From and after the effective date of this chapter, it shall be unlawful
for any persons, partnerships, association or corporation to advertise or
hold out by any means that any sale of goods, wares and merchandise is an
insurance, bankruptcy, mortgage, insolvent, assignees, receivers, trustees,
removal or closing-out sale or a sale of goods damaged by fire, smoke or water,
within the Borough of West Chester, unless a license to conduct such sale
is first obtained from the Secretary of the borough.
No goods, wares or merchandise not in stock or on order prior to the
application for the license for such sale shall be placed in stock or offered
for sale during the pendency of said sale.
The license issued pursuant to such application shall be for a period
of thirty (30) days from the time of the commencement of the sale, and, if
the applicant desires to continue the sale beyond said period of thirty (30)
days, he shall make an application to the Secretary of the borough for a further
permit to continue said sale, setting forth in said application the same information
required to be set forth in the original application.
Upon the presentation of the original application for a license hereunder,
the applicant shall pay to the Secretary the sum of twenty-five dollars ($25.),
which shall be the license fee for a sale for a period of thirty (30) days
or fraction thereof, and upon application for a further permit to continue
said sale beyond the period of thirty (30) days, said applicant shall deposit
with the Secretary a license fee of twenty-five dollars ($25.) for such thirty-day
period or fraction thereof.
It shall be the duty of each such licensee to post a copy of the said
application in a conspicuous place in the salesroom or place where the goods
are to be sold so that the public may be informed of the facts in relation
to the goods before purchasing the same.
[Amended 6-13-1973; 5-10-1989
by Ord. No. 11-1989]
Any person who shall be convicted of a violation of any of the provisions
of this chapter before any District Justice shall be sentenced to pay a fine
of not more than six hundred dollars ($600.), together with costs of prosecution,
or to imprisonment in the county jail for a term not to exceed thirty (30)
days, or both.
This chapter shall not apply to sales conducted by sheriffs, constables
or other public or court officials or to any person or person acting under
the direction or authority of any court, state or federal, selling goods,
wares and merchandise in the course of his official duties, nor to sales by
licensed auctioneers extending over a period in excess of three (3) days,
nor to sales conducted by insurance companies or by salvage companies acting
for insurance companies.