Federal Way, WA Garage & Yard Sales: Frequency, Duration & Permits (2026)

275 FWRC, both of which carry application, site plan, and fee requirements. 040(1)(a) lists "residential garage or yard sales of typical size and duration" among the activities that, if generally consistent with their surroundings, are not required to obtain a temporary business registration. 040(1)(c)(ii)(A), which exempts the identical category from needing a Class I temporary use permit. Because neither exemption attaches a numeric limit on how many sales a household may hold in a year or how many days a sale may run, a Federal Way resident can hold a garage sale without city paperwork as long as it stays within the ordinary residential scale the exemption describes; the code does not define "typical size and duration" with a specific day count, leaving that judgment, and the authority to decide whether a particular sale has grown into something more than typical, with the city clerk or the director.

The same exemption also excuses scout and guide fundraiser sales, lemonade stands, and charitable car washes from registration, treating all of them as ordinary residential or civic activity rather than commercial enterprise requiring city oversight.