Tempe, AZ Business Licensing & Operations: Secondhand Dealers (2026)

Section 16A-1 defines a secondhand dealer broadly as anyone 'engaged in conducting, managing or carrying on the business of buying, selling, trading or exchanging, or otherwise dealing in secondhand goods, wares, merchandise or articles, coins, jewelry, precious metals, semiprecious stones and similar items,' whether that is their main business or just a department of another one, and whether conducted at a fixed location or on a transitory basis within the City; the same section carves out anyone 'operating an automated kiosk' from the definition entirely.

Section 16A-26(a) makes it 'unlawful for any person to act within the City as an auction house, scrap dealer, pawnbroker or secondhand dealer without first obtaining a license,' issued annually by the Financial Services Director at a fee set by City Council resolution. Section 16A-2(c) exempts activities involving books, clothing, phonograph records, tapes, CDs, DVDs and computer software from the licensing article altogether, and § 16A-3(b) exempts the same media categories, plus items purchased for under $50, from the 24-hour police transaction-report requirement, though serial-numbered electronics, firearms, jewelry, bicycles and power tools stay reportable regardless of price.

Reported items are then subject to the 20-day resale holding period in § 16A-4, and owners and managers must submit to fingerprinting under § 16A-9 before the license issues.