Become a second-hand dealer, antique dealer or open a deposit-sale
Verified 01 January 2024 - Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister), Ministry of the Interior
You want to become a second-hand dealer, an antique dealer or open a second-hand store for old and used furniture. What is the difference between these trades? How to build your company ? What training are necessary? What steps perform? We explain everything to you in detail.
Antique Dealer
Step-by-step approach
The antique dealer buy to resell of works of art and historical, who have already summer used in the past by private individuals.
Example :
Art objects and antiques: furniture, fabrics, carpets, books, jewelry, crockery, paintings, architectural elements, garden furniture, sculptures, etc.
He research its objects either in private homes or in auction houses or attic stores, flea markets, lounges.
He buy items (if possible at a price that allows them to make a profit on resale).
It may be brought to refurbish objects, either himself or by an art craftsman, before selling them.
He's resell then to his antique shop.
As an independent head of company, he must take care of accounting tasks and administrative.
Please note
He carries out transactions (purchase and resale) according to the prices of the art market concerning ancient objects.
What is his expertise?
He estimate the value of an object thanks to its expertise in art history and furniture.
He authenticate each property and gives a guarantee to the customer (guarantee of value, origin, period, etc.).
What's different with a second-hand dealer?
The second-hand dealer can sell very common objects or rare objects, while the antique dealer sells objects that have a artistic merit.
The second-hand dealer does not necessarily sell objects of an era or style like the antique dealer does. The items in the second-hand dealer may or may not have been manufactured recently, whereas the antique dealer sells items that have a historical value.
The antique dealer is capable ofestimate the value of the goods. It's a expert in the history of art and furniture. The second-hand dealer is not obliged to be an expert in these fields.
The antique dealer sells objects with a guarantee d'authentication, unlike a second-hand dealer whose objects are not guaranteed.
The profession of antique dealer is an activity commercial.
Do you have the right to become a merchant?
You must to be of age and not to have been convicted in court for certain offenses.
Do you need specific training?
Antiquarian is not a regulated profession.
No specific training is required.
However, it is strongly recommended have a solid knowledge of art history and the furniture.
Example :
You can take training atLouvre School, or take a course in art history at university, or commercial professional license antique dealer option.
How do you prepare for your future career?
- Confront the reality of the job :
- By performing a immersion course at an antique dealer's
- By following a entrepreneurship education
- By introducing you to management and accounting
These courses are optional but highly recommended.
- Plan for difficulties:
- Make a financial reserve to deal with unforeseen events
- Get ready for steady rate of work : weekend and evening, overtime
For example for your trips to private homes or fairs or trade shows. - Be aware that you will need to numerous trips, often with a vehicle able to transport purchased goods (sometimes large)
Please note
Before you get started, we offer advice and tools, to prepare you to become head of company.
Who can help you prepare?
You can also request different accompanying solutions.
Get closer to the CCI: titleContent from your region.
Each KIC offers a training (3-5 days) to succeed your company creation.
KICs also offer a custom tracking of your project.
Please note
You can contact one of the trade unions related to the profession ofantique dealer and that of resale of movable objects.
Do your market research
Market research can tell you whether or not your business has a chance tobe profitable.
We'll explain 4 steps: market, supply, demand and environment.
Who will be your customers?
You must define the exact profile of your future customers (age, gender, budget, tastes, etc.).
You have to calculate their projected number per week, per month, per year.
What products will be sold?
You must define precisely what items you want to sell.
You must foresee of evolve them depending on modes, behaviors, etc.
Building your business plan
Make a business plan is obligatory.
It lets you know if your project is financially viable and present it to banks (partners and funders).
We explain the steps to build your business plan in our dedicated page.
The antique dealer often has a physical store with a storefront opening onto a street.
However, you can associate on-site sales with online sales, either via a platform (a marketplace or marketplace), or with your own website.
We'll explain how to open your e-commerce.
You must know the e-commerce rules.
Then you need to know the obligations in terms of name, domain name of your website.
Another possibility is to pair your physical store with a non-commercial website, to highlight your activity and attract new customers. You can see our tips for creating this type of website.
What room, what location?
L'geographical location of your business is one element critical to success.
You must choose your business premises according to your business and your customers.
On what criteria to choose?
The criteria for choose your location are:
- Immediate business environment: the more your premises surrounded by other shops, the more potential customers there are
- Nature of the surrounding shops: a street of "food" shops will be less frequented in the afternoon
- Access to your premises: sidewalk width, proximity to parking spaces, direction of traffic, pedestrian street, etc.
- Visibility: are there obstacles (urban furniture) in front of the premises, the showcase is it good? visible from the sidewalk?
- Background from the place: check with the nearby shops.
