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

Chapter 6.29 defines a "secondhand or antique dealer" as anyone buying, selling, trading, bartering, auctioning or consigning secondhand or antique goods, including dealers in used auto parts and tires, but the definition carves out anyone selling only operational used vehicles or boats. A "junk dealer" separately covers yards that keep, dismantle or process scrap metal, rags, waste paper, bottles and stripped vehicles. Applicants file in person with the county auditor (TCC 6.29.030), providing name, address, date of birth, driver's license or state ID number, Social Security number, physical description, a business site plan, and a description of the goods and operations involved.

The planning department gets 21 days to flag conditions before the auditor issues the license (6.29.040), and licenses run one year before renewal (6.29.050). Once licensed, operators must post the license on the premises, keep the site free of sanitary, health or fire hazards, and enclose any outdoor junk or secondhand storage area behind a solid eight-foot fence with gated entrances (6.29.070). Every acquisition of junk, secondhand or antique goods must be logged in a permanent register kept on-site, listing the seller's name and address, a description of the item, and the transaction date, held available to the sheriff's department for at least one year.

Noisy processing of junk is barred between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. except in industrial zones. Flea market dealers must additionally record the identifying information of every vendor selling at their site.