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

Yakima Municipal Code § 5.64.010 defines a secondhand dealer as anyone who buys or sells used tangible personal property and is not a licensed pawnbroker or junk dealer; a person who runs such a sale more than twice in any twelve-month period, or for more than four consecutive days, is deemed a secondhand dealer required to be licensed. Under § 5.64.030, no one may engage in the business without first filing an application naming the applicant, business location, trade name, and (for partnerships or corporations) the members or officers, and paying the fee set in the city's master fee schedule by council resolution; the license cannot be assigned or transferred, and it is required in addition to, not instead of, the general business license under Chapter 5.52 YMC.

Licenses run for one year (§ 5.64.040) and the city manager can revoke one for failing to comply with the chapter or for a licensee's conviction for larceny or for receiving/possessing stolen property, after a hearing with at least five days' written notice and a written notice of findings. Every dealer must keep a permanent English-language register of each purchase (§ 5.64.050): the seller's signature, date, name of the clerk, the seller's name, birth date, sex, height, weight, race, address, phone number and picture ID number, the address the goods came from, an itemized description with serial numbers, the price paid, and any contract number, open to inspection by the chief of police during business hours.

On the chief's request, dealers must report the prior day's transactions before noon each day (§ 5.64.060) and must hold consigned property at least thirty days before disposing of it (§ 5.64.070). Dealers may not buy from anyone under eighteen, anyone the dealer knows was convicted of burglary, robbery, theft, or receiving stolen property within the past ten years, or anyone visibly intoxicated (§ 5.64.080).