Please note
Think about quantify any work to adapt the place to your business.
How do I acquire a business premises?
You have 2 possibilities for obtain commercial premises :
- Either you buy it (you then own a goodwill
- You either rent it (you then pay the rent of a commercial lease)
Prior declaration of activity
This entry to the register of dealers in movable property is equivalent to a prior declaration of activity.
Before starting your activity, you must complete the following form:
Application for registration in the register of resellers of movable objects
You must attach to this request the subsequent documents :
- Copy of an identity document (national identity card, passport, birth certificate, family record book, driving license)
- Siren number (unique company identification number))
- Envelope labeled at your address and stamped at the current rate (20 g)
- If you are not French and do not belong to a member country of the European Union : copy of your residence permit
Warning
The form mentions the K or Kbis extract in the documents to be provided, but that is no longer valid today. From now on, you must provide only the Siren number on your company, also called unique identification number of your company.
You must send this request to the prefecture on which will depend the place where your activity is carried out.
In return, you will receive a receipt certifying your registration.
FYI
You must preserve the receipt the prefecture will give you. You will have to present it in case of control of the administration (police, gendarmerie, customs, tax services, etc.).
Declare a change of address
If your main or secondary school changes address, you must make the declaration to the police station or the town hall of the place left and to the commune where you move your activity.
Choose the legal status of your company
Multiple legal statuses are possible:
- Individual business (EI) (of which micro-company),
- Or the different types of businesses : SARL: titleContent, LOCK: titleContent, etc.
- If you do not want partners: EURL: titleContent or SASU: titleContent
FYI
The status of micro-entrepreneur requires meet revenue limit (turnover) thresholds. The advantage is that you pay fewer premiums, but that limits the development of your business.
The threshold is €77,700 for the provision of services and the liberal professions and to €188,700 for trade and accommodation activities.
If you can go beyond during 2 consecutive years, you are out of the micro-company status.
Domiciliate your company
This approach is obligatory.
This is a prerequisite for creation, before registration.
We explain everything about the residence in detail: if you are setting up a micro-business or an EI, or if you are creating a business.
Register your company at RNE: titleContent
Warning
Since 1er january 2023, it is no longer possible to carry out your procedures in a company Formalities Center (CFE). You must make them on the website of the company formalities office.
You must create personal account. Then you need to click on the column “ Company ” and then click on “File a company”. One interactive online form 8 pages is offered; you must fill it out step by step. A user manual is available on this Single Window website.
Registration formalities are carried out on the website of the Company Formalities Window, but the supporting documents to be provided are different according to the legal status of your company. You can consult our pages dedicated to the formalities of registration of a micro-enterprise, a individual business VID (EI) or a business.
Micro-company
What documents should be provided?
When applying for registration at the company formalities window, a certain amount of information must be provided and the following documents must be attached:
- Entitlement of domiciliation the company with the clearly identifiable address (e.g. water, electricity or gas bill)
- Copy of company project support contract (Cape)
- Documents concerning the contractor:
- Declaration on Honor of non-conviction and proof of filiation dated and signed by the entrepreneur
- Copy of Contractor's ID
- Authentic copy of the declaration on the immunity from seizure of immovable property not used for business purposes
- If the contractor carries out a regulated activity : copy of the authorization to pursue the activity, diploma or title
FYI
If the person who carries out the registration formality is not the contractor, he must attach to the application a copy of the power (authentic instrument or privately signed document) authorizing him to take steps on behalf of the contractor.
Please note
All these documents must be digitized and downloaded when you complete the company creation form, at the end of the procedure.
Individual business VID (EI)
What documents are to be provided?
When applying for registration at the company formalities window, a certain amount of information must be provided and the following documents must be attached:
- Entitlement of domiciliation the company with the clearly identifiable address (e.g. water, electricity or gas bill)
- Copy of company project support contract (Cape)
- Documents concerning the contractor:
- Declaration on Honor of non-conviction and proof of filiation dated and signed by the entrepreneur
- Copy of Contractor's ID
- Authentic copy of the declaration on the immunity from seizure of immovable property not used for business purposes
- If the contractor carries out a regulated activity : copy of the authorization to pursue the activity, diploma or title
FYI
If the person who carries out the registration formality is not the contractor, he must attach to the application a copy of the power (authentic instrument or privately signed document) authorizing him to take steps on behalf of the contractor.
Please note
All these documents must be digitized and downloaded when you complete the company creation form, at the end of the procedure.
Business (SAS, SARL, EURL)
When to apply for registration?
It is possible to start your business before the registration of the business. For example, it may be necessary to sign a lease or to charge future customers.
It is important to indicate on all documents the words "Business in training".
The application for registration must be made within 30 days which follow the start of activity.
