Cleveland, OH Business Licensing & Operations: Secondhand Dealers (2026)

Cleveland Codified Ordinances Chapter 676 covers junk dealers, scrap metal processors and secondhand dealers together, with § 676.07 fixing the secondhand dealer's annual license fee at $125, issued each October 1 and expiring the following September 30. The operative duty provision, § 676.08, applies to any person other than a scrap metal dealer who purchases, sells, exchanges or receives secondhand articles (excluding the "special purchase articles" and scrap metal defined in § 676.06). That dealer must post a sign in a conspicuous place in the shop, store, wagon, boat or other place of business bearing the dealer's name and occupation, and must keep a separate, consecutively numbered record book or electronic file, in English, recording, at the time of each purchase or exchange, a description of the article, the name, description and residence of the seller, the date and time of the transaction, and a copy of the seller's personal identification card (a current driver's license, military ID, or Ohio-issued state ID under RC 4507.50-.52, or an equivalent out-of-state photo ID).

Records and ID copies must be kept for at least one year and made available to any law enforcement officer on request at reasonable times. Section 676.01(c) exempts dealers who deal exclusively in secondhand pianos, books, magazines, rugs, tapestries, paintings and similar art or antique items, straightforward merchandise exchanges/returns, and dealers who deal exclusively in heavy industrial equipment, furniture, or secondhand automobiles. The Commissioner of Assessments and Licenses, on the Chief of Police's, Commissioner of Environment's, or Commissioner of Building and Housing's recommendation, may revoke or suspend a secondhand dealer's license at any time for failing to comply with Chapter 676 or related law (§ 676.12(a)).