[HISTORY: Adopted by the Council of the Borough of West Chester 3-8-1961
as Ord. No. 4-61. Section 87-7 amended at time of adoption of Code; see Ch.
1, General Provisions, Art. I. Other amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Peddling and soliciting; handbills and posters — See Ch. 80.
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.
A.
Upon application for such a license, the applicant shall
make a full disclosure, under oath, of the following information:
(1)
The true name of the owner of the goods to be offered
for sale.
(2)
The name of the operator of the sale, if a person other
than the true owner.
(3)
A full and complete inventory of the quantity, kind and
character of the goods to be offered for sale, which shall be prepared in
the following manner:
(a)
First, a listing of all goods which have been in stock
for a period of fifteen (15) days or longer prior to the application for the
license.
(b)
Second, a listing of all goods received in stock within
the fifteen (15) days immediately preceding the application for the license.
(c)
Third, a listing of all goods which have been ordered
prior to the application for the license and which will be placed in stock
during the pendency of the sale.
(4)
The method by which the applicant for the license or
the true owner of the goods, if a different person, acquired title to the
same, and the reason for the urgent and expeditious disposal thereof.
B.
The Secretary of the borough may require any further
information necessary to inform him as to whether such license should be granted,
and, if any defect appears in the title of the goods or any false representation
is made in such application, said Secretary may refuse the license.
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.
