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

Sec. 18-152(b) of the county's precious metals dealer article exempts licensed pawnbrokers, scrap metal processors, and secondhand dealers from having to obtain the precious-metals-dealer business license required under Sec. 18-147 and Sec. 18-148. That exemption is narrow, though: the same subsection makes clear these businesses must still comply with Sec. 18-149, Sec. 18-150, and Sec. 18-151 whenever they buy precious metals or goods containing precious metals from anyone other than an industrial producer, manufacturer, licensed dealer, or distributor. In practice that means a secondhand dealer buying jewelry, coins, or similar goods from a walk-in customer must keep a permanent record book recording the purchase date, the seller's name, age, address, photograph, and Social Security number, a description of the item with any serial numbers, and the seller's signature, retained for four years with no erasures or blank lines between entries (Sec.

18-149). m. (Sec. 18-150), and must hold every purchased item at least ten days before reselling, melting, or otherwise altering it; if the dealer stores an item off premises, it must still be produced for inspection within 12 hours of a sheriff's demand (Sec. 18-151). Sec. 18-155 makes it unlawful to fail to keep or falsify that record book, destroy it, skip a daily report, or refuse an inspection.