Delaware Code
Subchapter I. General Provisions
§ 2304. Holding period.

(a) (1) A secondhand dealer operating an automated kiosk may ship all goods, wares and merchandise to a secure off-site location upon approval from the Superintendent of the State Police or the Superintendent's designee. Goods shipped under this section must be held for 30 days including weekends and holidays, subject to return and inspection by any police officer of Delaware. The off-site location may be out of the State.
(2) Every pawnbroker and secondhand dealer subject to this chapter must keep for a period of 18 days, including weekends and holidays, subject to inspection by any police officer of Delaware, all goods, wares and merchandise purchased or received from any person before selling, shipping or otherwise disposing of the same. This does not prohibit any person from securing valuable goods, wares and merchandise in a vault, safe or safety deposit box or other similarly secured storage area on the normal business premises so long as such secured items are readily available for inspection by a police officer. Scrap metal processors must hold platinum, gold and silver articles for 18 days.
(b) Every scrap metal processor subject to this chapter must keep for a period of 72 hours from the date and time the item was electronically reported, not including holidays or weekends, all copper or brass articles purchased or received from any person before selling, shipping or otherwise disposing of same, except that there shall be no holding period for articles meeting all of the following criteria:

(1) That are purchased or received from a commercially licensed entity;
(2) That are of the type commonly purchased or received from commercial entities; and
(3) For which payment is made directly to the commercial entity and not to the individual delivering the articles.
(c) Every scrap metal processor which takes in a scrapped or dismantled vehicle without a title must have the vehicle cleared by a Delaware State Police auto theft technician before the vehicle is scrapped, dismantled, or altered in any way.
(d) Such holding periods are not applicable when the person from whom the goods were acquired or pledged desires to redeem, repurchase, or recover the goods, provided the dealer or pawnbroker can produce the record of the original transaction with verification that the customer is the person from whom the goods were originally acquired.
(e) A pawnbroker, secondhand dealer, or scrap metal processor shall not destroy, disfigure or obliterate identification marks or cause the identity of an article to otherwise be destroyed so long as the article continues to be in that person's possession.
(f) Law-enforcement officers may require that an item be held for an additional 30 days beyond the requirements of subsection (a) of this section if they know or have reason to believe that the property is missing or stolen.

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