Olympia, WA Business Licensing & Operations: Secondhand Dealers (2026)

Chapter 5.60 of the Olympia Municipal Code governs secondhand dealers in the City of Olympia, Thurston County, Washington. Section 5.60.010 defines a secondhand dealer as any person, firm, corporation, partnership or association that, within the City, solicits for or, as a business, engages in the purchase, sale, trade, barter or exchange of secondhand goods, wares or merchandise. An employee under the same section is anyone who purchases or accepts in trade any goods from customers on behalf of the business.

Section 5.60.015 makes it unlawful to engage in business in the City without first obtaining a license under OMC 5.02, and the added licensing or permitting requirements of Chapter 5.60 apply on top of that. Section 5.60.002 applies the business and occupations tax of Chapter 5.04, and 5.60.001 applies the administrative provisions of Chapter 5.05.

Section 5.60.020 takes certain people and businesses out of the chapter: officers and employees of federal, state, county, city or other municipal agencies on official duty; licensed used car dealers; licensed appliance, furniture, auto parts and accessory dealers, service stations, auctions, wrecking yards, recycling centers and junk dealers; non-profit organizations; any business in which used goods purchased are less than twenty-five percent of the total business conducted; and employees of exempted businesses. An exempted business is still subject to licensing under Chapter 5.02.

Section 5.60.070 requires a permanent book or record, legibly written in English at the time of each loan, purchase or sale, kept at the place of business. It records the date, the name of the person or employee conducting the transaction, the name, signature, sex, age, street and house number and a description of the person dealt with, the owner and last location of the property, a description of the property, the price paid, all witnesses and any pawn ticket number. For watches the record carries the maker and the number of both the works and the case. Section 5.60.080 opens the record and the purchased property to law enforcement officers at all hours.

Under 5.60.100 the daily transcript goes to the chief of police before noon, on forms the chief provides, and property believed lost or stolen is reported forthwith with the owner's name if known. Section 5.60.110 keeps received property in the shop for seven working days after the receipt is reported, unless the Police Department inspects and approves its release, and the Department can extend the hold up to thirty days for good cause while an investigation is pending.