Lakeville, MN Business Licensing & Operations: Secondhand Dealers (2026)

Lakeville City Code chapter 3-15 defines a precious metal dealer as any person who buys secondhand items containing more than one percent silver, gold or platinum by weight, including jewelry, watches, eating utensils, candlesticks and religious or decorative objects (Sec. 3-15-2). Garage sales, estate sales, coin and bullion transactions, and sales between dealers already licensed under Minnesota Statutes section 325F.733 are excluded from the definition. No person may carry on the trade of precious metal dealer in the city without a license (Sec. 3-15-3). Applicants supply five years of addresses and employers, any felony convictions, and tax returns, and pay a nonrefundable investigation fee plus an annual license fee set by city council resolution, on top of a monthly billable-transaction fee (Sec.

3-15-9). Every reportable transaction requires recording the seller's name, address, date of birth, physical description and identification number, a color photograph or video, and same-day electronic reporting to the Lakeville Police Department through the automated pawn system, with records kept at least three years (Sec. 3-15-12). Purchased items must be held at least 30 days before resale, and no dealer may buy from anyone under 18 or from an intoxicated or incompetent person (Sec. 3-15-13). A precious metal dealer specifically may not knowingly possess stolen goods (Sec.

3-15-13). The shop may not open before 7:00 A.M. or after 10:00 P.M., or at all on Sundays (Sec. 3-15-13), and payments over $250 must be made by check or similar instrument drawn on a financial institution (Sec. 3-15-13). Violating any provision of chapter 3-15 is a misdemeanor (Sec. 3-15-17).