Bay County, MI Garage & Yard Sales: Frequency, Duration & Permits (2026)
Key Facts
- Max sale length
- 6 days per event
- Max sales per year
- Twice per person or location
- Exceeding limit
- Secondhand-dealer license required
- Governing ordinance
- Part 18, Ord. No. 52 (2011)
Summary
Bay County's Secondhand and Scrap Dealer Ordinance exempts rummage sales from secondhand-dealer licensing only if the same person or location does not hold one for more than six consecutive days and does not hold more than two rummage sales in a calendar year. Exceed either limit and the county treats the sale as an unlicensed secondhand-dealer operation.
Secondhand dealer means any person, corporation, member or members of a partnership, company or firm, that engages in the business of purchasing, storing, selling, exchanging and receiving secondhand goods, including the receiving and selling of goods on consignment, but does not include a scrap processor, automotive recycler, or junkyard that deals principally in industrial scrap, nor to retail merchants who repossess their own merchandise sold on a title-retaining contract or who accept merchandise as a part payment on new sales, nor shall it apply to licensed automobile dealers, nor to persons who conduct rummage sales provided that such sales are not conducted by the same person or at the same location for a period in excess of six days or more than twice in a calendar year.
Full Breakdown
The rummage-sale exemption lives inside the definition of 'secondhand dealer' in Part 18 of the county code, the Secondhand and Scrap Dealer Ordinance (Ord. No. 52, adopted March 8, 2011). 001 defines a secondhand dealer as anyone in the business of buying, storing, selling, exchanging or consigning used goods, then carves out several categories that do not need a county secondhand-dealer license, including persons who conduct rummage sales provided those sales are not conducted by the same person or at the same location for a period exceeding six days or more than twice in a calendar year.
Read together, that sets two independent caps on an exempt rummage or garage sale: it cannot run longer than six days at a stretch, and the same person or the same address cannot host more than two of them in a calendar year. A sale that breaks either limit falls outside the exemption and exposes the seller to the same licensing regime that governs secondhand dealers, which requires a license from the County Executive, a Sheriff background investigation with fingerprinting, and an application fee set by the County Commission.
Bay County itself does not zone or set hours for rummage sales; the exemption only determines whether a seller needs a secondhand-dealer license, not whether a city, village or township imposes its own permit or sign rules for a yard sale within its own limits.
Violations & Fines
There's no separate rummage-sale penalty section; a seller who exceeds the six-day or twice-a-year exemption is treated as operating an unlicensed secondhand-dealer business under Part 18. Operating without the required county license, background investigation and posted license exposes the seller to enforcement under the Secondhand Dealers Act, 1917 PA 350, MCL 445.401 et seq., which the ordinance incorporates by reference and treats a violation of the Act as a violation of the county ordinance.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many garage sales can I hold per year in Bay County?
How long can a Bay County garage sale run?
What happens if I exceed the rummage-sale limit?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Bay County
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