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

King County Code § 6.60.010 makes it unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to engage in buying, selling or trading secondhand goods in King County without first obtaining a secondhand dealer's license. "Secondhand dealer" under § 6.60.020 covers anyone who purchases, sells, trades, barters, auctions or takes on consignment secondhand goods, including dealers in used or remanufactured auto tires or parts, but excludes used-car and used-boat dealers and excludes items meeting the county's separate definition of "junk" at § 6.36.020. The license costs $40 per year, due December 31 preceding the license year, prorated quarterly for partial years (§ 6.60.030).

Applications go to the Director on county forms, must list the applicant (18 or older) and everyone with a financial or proprietary interest in the shop, and are routed to the Department of Public Safety for investigation and recommendation before the Director issues or renews the license (§ 6.60.040). A dealer running more than one shop needs a separate license per location, and licenses are non-transferable between owners though the Director can transfer one to a new address (§ 6.60.070). Renewal applications filed more than ten working days late draw a penalty scaled to the fee: 20% on fees under $50, 10% on fees from $50 to under $1,000, and 5% on fees of $1,000 or more (§ 6.60.050).

No renewal issues until the dealer files a personal property tax return with the county assessor and pays the tax due (§ 6.60.060). Every dealer must keep an ink, English-language ledger recording the date, clerk's name, seller's printed name/signature/age/address, the address the goods last came from, an itemized price, and an identifying description of each item bought, retained for five years and open to Public Safety Department inspection (§§ 6.60.080, 6.60.090, 6.60.110). A full weekly transcript of that ledger goes to the sheriff's office at the close of every business week, and any dealer with good cause to believe an item is stolen must report it to the sheriff immediately (§ 6.60.100).

Purchased goods cannot be sold or removed from the shop for ten days after the sheriff receives the transaction report, unless sheriff personnel inspect and authorize earlier release; consigned goods sold at auction need only be held three days (§ 6.60.130).