Conversely, it is also possible to start business after the application for registration. In this case, the starting date must be fixed at the latest within 15 days of the application for registration.
What documents are to be provided?
You must contact the subsequent documents :
- If you have not signed your company creation declaration yourself, original of the power by which you authorize a third party to sign the declaration on your behalf
- Entitlement of domiciliation on your company with the clearly identifiable address (electricity bill, lease)
- Certificate of publication of the notice of establishment in a legal listing support
- Declaration on Honor of non-conviction and proof of parentage dated and signed by you
- Copy of your ID
- Original copy of the status of your businessdated and signed by all members or their authorized representative and supported by an original copy of the power special or dispatch
- If you are engaged in a regulated activity, a copy of the authorization to engage in the activity, diploma or qualification
- If you're married, exemplary signed and dated the certificate of issue of the information given to the spouse of the consequences on the common property of the debts incurred in the exercise of your profession
Please note
All these documents must be digitized and downloaded when you complete the company creation form, at the end of the procedure.
Keeping a police record, also called second-hand dealer's register, or movable property register (ROM), is obligatory.
This is a notebook which allows you toidentify all objects which have given rise to a transaction (purchased, resold, or deposited).
This identification is also intended to trace every speakers in the transaction of each object.
Once closed, the paper register must be preserved during 5 years.
The data in the electronic register must be kept for 10 years.
Please note
If the register is not kept or incomplete or if it contains inaccurate information, you risk 6 months imprisonment and €30,000 of fine.
Before the register is opened
Before it is opened, the register must be endorsed and signed by the police commissioner or the mayor of the municipality where you carry on your business.
Please note
For an exclusively itinerant business, it may be the police commissioner or the mayor of the municipality where the trader resides.
Characteristics and format of the register
This register may exist on a paper or digital medium, provided that not editable.
It has to be written with waterindelible ink.
If it is a paper medium, it must not contain any traces of corrective pens (white).
There must be no failure, or none abbreviation.
The leaves shall not be detachable.
What information must be included in the register?
Warning
You must follow the model register recommended in the decree of 15 may 2020.
The register shall contain the following information:
- Nature, description and provenance of articles to be sold or exchanged: apparent characteristics and signs identifying them (e.g. signature, emblem, serial number)
- Date of purchase
- Name, surname, capacity and domicile of each person who has sold, exchanged or deposited for sale an item
- Nature, number and date of issue of the identity document of the person who carried out the operation with the indication of the authority which issued the document
- Name of the legal persons and registered office, given names, capacity and domicile of the representative who carried out the operation, together with the references of the identity document produced
- The serial number assigned to each object
- Purchase price and method of payment (in the case of exchange, free purchase or deposit-sale, an estimate of the market value of each item or lot)
- Indication of the classification or listing of the object in the inventory of historical monuments (if the seller is aware of it).
Making a declaration to customs
You have to go to customs and say you have precious metals.
It can be eitherobjects used and antique jewelry manufactured in gold, in money or platen.
It may also be crude metals (ingots).
Customs will tell you which file to fill out.
Lodge a declaration of existence with the office of guarantee
You must contact one of the warranty offices of Customs:
Who shall I contact
Comply with business rules
If you buy and resell precious metal items (gold, silver, platinum) you need to know the trade rules to be applied.
FYI
The police book is obligatory for the trade of gold, silver and platinum objects. If you sell second-hand articles of precious metal, on second-hand dealer's register may take the place of police book.
Tax rules
You must also know about taxation which applies to transactions in precious metals.
It is advisable to have the itinerant business card, given the characteristics of your profession.
The trade shows, fairs, markets, flea markets, attic room, are common places of resale and purchase of movable objects.
We will explain everything to you in detail about obtaining the card and on the authorization to occupy the public space (AOT).
Second-Hand Shop
Step-by-step approach
The flea market search and buy from objects to private individuals for resell. These transactions are carried out either directly by individuals or in sales rooms, attic stores, flea markets or lounges.
These objects have already summer used in the past. They're second-hand goods.
The second-hand dealer can resell broken or damaged objects. He's not obligatory from repair.
He then resells them in his store (online store or physical store).
He fixed its price sales freely so as to make a profit.
As an independent head of company, he must take care of accounting tasks and administrative.
What's different from an antique dealer?
The second-hand dealer may offer for sale items very common or rare objects, while the antique dealer sells objects of artistic value.
The second-hand dealer does not necessarily sell objects of an era or style like the antique dealer does. The objects of the second-hand dealer may or may not have been manufactured recently, without historical value.
The flea market is not required to be an expert in art and furniture historyWell, unlike the antique dealer, but it's a plus.
