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

Cobb County's precious metals dealer ordinance covers unincorporated-area businesses that buy gold, silver, platinum, gems, or watches from the public, the cash-for-gold and estate-jewelry trade covered elsewhere in Georgia by pawnbroker law. citizen or lawful permanent resident, and must file a sworn application with the director of the business license office (Section 78-399). The police department investigates every application and reports its findings to the business license supervisor (Section 78-402); applicants with a misdemeanor conviction for theft, burglary, property crimes, or controlled substances, or any felony, within the prior five years can be disqualified (Section 78-401), though the license review board may waive a disqualifying conviction on appeal.

Once approved, the fee must be paid within two weeks or the approval lapses (Section 78-403), and the business must open within three months of issuance or the license is automatically forfeited; three consecutive months of nonuse likewise forfeits it (Section 78-404). Every employee who handles transactions needs a separate police-issued work permit good for 12 months, and anyone denied a permit cannot reapply for a year (Section 78-394). At the counter, dealers must check a government photo ID, log the seller's name, address, phone, physical description, driver's license number, and date of birth, photograph the seller's face and the item, take a right-index fingerprint, and tag each item with a transaction number, then upload the transaction to the county's electronic reporting system before the close of business, or, if the system is down, log it on paper and notify police (Sections 78-392, 78-393).

Records and images must be kept four years. Purchased goods must sit for 30 days, subject to a police hold, before resale, and licenses cannot be transferred except to the same business at the same location (Sections 78-395, 78-405).