Plainfield, NJ Business Licensing & Operations: Secondhand Dealers (2026)

Chapter 9, Article 6 of the Plainfield Municipal Code makes it unlawful to engage in the business of a retail or wholesale junk dealer without a license (§ 9:6-2). A retail junk dealer goes about the streets soliciting the purchase of junk or keeps a store, shop, truck, cart or other vehicle for buying, selling and collecting it in small quantities. A wholesale dealer buys and sells in large quantities from a warehouse, yard or other place of business (§ 9:6-1). Junk covers old metals, rags, rope, rubber, bottles and glass, bones, wastepaper and other discarded materials, but not antiques, a business's own by-product scrap, or a manufacturer's process materials. A licensed motor vehicle junk yard is outside the article unless it also buys other discarded articles.

The application is written, signed, filed with the License Bureau with the prescribed fees, and states the applicant's name, age and residence, the purpose of the license, the place of business and, for a vehicle, a detailed description (§ 9:6-3). The Mayor cannot grant a license to a person of disreputable character, to anyone convicted of violating a City, State or Federal law or a disorderly person provision, or to anyone who misrepresented facts in the application, and can limit the number of licenses with Council approval (§ 9:6-4). The Schedule of Fees in § 9:17-1 lists retail dealers at $50 for one vehicle a year plus $20 for each additional vehicle, wholesalers at $75 for one vehicle a year plus $20 for each additional vehicle, and junkyards at $250 for the initial license and $75 per year.

Every licensed vehicle carries an exterior metal plate reading "City of Plainfield, Licensed Junk Dealer" with the license number and expiration date (§ 9:6-7). Dealers cannot take articles in pawn or lend money on them (§ 9:6-9), cannot buy from anyone under 16 or buy goods known to be lost, stolen or converted (§ 9:6-10), and retail dealers keep a purchase book with the article, the seller's name and address and the date and hour, open to the Police Division for one year (§ 9:6-11). A junk yard needs an 8 to 10 foot solid, painted fence around outdoor storage, cannot operate on Sunday or before 7:00 A.M. or after 7:00 P.M., and should sit at least 500 feet from any dwelling, church or school (§ 9:6-8).