The antique dealer sells objects with a guarantee of authentication, unlike the second-hand dealer whose objects have no warranty.
The trade of second-hand dealers is an activity commercial.
Do you have the right to become a merchant?
You must to be of age and not to have been convicted in court for certain offenses.
Do you need specific training?
Merchant is not a regulated profession.
No specific training is required.
How do you prepare for your future career?
- Confront the reality of the job :
- By performing a immersion course at a second-hand dealer
- By following a entrepreneurship education
- Learn about management and accounting
These courses are optional but highly recommended.
- Plan for difficulties
- Make a financial reserve to deal with unforeseen events
- Get ready for steady rate of work : weekend and evening, overtime
- Be aware that you will need to numerous trips, often with a vehicle capable of transporting the goods purchased
Please note
Before you get started, we offer tips and tools to prepare you entrepreneurship.
Who can help you?
You can also request different accompanying solutions.
Get closer to the CCI: titleContent from your region.
Each KIC offers a training (3-5 days) to succeed your company creation.
KICs also offer a custom tracking of your project.
Please note
You can contact one of the trade unions related to the profession ofantique dealer and resale of movable objects.
Do your market research
Market research can tell you whether or not your business has a chance tobe profitable.
We'll explain 4 steps: market, supply, demand and environment.
Who will be your customers?
You must define the exact profile of your future customers (age, gender, budget, tastes, etc.).
You have to calculate their projected number per week, per month, per year.
What products will be sold?
You must define precisely what items you want to sell.
You must foresee of evolve them depending on modes, behaviors, etc.
Building your business plan
Make a business plan is obligatory.
It lets you know if your project is financially viable and present it to banks (partners and funders).
We explain the steps to build your business plan in our dedicated page.
The second-hand dealer may have a physical store with a storefront opening onto a street.
It can also have a private warehouse and sell to the public only at fairs and shows. This option requireshave the itinerant business card.
However, you can combine on-site sales with online sales, either via a platform or with your own website.
You can also sell items only in an online store.
The steps to create your company are the same than those for a physical store.
The regulation related to the trade is the same than a second-hand dealer with a physical store.
We'll explain everything in detail to find out how to open your e-commerce.
You must know the e-commerce rules.
Then you need to know the obligations in terms of name, domain name of your website.
Another possibility is to pair your physical store with a non-commercial website, to highlight your activity and attract new customers. You can see our tips for creating this type of website.
What room, what location?
L'geographical location of your business is one element critical to success.
You must choose your business premises according to your business and your customers.
On what criteria to choose?
The criteria for choose your location are:
- Immediate business environment: the more your premises surrounded by other shops, the more potential customers there are
- Nature of the surrounding shops: a street of "food" shops will be less frequented in the afternoon
- Access to your premises: sidewalk width, proximity to parking spaces, direction of traffic, pedestrian street, etc.
- Visibility: are there obstacles (urban furniture) in front of the premises, the showcase is it good? visible from the sidewalk?
- Background from the place: check with the nearby shops.
Please note
Think about quantify any work to adapt the place to your business.
How do I acquire a business premises?
You have 2 possibilities for obtain commercial premises :
- Either you buy it (you then own a goodwill
- You either rent it (you then pay the rent of a commercial lease)
Choose the legal status of your company
Multiple legal statuses are possible:
- Individual business (EI) (of which micro-company),
- Or the different types of businesses : SARL: titleContent, LOCK: titleContent, etc.
- If you do not want partners: EURL: titleContent or SASU: titleContent
FYI
The status of micro-entrepreneur requires meet revenue limit (turnover) thresholds. The advantage is that you pay fewer premiums, but that limits the development of your business.
The threshold is €77,700 for the provision of services and the liberal professions and to €188,700 for trade and accommodation activities.
If you can go beyond during 2 consecutive years, you are out of the micro-company status.
Domiciliate your company
This approach is obligatory.
This is a prerequisite for creation, before registration.
We explain everything about the residence in detail: if you are setting up a micro-business or an EI, or if you are creating a business.
Register your company at RNE: titleContent
Warning
Since 1er january 2023, it is no longer possible to carry out your procedures in a company Formalities Center (CFE). You must make them on the website of the company formalities office.
You must create personal account. Then you need to click on the column “ Company ” and then click on “File a company”. One interactive online form 8 pages is offered; you must fill it out step by step. A user manual is available on this Single Window website.
Registration formalities are carried out on the website of the Company Formalities Window, but the supporting documents to be provided are different according to the legal status of your company. You can consult our pages dedicated to the formalities of registration of a micro-enterprise, a individual business VID (EI) or a business.
Micro-company
What documents should be provided?
