In this article, the singular shall include the plural and the
masculine shall include the feminine and the neuter. Certain terms
are defined as follows:
Whether transient or permanent, any person who either wholly
or in part engages in or operates the trade or business of buying
and/or selling used goods such as collectibles, coins, currency, rare
articles, antiques, precious stones, stained glass, metals, jewelry,
any tools, any electrical devices, fixtures, appliances, household
goods, firearms and bric-a-brac. The foregoing enumeration of articles,
goods and property shall not be deemed to be exclusive or all-inclusive,
and includes all articles and goods that are purchased, salvaged or
received from any person, association, business, partnership, corporation
or similar entity. This definition shall not be deemed to include:
Judicial sales or sales by executors or administrators;
Sales of unredeemed pledges by or on behalf of licensed pawnbrokers
in the manner prescribed by law;
Occasional or auction sales of household goods sold from private
homes;
Auctions of real estate; or
Auctions conducted by licensed auctioneers.
Whether transient or permanent, includes any person who carries
on the business of buying or selling and dealing in junk, scrap iron,
brass, lead, copper, aluminum and other metals or alloys or other
materials commonly referred to as "junk."
Whether transient or permanent, includes any person who engages
in the business of accepting money on the deposit or pledge of personal
property other than choses in action, securities or written evidence
of indebtedness; or purchases personal property with an express or
implied agreement or understanding to sell it back at a subsequent
time at a stipulated price; or accepts money for goods, wares or merchandise
pledged, stored or deposited as collateral security.
An article or articles deposited with a pawnbroker as security
for a loan or for the actual sale in the course of his business as
defined as a pawnbroker.
The Township of Lower Paxton.
Any person who occupies a room, apartment, store, shop, building, private lot or other fixed location for the purpose of purchasing and/or selling goods, wares or merchandise of any description with the intention of not remaining more than 100 days. Regardless of the type of business, all transient merchants are subject to the provisions of Article II. Transient merchants engaging in business described in this article are also subject to all requirements of this article.
Every pawnbroker, junk dealer, antique dealer and secondhand
dealer shall keep a digital record or book legibly written in the
English language in which shall be recorded, where applicable:
A.
A full and accurate description of all articles purchased or left
in pawn, salvaged or received, including brand names, model number,
serial number, inscribed initials, dates or names of any other forms
of identification.
B.
The date and time of pledging, pawning, purchasing, salvaging or
receiving the same.
C.
The date and time within which such pawned or pledged article is
to be redeemed.
D.
The amount of money lent or paid therefor.
E.
The description of the person or persons making the pledge, selling
such articles or from whom the article was purchased, salvaged or
received, including such person's name, address, date of birth,
sex, race and operator's number.
All pawnbrokers, junk dealers, antique dealers and secondhand
dealers shall, daily, before 12:00 noon of the following day of business,
provide a written report to the Police Department containing a complete
description of all articles received in the course of his respective
business during the previous business day, together with the number
of tickets and a description of the persons making such sale or pledge,
including such personal name, address, date of birth, race, sex and
operator's number. Forms for this purpose are to be provided
by the Police Department and shall be transmitted digitally in a manner
prescribed by the Police Department unless specific authorization
is given by the Police Department for another method of transmission.
No pawnbroker, junk dealer, antique dealer or secondhand dealer
shall accept a pledge, article or goods from a person under the age
of 18 years, any intoxicated person or any known thief.
No pawnbroker shall sell or dispose of in any way to a person any article received by him in the course of his business until seven days have elapsed from the time of furnishing to the police a form containing the information on such articles as required by § 137-30.
All junk dealers, antique dealers and secondhand dealers shall keep and retain on their premises all articles purchased or received in the course of their business, in the original form, shape and condition in which they were received, and shall not sell or dispose of the same in any way until seven days have elapsed from the time of furnishing to the police the form containing the information required in § 137-30.
Every transient merchant shall keep a digital record or book
legibly written in the English language in which shall be recorded:
A.
A full and accurate description of all articles received in any way
in the course of business.
B.
The date and time of such transaction.
C.
The description of the persons with whom such a transaction was completed,
including that person's name, address, date of birth, sex, race
and operator's number.
All transient merchants shall, within two hours of the close
of their business day, provide a written report to the Police Department
containing a full and accurate description of all articles received
in the course of the business during that immediate business day,
the amount of money paid therefor and a description of the persons
from whom such goods were in any way received, including that person's
name, address, date of birth, sex, race and operator's number.
Forms for this purpose are to be provided by the Police Department
and shall be transmitted digitally in a manner prescribed by the Police
Department unless specific authorization is given by the Police Department
for another method of transmission.
Notification shall be provided to the Police Department that the transient merchant intends to terminate his business operation within 48 hours of such termination. Such notification shall include contact information and an address at which the transient merchant may be reached for the 10 days immediately following the termination. Such termination notice does not relieve said merchant of the requirement to retain and maintain property as specified in § 137-32 or § 137-33 or § 137-37.
All transient merchants shall retain, at their immediate local place of business, any goods received in the course of business, in the original shape, form and condition in which they were received, and shall not sell or dispose of such goods in any way until seven days have elapsed from the time of furnishing to the police a form containing the information on such articles as required by § 137-35.
No transient merchant shall accept merchandise, goods or wares
from a person under the age of 18 years nor from any intoxicated person
or any known thief.
It shall be an affirmative defense to any prosecution or administrative
proceeding brought for the violation of any section of this article
pertaining to the retention of articles or goods obtained in the course
of business operations that, in the case of precious metals, retention
for the time period required would have resulted in serious and substantial
economic losses to the dealer or the probability of such losses was
significant due to rapid and highly fluctuating market conditions,
provided that the persons so charged shall prove the existence of
the market conditions giving rise to the aforesaid defense by a preponderance
of the evidence. Market conditions in order to be a defense hereunder
shall be such that financial analysts would characterize trading as
at or approaching a level or occurrence in an atmosphere of panic
so as to clearly distinguish trading conditions from normal variations
in market movement in response to economic news or other events.
Any police officer, upon showing a badge and proper identification, shall be given any information from all of the above classes of businesses that is legitimately required in the execution of his duties. This shall include but not be limited to names of employees and any and all records concerning transactions over the past 24 months. Failure to do so shall result in any and all licenses being revoked by the Police Department for operation of such business in addition to the penalties as stated in § 137-41.
This article shall be enforced by action brought by the Police
Department before a Magisterial District Justice in the same manner
provided for the enforcement of summary offenses under the Pennsylvania
Rules of Criminal Procedure. Any person, firm or corporation who or
which violates or permits the violation of this article shall, upon
conviction in a summary proceeding, be punishable by a fine of not
more than $1,000 or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding 90 days.
Each day or portion thereof that such violation continues or is permitted
to continue shall constitute a separate offense. Each section of this
article that is violated shall also constitute a separate offense.
