LaPorte County, IN Business Licensing & Operations: Secondhand Dealers (2026)

02 defines SECONDHAND RETAILER as any person who engages in the business of purchasing, selling, or exchanging secondhand goods or articles, placing it alongside precious metal dealers, scrap metal dealers, scrapyards and pawnshops as a regulated dealer type under the chapter. 03(A) requires a secondhand retailer to obtain and report, for every transaction, the date and time, a description of the item including serial number and distinguishing marks, a color photograph of the item and of the seller, and government-issued photo identification of the seller showing name, address, sex, race and date of birth.

03(A)(2), and any technical malfunction during upload must be reported to the Sheriff's Office with a hard copy kept in the meantime. Records stay on the business premises for a minimum of two years. 04(A) requires secondhand retailers to hold purchased or pledged goods for at least 15 days before resale or disposal, the same window given to pawnshops, so items can be recovered if reported stolen. 08 subjects the business to at least one random Sheriff's Office inspection each calendar year comparing physical records to the uploaded data. 09 exempts 501(c) organizations, all-donation resale operations, auto resellers, towing/recovery services, and farm implement resellers, none of which cover an ordinary secondhand store.