When applying for registration at the company formalities window, a certain amount of information must be provided and the following documents must be attached:
- Entitlement of domiciliation the company with the clearly identifiable address (e.g. water, electricity or gas bill)
- Copy of company project support contract (Cape)
- Documents concerning the contractor:
- Declaration on Honor of non-conviction and proof of filiation dated and signed by the entrepreneur
- Copy of Contractor's ID
- Authentic copy of the declaration on the immunity from seizure of immovable property not used for business purposes
- If the contractor carries out a regulated activity : copy of the authorization to pursue the activity, diploma or title
FYI
If the person who carries out the registration formality is not the contractor, he must attach to the application a copy of the power (authentic instrument or privately signed document) authorizing him to take steps on behalf of the contractor.
Please note
All these documents must be digitized and downloaded when you complete the company creation form, at the end of the procedure.
Individual business VID (EI)
What documents are to be provided?
When applying for registration at the company formalities window, a certain amount of information must be provided and the following documents must be attached:
- Entitlement of domiciliation the company with the clearly identifiable address (e.g. water, electricity or gas bill)
- Copy of company project support contract (Cape)
- Documents concerning the contractor:
- Declaration on Honor of non-conviction and proof of filiation dated and signed by the entrepreneur
- Copy of Contractor's ID
- Authentic copy of the declaration on the immunity from seizure of immovable property not used for business purposes
- If the contractor carries out a regulated activity : copy of the authorization to pursue the activity, diploma or title
FYI
If the person who carries out the registration formality is not the contractor, he must attach to the application a copy of the power (authentic instrument or privately signed document) authorizing him to take steps on behalf of the contractor.
Please note
All these documents must be digitized and downloaded when you complete the company creation form, at the end of the procedure.
Business (SAS, SARL, EURL)
When to apply for registration?
It is possible to start your business before the registration of the business. For example, it may be necessary to sign a lease or to charge future customers.
It is important to indicate on all documents the words "Business in training".
The application for registration must be made within 30 days which follow the start of activity.
Conversely, it is also possible to start business after the application for registration. In this case, the starting date must be fixed at the latest within 15 days of the application for registration.
What documents are to be provided?
You must contact the subsequent documents :
- If you have not signed your company creation declaration yourself, original of the power by which you authorize a third party to sign the declaration on your behalf
- Entitlement of domiciliation on your company with the clearly identifiable address (electricity bill, lease)
- Certificate of publication of the notice of establishment in a legal listing support
- Declaration on Honor of non-conviction and proof of parentage dated and signed by you
- Copy of your ID
- Original copy of the status of your businessdated and signed by all members or their authorized representative and supported by an original copy of the power special or dispatch
- If you are engaged in a regulated activity, a copy of the authorization to engage in the activity, diploma or qualification
- If you're married, exemplary signed and dated the certificate of issue of the information given to the spouse of the consequences on the common property of the debts incurred in the exercise of your profession
Please note
All these documents must be digitized and downloaded when you complete the company creation form, at the end of the procedure.
Prior declaration of activity
This entry to the register of dealers in movable property is equivalent to a prior declaration of activity.
Before starting your activity, you must complete the following form:
Application for registration in the register of resellers of movable objects
You must attach to this request the subsequent documents :
- Copy of an identity document (national identity card, passport, birth certificate, family record book, driving license)
- Siren number (unique company identification number))
- Envelope labeled at your address and stamped at the current rate (20 g)
- If you are not French and do not belong to a member country of the European Union : copy of your residence permit
Warning
The form mentions the K or Kbis extract in the documents to be provided, but that is no longer valid today. From now on, you must provide only the Siren number on your company, also called unique identification number of your company.
You must send this request to the prefecture on which will depend the place where your activity is carried out.
In return, you will receive a receipt certifying your registration.
FYI
You must preserve the receipt the prefecture will give you. You will have to present it in case of control of the administration (police, gendarmerie, customs, tax services, etc.).
Declare a change of address
If your main or secondary school changes address, you must make the declaration to the police station or the town hall of the place left and to the commune where you move your activity.
Keeping a police record, also called second-hand dealer's register, or movable property register (ROM), is obligatory.
This is a notebook which allows you toidentify all objects which have given rise to a transaction (purchased, resold, or deposited).
This identification is also intended to trace every speakers in the transaction of each object.
Once closed, the paper register must be preserved during 5 years.
The data in the electronic register must be kept for 10 years.
Please note
If the register is not kept or incomplete or if it contains inaccurate information, you risk 6 months imprisonment and €30,000 of fine.
Before the register is opened
Before it is opened, the register must be endorsed and signed by the police commissioner or the mayor of the municipality where you carry on your business.
Please note
For an exclusively itinerant business, it may be the police commissioner or the mayor of the municipality where the trader resides.
