Selling a catalytic converter in Oregon

Who may sell a detached converter

Private metal property means a catalytic converter or a component of one that has been removed from a vehicle and is offered for sale as an independent item, individually or as part of a bundle, bale, or other bulk form (§ 165.116(11)). A scrap metal business may not purchase or receive private metal property except from a commercial seller, or from an individual who is the owner of the vehicle the converter was removed from and who provides the information the record section requires (§ 165.117(2)(g)(A), (B)).

The two permitted sellers are defined tightly. A commercial seller is a business entity, a business enterprise with a fixed place of business, a nonprofit corporation, or a governmental entity that regularly or periodically sells metal property to a scrap metal business as part of its business functions, or a person holding a court order authorizing the possession and sale of particular metal property (§ 165.116(3)(a), (b)). A scrap metal business includes a person who engages in the business of purchasing or receiving private metal property at a fixed place of business and holds any licenses state law or local ordinance requires for all applicable business activity (§ 165.116(12)(a)(D)), and a fixed place of business is a location with a commercial building where the enterprise primarily and regularly conducts business and whose address matches the licenses held for it (§ 165.116(6)).

Moving a converter without paperwork is itself an offense. A person commits unlawfully transporting metal property by transporting metal property on a public highway or on premises open to the public, intending to deliver it to a scrap metal business, without a metal transportation certificate in the person's possession, and the certificate names the acquisition date, amount and type, the loading location and destination, and the seller's and transporter's details and signature (§ 164.857(1), (3)). Being the owner is a defense generally, but for private metal property the owner defense is available only to a commercial seller with the commercial-account vehicle information, to the owner or an agent or employee of a fixed-site scrap metal business with reasonable proof of that status, to a certificated dismantler whose yard number is legibly marked on the unit, or to a person with physical possession of the title or registration showing that person as the vehicle's owner who can accurately describe the vehicle's location (§ 164.857(5)(a), (b)(A) to (D)).

What the buyer must record

Before completing a transaction the scrap metal business creates a metal property record, accurate, clearly and legibly written in English, on a standardized printed form or a securely stored electronic form capable of ready retrieval and printing (§ 165.117(1)(a), (a)(A), (a)(B)). It carries the seller's signature; the time, date, location, and monetary amount or other value; the name of the employee who conducted the transaction; the seller's name, telephone number, and a street address, or a post office box where the identification lists one, to which payment will be mailed; the make, model year, license plate number, and state of issue of any motor vehicle used; a photocopy of a current valid driver license or other government-issued photo identification; and a photograph or video surveillance recording showing a recognizable facial image of the seller (§ 165.117(1)(a)(C)(i) to (vii)).

Converters add two items. The record includes a specific description of any private metal property in the transaction, with identifiable marks where readily discernible and the weight, quantity, or volume (§ 165.117(1)(a)(C)(viii)), and, for private metal property, the vehicle identification number and a copy of the title or vehicle registration for the vehicle it was removed from (§ 165.117(1)(a)(C)(ix)). The seller also signs and dates a declaration printed in conspicuous type affirming under penalty of law that the property being sold is not, to the best of the seller's knowledge, stolen property, and the employee who conducted the transaction witnesses that signature and signs and dates it as well (§ 165.117(1)(b), (1)(c)).

Retention is a year, with one shorter clock. The business keeps a copy of the record and the signed declaration for one year following the date of the transaction, at its current place of business at all times, and where a video surveillance recording forms part of the record that recording need only be retained for a minimum of thirty days (§ 165.117(1)(d)). All records and accounts are made available to any peace officer on demand (§ 165.117(6)), and within two business days of a subpoena from a peace officer or law enforcement agency about a named individual, vehicle, or item, the business provides a copy of the relevant record or commercial account portion (§ 165.122(1)). A business may also require a seller to provide a thumbprint (§ 165.117(5)).

How you are paid

There is no cash in Oregon for a converter or any other covered metal. A scrap metal business may not pay an individual other than by electronic funds transfer, stored value card or stored value device, or by mailing a nontransferable check made payable to that individual for the amount of the transaction to the street address or post office box the individual gave for the record, and payment must be made not earlier than three business days after the date of the transaction (§ 165.117(2)(c)). The check, transfer, or stored value device has to draw on an account the business maintains with a financial institution (§ 165.117(2)(c)).

