Clayton County, GA Business Licensing & Operations: Secondhand Dealers (2026)

Clayton County Code § 22-161 defines a 'secondhand dealer' as any person or business, other than a pawnbroker, that buys, sells or trades used jewelry, gold, silver, platinum items, precious stones, pistols or guns, musical instruments, or bicycles and accessories, and § 22-163(b) confirms 'the provisions of this article are applicable to secondhand dealers' even though the article's title centers on pawnshops. That means a secondhand dealer must follow the same records requirements as a pawnshop under § 22-169: every item acquired gets logged in a book with a description and the seller's name, address, estimated age, weight and height within one hour of the transaction, a serially numbered tag attached to the item, and a daily electronic report sent to the chief of police.

Purchased property must be held for at least 15 days before resale, and it is unlawful to buy from anyone under 18 unless the dealer retains a copy of accepted identification. each day. Section 22-170 requires standard, sequentially numbered pawn and purchase tickets, with each missing number treated as a separate violation, and § 22-177 requires the dealer to let any law enforcement officer on the premises without a warrant as a condition of the license. Businesses that only accept trade-ins for store credit or issue refunds on prior purchases are excluded from all of this under § 22-165.