Moorpark, CA Business Licensing & Operations: Secondhand Dealers (2026)

Moorpark Municipal Code Section 5.32.010 defines a "secondhand dealer" or "thrift shop owner" as any person who, in the course of business, buys, sells or deals in secondhand goods, wares or merchandise other than motor vehicles, or who accepts secondhand goods in part payment coincidentally with a sale of new goods in the regular course of business. Section 5.32.020(A) bars any person, as a principal, from engaging in the secondhand dealer or thrift shop business without first obtaining a business registration permit, the same registration issued under Chapter 5.08. Section 5.32.030 requires a written application to the Moorpark Police Department disclosing the applicant's residence address, the business address, the trade name and the names and addresses of every person with an ownership interest, in addition to the general information Chapter 5.08 requires of every registered business. Section 5.32.040 conditions approval on the police department finding no conviction for crimes involving stolen goods and no repeated violations of the state secondhand-dealer reporting statutes, Business and Professions Code Sections 21625 through 21647.

Once licensed, Section 5.32.050 requires a daily report to the police department on department-supplied forms covering everything purchased or received the preceding day, submitted in person, by email or by fax by 2:00 p.m., and the department must retain each report for three years. Section 5.32.060 requires that all purchased or received goods stay open for police inspection at all times during business hours. Section 5.32.070 forbids selling or disposing of any item until at least 72 hours have passed since it was first reported as purchased or acquired, unless it is transferred to another Chapter 5.32 registrant. The underlying Chapter 5.08 permit is valid for one year from a quarterly issuance date and must be renewed 30 calendar days before it expires.