24) hours from the time of the purchase, giving such description of the property purchased as will make its identification easy. ... Sec. 17-73. - Goods to be held thirty days before resale. Secondhand goods, including jewelry, except precious metals as defined in Title 40, chapter 54, South Carolina Code 1976, must be held in the possession of the purchaser, before being resold, for a period of thirty (30) days.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 114 | Zoning: Supplement 25).
Full Breakdown
City Code Chapter 17, Article IV covers 'Dealers in Secondhand Goods,' a separate licensing track from the junk shop and pawnbroker rules in Article III just above it. Sec. 17-71 requires every person purchasing or dealing in secondhand goods, including jewelry, to report each purchase daily to the chief of police within 24 hours of buying it, with a description detailed enough to identify the item. The article carves out precious metals defined in Title 40, Chapter 54 of the South Carolina Code, which are regulated separately under the state's precious metals dealer statute rather than this local reporting rule.
Sec. 17-72 bars buying secondhand goods, again excepting precious metals, from a minor unless the seller produces the written permission of a parent or guardian, and puts the burden on the dealer to prove that permission was genuine if challenged. Sec. 17-73 requires every secondhand item bought, other than precious metals, to sit in the dealer's possession for a full 30 days before it can be resold, giving police time to match reported purchases against reported thefts. Together the three sections function as Charleston's stolen-property deterrent for pawnshops' secondhand cousins: resale shops, consignment dealers and similar buyers of used goods.
Violations & Fines
As with the rest of Chapter 17's licensing article, violating the secondhand dealer reporting, minor-consent, or 30-day hold requirements is punishable under Sec. 17-34 by a fine of up to $500, imprisonment of up to 30 days, or both, with each day a dealer holds goods in violation, or fails to file a required report, counted as a separate offense.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long must a Charleston secondhand dealer hold an item before reselling it?
Do secondhand dealers have to report purchases to police?
Are pawn shops covered by the same rule as secondhand dealers?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Charleston
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Secondhand Dealers in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Charleston County handle secondhand dealers.