Characteristics and format of the register
This register may exist on a paper or digital medium, provided that not editable.
It has to be written with waterindelible ink.
If it is a paper medium, it must not contain any traces of corrective pens (white).
There must be no failure, or none abbreviation.
The leaves shall not be detachable.
What information must be included in the register?
Warning
You must follow the model register recommended in the decree of 15 may 2020.
The register shall contain the following information:
- Nature, description and provenance of articles to be sold or exchanged: apparent characteristics and signs identifying them (e.g. signature, emblem, serial number)
- Date of purchase
- Name, surname, capacity and domicile of each person who has sold, exchanged or deposited for sale an item
- Nature, number and date of issue of the identity document of the person who carried out the operation with the indication of the authority which issued the document
- Name of the legal persons and registered office, given names, capacity and domicile of the representative who carried out the operation, together with the references of the identity document produced
- The serial number assigned to each object
- Purchase price and method of payment (in the case of exchange, free purchase or deposit-sale, an estimate of the market value of each item or lot)
- Indication of the classification or listing of the object in the inventory of historical monuments (if the seller is aware of it).
Making a declaration to customs
You have to go to customs and say you have precious metals.
It can be eitherobjects used and antique jewelry manufactured in gold, in money or platen.
It may also be crude metals (ingots).
Customs will tell you which file to fill out.
Lodge a declaration of existence with the office of guarantee
You must contact one of the warranty offices of Customs:
Who shall I contact
Comply with business rules
If you buy and resell precious metal items (gold, silver, platinum) you need to know the trade rules to be applied.
FYI
The police book is obligatory for the trade of gold, silver and platinum objects. If you sell second-hand articles of precious metal, on second-hand dealer's register may take the place of police book.
Tax rules
You must also know about taxation which applies to transactions in precious metals.
It is advisable to have the itinerant business card, given the characteristics of your profession.
The trade shows, fairs, markets, flea markets, attic room, are common places of resale and purchase of movable objects.
We will explain everything to you in detail about obtaining the card and on the authorization to occupy the public space (AOT).
Depot-sale
Step-by-step approach
The operator of a depot deposit in a dedicated space objects whose private individuals want to get rid of it.
The money from the sale goes back to the individuals, but the operator gets back a commission on the sales he made.
As an independent head of company, he is responsible for accounting and administrative tasks.
The job of operator of a deposit-sale is an activity commercial.
Do you have the right to become a merchant?
You must to be of age and not to have been convicted in court for certain offenses.
Do you need specific training?
Operating a retail store is not a regulated profession.
No specific training is required.
How do you prepare for your future career?
- Confront the reality of the job :
- By performing a immersion course in a retail store
- By following a entrepreneurship education
- Learn about management and accounting
These courses are optional but highly recommended.
- Plan for difficulties
- Make a financial reserve to deal with unforeseen events
- Get ready for steady rate of work : weekend and evening, overtime
- Be aware that you will need to numerous trips, often with a vehicle capable of transporting the goods purchased
Please note
Before you get started, we offer tips and tools to prepare you entrepreneurship.
Who can help you?
You can also request different accompanying solutions.
Get closer to the CCI: titleContent from your region.
Each KIC offers a training (3-5 days) to succeed your company creation.
KICs also offer a custom tracking of your project.
Please note
You can contact one of the trade unions related to the profession ofantique dealer and resale of movable objects.
Do your market research
Market research can tell you whether or not your business has a chance tobe profitable.
We'll explain 4 steps: market, supply, demand and environment.
Who will be your customers?
You must define the exact profile of your future customers (age, gender, budget, tastes, etc.).
You have to calculate their projected number per week, per month, per year.
What products will be sold?
You must define precisely what items you want to sell.
You must foresee of evolve them depending on modes, behaviors, etc.
Building your business plan
Make a business plan is obligatory.
It lets you know if your project is financially viable and present it to banks (partners and funders).
We explain the steps to build your business plan in our dedicated page.
Advantage, disadvantage
The operator of a retail store may have a physical store with a street-facing storefront.
In this case, the premises must have a large area. You must sign a commercial lease.
If you choose to exhibit and sell at fairs and shows, you must possess the itinerant merchant card.
You can also combine on-site sales with online sales, either via a platform or with your own website.
You can also sell the items only in an online store.
Approaches and regulations
The steps to create your company are the same for a physical store and an online store.
The regulation related to the trade is the same than a second-hand dealer with a physical store.
We'll explain everything in detail to find out how to open your e-commerce.
You must know the e-commerce rules.
Then you need to know the obligations in terms of name, domain name of your website.
Another possibility is to pair your physical store with a non-commercial website, to highlight your activity and attract new customers. You can see our tips for creating this type of website.
