Twin Falls, ID Business Licensing & Operations: Secondhand Dealers (2026)

Section 3-4-1 of the Twin Falls City Code defines who counts as a secondhand dealer, and the license rules in § 3-4-2 attach to that definition. A secondhand dealer is any person, firm, association or corporation that buys, accepts as trade, or otherwise deals in secondhand tools, goods, wares, merchandise or other articles found in a secondhand store, other than recording media. A secondhand store is any room, store or place where that business is carried on.

Four groups are excluded. First, dealers in new merchandise who do not pay cash for used property but give patrons an exchange value on a sale of new goods of the same type. Second, antique dealers who do not purchase electronic equipment, tools, coins or precious jewelry. Third, rummage sales, garage sales and yard sales conducted on a temporary basis of not more than ten days. Fourth, anyone who accepts property only as a donation and pays no cash for any property, clothing, furniture or other valuable thing.

Anyone outside those exclusions needs a license from the city clerk before running a secondhand store (§ 3-4-2(A)). The regular license costs $500 a year. Section 3-4-2(F)2 creates a limited license at $50 a year for secondhand dealers who purchase not more than ten transactions of secondhand goods per month. Applicants must be 18 or older, the Twin Falls Police Department runs the background investigation, and licenses cannot be transferred by person or place.

Licensed dealers must record every article received, except that dealers of secondhand clothing are exempt from the record requirement. They report a description to LeadsOnline.com within twenty-four hours of receipt, keep a copy for twelve months, and hold goods for at least thirty days before sale (§§ 3-4-4 and 3-4-5). Police can also freeze property alleged to be stolen for thirty days at a time under § 3-4-6.