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

Unincorporated Gordon County has no stand-alone secondhand goods license. The nearest rules are Article III of Chapter 9 of the Gordon County Code, Sections 9-71 through 9-88, which regulate junk, scrap and salvage operations, and the separate pawnbroker article in Chapter 7. Section 9-73 defines a junk dealer as a person with a fixed place of business, or that person's officer, agent or employee, who buys used items of commerce principally made of iron, steel, brass, copper, zinc or their alloys or other base metals for resale and refabrication. A salvage operation covers buying, selling, exchanging, storing, sorting, packing or dismantling waste, used or secondhand materials, vehicles or parts, and the definition states that an automobile wrecking establishment and a junk dealer are engaged in salvage operations.

Section 9-84 makes it unlawful to establish or operate these businesses after July 1, 1991 without a permit from the clerk of the Board of Commissioners. Separate permits cover automobile equipment wrecking, salvage or parts yards and junk or salvage yards, and each permit states its type. The application carries a plat plan and is forwarded to the building inspector, fire chief, health officer and public nuisance officer. Under Section 9-85 a permit ends one year after issuance, cannot be transferred, and renews for $25 per permit location; it becomes void after more than 90 days of discontinued business. The Board of Commissioners can reduce the fee to $12.50 for an application with six months or less to run in the permit year, which runs January 1 to December 31.

Operating rules follow. Work happens inside a building or a fence or opaque screen at least six feet high, with a clear three-foot aisle inside the fence (Section 9-79), and sites sit at least 400 feet from residential property lines unless the Board grants an exemption (Section 9-80). Section 9-78 requires a three-year record book of identification numbers for automotive, farm and heavy equipment and an immediate phone report to the sheriff's office, with a 24-hour hold before dismantling.