What room, what location?
L'geographical location of your business is one element critical to success.
You must choose your business premises according to your business and your customers.
On what criteria to choose?
The criteria for choose your location are:
- Immediate business environment: the more your premises surrounded by other shops, the more potential customers there are
- Nature of the surrounding shops: a street of "food" shops will be less frequented in the afternoon
- Access to your premises: sidewalk width, proximity to parking spaces, direction of traffic, pedestrian street, etc.
- Visibility: are there obstacles (urban furniture) in front of the premises, the showcase is it good? visible from the sidewalk?
- Background from the place: check with the nearby shops.
Please note
Think about quantify any work to adapt the place to your business.
How do I acquire a business premises?
You have 2 possibilities for obtain commercial premises :
- Either you buy it (you then own a goodwill
- You either rent it (you then pay the rent of a commercial lease)
Choose the legal status of your company
Multiple legal statuses are possible:
- Individual business (EI) (of which micro-company),
- Or the different types of businesses : SARL: titleContent, LOCK: titleContent, etc.
- If you do not want partners: EURL: titleContent or SASU: titleContent
FYI
The status of micro-entrepreneur requires meet revenue limit (turnover) thresholds. The advantage is that you pay fewer premiums, but that limits the development of your business.
The threshold is €77,700 for the provision of services and the liberal professions and to €188,700 for trade and accommodation activities.
If you can go beyond during 2 consecutive years, you are out of the micro-company status.
Domiciliate your company
This approach is obligatory.
This is a prerequisite for creation, before registration.
We explain everything about the residence in detail: if you are setting up a micro-business or an EI, or if you are creating a business.
Register your company at RNE: titleContent
Warning
Since 1er january 2023, it is no longer possible to carry out your procedures in a company Formalities Center (CFE). You must make them on the website of the company formalities office.
You must create personal account. Then you need to click on the column “ Company ” and then click on “File a company”. One interactive online form 8 pages is offered; you must fill it out step by step. A user manual is available on this Single Window website.
Registration formalities are carried out on the website of the Company Formalities Window, but the supporting documents to be provided are different according to the legal status of your company. You can consult our pages dedicated to the formalities of registration of a micro-enterprise, a individual business VID (EI) or a business.
Micro-company
What documents should be provided?
When applying for registration at the company formalities window, a certain amount of information must be provided and the following documents must be attached:
- Entitlement of domiciliation the company with the clearly identifiable address (e.g. water, electricity or gas bill)
- Copy of company project support contract (Cape)
- Documents concerning the contractor:
- Declaration on Honor of non-conviction and proof of filiation dated and signed by the entrepreneur
- Copy of Contractor's ID
- Authentic copy of the declaration on the immunity from seizure of immovable property not used for business purposes
- If the contractor carries out a regulated activity : copy of the authorization to pursue the activity, diploma or title
FYI
If the person who carries out the registration formality is not the contractor, he must attach to the application a copy of the power (authentic instrument or privately signed document) authorizing him to take steps on behalf of the contractor.
Please note
All these documents must be digitized and downloaded when you complete the company creation form, at the end of the procedure.
Individual business VID (EI)
What documents are to be provided?
When applying for registration at the company formalities window, a certain amount of information must be provided and the following documents must be attached:
- Entitlement of domiciliation the company with the clearly identifiable address (e.g. water, electricity or gas bill)
- Copy of company project support contract (Cape)
- Documents concerning the contractor:
- Declaration on Honor of non-conviction and proof of filiation dated and signed by the entrepreneur
- Copy of Contractor's ID
- Authentic copy of the declaration on the immunity from seizure of immovable property not used for business purposes
- If the contractor carries out a regulated activity : copy of the authorization to pursue the activity, diploma or title
FYI
If the person who carries out the registration formality is not the contractor, he must attach to the application a copy of the power (authentic instrument or privately signed document) authorizing him to take steps on behalf of the contractor.
Please note
All these documents must be digitized and downloaded when you complete the company creation form, at the end of the procedure.
Business (SAS, SARL, EURL)
When to apply for registration?
It is possible to start your business before the registration of the business. For example, it may be necessary to sign a lease or to charge future customers.
It is important to indicate on all documents the words "Business in training".
The application for registration must be made within 30 days which follow the start of activity.
Conversely, it is also possible to start business after the application for registration. In this case, the starting date must be fixed at the latest within 15 days of the application for registration.
What documents are to be provided?
