Medford, MA Business Licensing & Operations: Secondhand Dealers (2026)

Chapter 14, Article IV of Medford's Revised Ordinances, added by Ordinance No. 738 on June 10, 2008, licenses secondhand dealers who keep a shop and secondhand collectors who buy junk, old metal or used goods door to door, defining both terms to track the state's junk-dealer and junk-collector definitions in G.L. c. 140. Section 14-161 lets the city council license persons it deems suitable to be secondhand dealers, and § 14-191 does the same for collectors, with each licensee paying the fee set in Appendix A, which lists a $125.00 charge for a secondhand articles dealer license.

Section 14-133 caps any single cash purchase of regulated property, which the ordinance defines to include precious metals, gems, jewelry, sterling silver flatware, electronics, power tools, musical instruments and sporting equipment, at $50.00, and § 14-134 bars buying from a minor. Every purchase must be logged on a police-chief-designed form under § 14-138, kept on the premises for at least three years and open to inspection under §§ 14-139 and 14-140. Section 14-139 requires dealers to hold precious metals and gems for at least 21 days and all other regulated property for at least 15 days before resale, unaltered and uncommingled, with the police chief able to extend a hold on specific items suspected of being tied to a crime, though no item can be held past 180 days.

Section 14-137 lets the city council deny or revoke a license for a prior revocation, a felony or dishonesty conviction within 15 years, a false application, refusing a police inspection, or more than five ordinance or law violations in two years.