Conway, AR Business Licensing & Operations: Secondhand Dealers (2026)
Key Facts
- Covered dealers
- Buyers/sellers of used goods for resale
- Key exemption
- Yard, garage and estate sales
- Electronics hold period
- 7 days before resale
- Max fine
- $100.00 per offense
- Reporting duty
- Report altered serial numbers to police
- Governing chapter
- Conway Municipal Code Ch. 4.76
Summary
Conway Municipal Code § 4.76.01 defines a dealer in secondhand goods as anyone who buys, sells or deals principally in used goods, or buys used goods for resale, while exempting licensed new-goods retailers taking trade-ins, estate and yard sales, and consignment or flea-market sellers. Section 4.76.04 makes covered dealers hold electronic goods with serial numbers for seven days before resale.
Dealer in secondhand goods means any person who: A.Buys, sells or otherwise deals principally in used or secondhand goods; orB.Buys for resale any used or secondhand goods, whether or not as a principal vocation or business, and without regard to whether or not such person maintains a place of business for such purpose. Dealer in secondhand goods does not include:A.A licensed retailer of new goods who shall, in the ordinary course of business, receive used or secondhand goods only as a "trade-in" or as part consideration for purchases of new goods ... 4.76.04 - Duty to retain goods—Electronics with identifiable numbers or marks. No bond, security or goods of any kind whatsoever received on deposit, purchased or pledged to or by any dealer in secondhand goods shall be sold or permitted to be redeemed or removed from the place of business of such dealer in secondhand goods for a period of seven (7) days from the time of receiving same if said goods are electronic, or other manufactured goods with serial numbers, or other identifiable numbers or marks.
Full Breakdown
Chapter 4.76 of the Conway Municipal Code separately regulates dealers in secondhand goods from pawnbrokers, though both sit in the same chapter. Section 4.76.01 defines a dealer in secondhand goods as any person who buys, sells or otherwise deals principally in used goods, or who buys used goods for resale regardless of whether that is a principal vocation or the person keeps a fixed place of business. The definition excludes a licensed new-goods retailer that takes used items only as a trade-in, sellers at an approved convention exhibit, people selling from a residence as part of an estate sale, yard sale, garage sale, tag sale or internet auction, and businesses operating on consignment, through an auction, or from a flea market booth.
Section 4.76.03 requires covered dealers to keep a bound register of every bill of sale, photograph goods received, and run an electronic inventory-tracking system feeding data to the entity the Conway Police Department designates, the same recordkeeping regime that applies to pawnbrokers. Section 4.76.04 adds a specific seven-day hold: no electronic item or other manufactured good bearing a serial number or other identifying mark that a secondhand dealer takes in on deposit, purchase or pledge can be sold, redeemed or removed from the dealer's place of business until seven days after it was received.
Section 4.76.05 requires the dealer to report to the chief of police immediately if an item's serial number or identifying mark has been removed, mutilated, defaced or destroyed.
Violations & Fines
Section 4.76.02 applies the same penalty to dealers in secondhand goods as to pawnbrokers: a fine of up to $100.00 for each violation, with every day a dealer continues to fall short of Chapter 4.76's requirements counted as a separate offense. Selling electronics before the seven-day hold in Section 4.76.04 expires is exactly the kind of noncompliance that penalty targets.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who counts as a secondhand dealer under Conway's ordinance?
How long must a Conway secondhand dealer hold electronics before reselling them?
What happens if a secondhand dealer sells an item with the serial number removed?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Conway
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