You must contact the subsequent documents :
- If you have not signed your company creation declaration yourself, original of the power by which you authorize a third party to sign the declaration on your behalf
- Entitlement of domiciliation on your company with the clearly identifiable address (electricity bill, lease)
- Certificate of publication of the notice of establishment in a legal listing support
- Declaration on Honor of non-conviction and proof of parentage dated and signed by you
- Copy of your ID
- Original copy of the status of your businessdated and signed by all members or their authorized representative and supported by an original copy of the power special or dispatch
- If you are engaged in a regulated activity, a copy of the authorization to engage in the activity, diploma or qualification
- If you're married, exemplary signed and dated the certificate of issue of the information given to the spouse of the consequences on the common property of the debts incurred in the exercise of your profession
Please note
All these documents must be digitized and downloaded when you complete the company creation form, at the end of the procedure.
Prior declaration of activity
This entry to the register of dealers in movable property is equivalent to a prior declaration of activity.
Before starting your activity, you must complete the following form:
Application for registration in the register of resellers of movable objects
You must attach to this request the subsequent documents :
- Copy of an identity document (national identity card, passport, birth certificate, family record book, driving license)
- Siren number (unique company identification number))
- Envelope labeled at your address and stamped at the current rate (20 g)
- If you are not French and do not belong to a member country of the European Union : copy of your residence permit
Warning
The form mentions the K or Kbis extract in the documents to be provided, but that is no longer valid today. From now on, you must provide only the Siren number on your company, also called unique identification number of your company.
You must send this request to the prefecture on which will depend the place where your activity is carried out.
In return, you will receive a receipt certifying your registration.
FYI
You must preserve the receipt the prefecture will give you. You will have to present it in case of control of the administration (police, gendarmerie, customs, tax services, etc.).
Declare a change of address
If your main or secondary school changes address, you must make the declaration to the police station or the town hall of the place left and to the commune where you move your activity.
Keeping a police record, also called second-hand dealer's register, or movable property register (ROM), is obligatory.
This is a notebook which allows you toidentify all objects which have given rise to a transaction (purchased, resold, or deposited).
This identification is also intended to trace every speakers in the transaction of each object.
Once closed, the paper register must be preserved during 5 years.
The data in the electronic register must be kept for 10 years.
Please note
If the register is not kept or incomplete or if it contains inaccurate information, you risk 6 months imprisonment and €30,000 of fine.
Before the register is opened
Before it is opened, the register must be endorsed and signed by the police commissioner or the mayor of the municipality where you carry on your business.
Please note
For an exclusively itinerant business, it may be the police commissioner or the mayor of the municipality where the trader resides.
Characteristics and format of the register
This register may exist on a paper or digital medium, provided that not editable.
It has to be written with waterindelible ink.
If it is a paper medium, it must not contain any traces of corrective pens (white).
There must be no failure, or none abbreviation.
The leaves shall not be detachable.
What information must be included in the register?
Warning
You must follow the model register recommended in the decree of 15 may 2020.
The register shall contain the following information:
- Nature, description and provenance of articles to be sold or exchanged: apparent characteristics and signs identifying them (e.g. signature, emblem, serial number)
- Date of purchase
- Name, surname, capacity and domicile of each person who has sold, exchanged or deposited for sale an item
- Nature, number and date of issue of the identity document of the person who carried out the operation with the indication of the authority which issued the document
- Name of the legal persons and registered office, given names, capacity and domicile of the representative who carried out the operation, together with the references of the identity document produced
- The serial number assigned to each object
- Purchase price and method of payment (in the case of exchange, free purchase or deposit-sale, an estimate of the market value of each item or lot)
- Indication of the classification or listing of the object in the inventory of historical monuments (if the seller is aware of it).
Making a declaration to customs
You have to go to customs and say you have precious metals.
It can be eitherobjects used and antique jewelry manufactured in gold, in money or platen.
It may also be crude metals (ingots).
Customs will tell you which file to fill out.
Lodge a declaration of existence with the office of guarantee
You must contact one of the warranty offices of Customs:
Who shall I contact
Comply with business rules
If you buy and resell precious metal items (gold, silver, platinum) you need to know the trade rules to be applied.
FYI
The police book is obligatory for the trade of gold, silver and platinum objects. If you sell second-hand articles of precious metal, on second-hand dealer's register may take the place of police book.
Tax rules
You must also know about taxation which applies to transactions in precious metals.
It is advisable to have the itinerant business card, given the characteristics of your profession.
The trade shows, fairs, markets, flea markets, attic room, are common places of resale and purchase of movable objects.
We will explain everything to you in detail about obtaining the card and on the authorization to occupy the public space (AOT).
Who can help me?
Find who can answer your questions in your region
Lack of record keeping: penalties
Conditions for prior declaration and police register
Ministry of Economy
Ministry of Culture and Communication
National Institute of Consumer Affairs (INC)
Ministry of Economy