Commercial sellers get slightly faster settlement for converters. Private metal property bought from a commercial seller is paid by electronic funds transfer, credit card, debit card, stored value card or device, or a nontransferable check mailed to the business address in the commercial account, and while a check or stored value payment still waits three business days, an electronic funds transfer, credit card transaction, or debit card transaction may be immediate (§ 165.117(2)(e)). Purchases from a nonprofit corporation follow the same three business day rule with payment to the business address in the account (§ 165.117(2)(d)).

The three business days run against the money, not the metal, and Oregon's only hold on the metal is officer-triggered. Where a peace officer or law enforcement agency notifies a business that an item in its possession is lost or stolen, the business segregates it from other inventory, protects it from alteration or damage, marks, tags, or otherwise identifies it, and holds it for the length of time the agency specifies, not to exceed ten days (§ 165.122(3)(a) to (d)); the agency may not require that unless it reasonably suspects the property was lost or stolen, and within ten days it has to either act to impound and return the property or tell the business the hold is no longer necessary (§ 165.122(4)). A check that has not reached its intended recipient within ten days may be released directly to the seller only with the written approval of a law enforcement agency having jurisdiction, and a check returned as undeliverable is either released the same way or held until a valid address is supplied, with the amount forfeited to the business if no valid address arrives within thirty days (§ 165.117(2)(f)).

Penalties

The record section carries a fine rather than a crime. Except as ORS 165.118 otherwise provides, violation of § 165.117 is a specific fine violation with a presumptive fine of one thousand dollars, rising to a presumptive five thousand dollars where the business has at least three previous convictions for violations of the section (§ 165.117(7)(a), (b)).

Section 165.118 supplies the crimes, and they reach both sides. Unlawfully altering metal property is committed by knowingly removing, altering, rendering unreadable or invisible, or obliterating a manufacturer's name, logo, model or serial number, or other identifying mark with intent to deceive a scrap metal business about ownership or origin (§ 165.118(1)). Making a false statement on a metal property record is committed by knowingly making or allowing a false entry or misstatement of material fact, or by signing the declaration knowing the property is stolen (§ 165.118(2)(a)(A), (B)). Unlawfully purchasing or receiving metal property covers a business that handles private metal property without the licenses required for its business activity, fails to create or properly maintain the converter records, buys converters anywhere but a fixed place of business of the business or the commercial seller, or buys them without being a business enterprise with a fixed place of business (§ 165.118(3)(a) to (d)). Each of those offenses is a Class A misdemeanor (§ 165.118(4)).

Reporting failures sit in the same offense. A business has to report to a law enforcement agency within twenty-four hours any purchase or receipt of metal property it knows or has good reason to know was stolen or unlawfully altered, of metallic wire stripped of insulation without documentation, of commercial metal property from someone outside a commercial account, or from an individual known or reasonably believed to be under sixteen or to have been convicted in the past five years of specified drug, burglary, robbery, theft, or stolen property offenses (§ 165.118(3)(e)(A) to (E)). Unlawfully transporting metal property is a Class C misdemeanor (§ 164.857(6)). Oregon also requires each district attorney in a county with a scrap metal business to write a metal theft plan of action that includes a procedure for notifying scrap metal businesses of a metal theft within twenty-four hours of the report (§ 165.127(1), (2)). A 2026 act adds a duty to register with and use a scrap metal theft alert system and bars transacting while out of compliance with it, effective January 1, 2027 (Oregon Laws 2026, chapter 67, §§ 4, 6, 7).

What this means when you sell to us

Bring a current, valid license or other government photo ID, and bring the title or registration for the vehicle the converter came off, along with its vehicle identification number, because Oregon makes that part of the record before the transaction can be completed (§ 165.117(1)(a)(C)(vi), (ix), (2)(b)). If you are not a business, you have to be the registered owner of that vehicle (§ 165.117(2)(g)(B)). You sign a printed declaration that the property is not stolen, and one of our staff witnesses and signs it too (§ 165.117(1)(b), (1)(c)). Payment is never cash. Oregon allows only a bank transfer, a stored value card, or a nontransferable check mailed to the address on your identification, and never sooner than three business days after the sale (§ 165.117(2)(c)). Businesses paid by bank transfer, credit card, or debit card can be paid immediately (§ 165.117(2)(e)).