R.I. Gen. Laws § 6-14-6
If the clerk shall be satisfied from the application that the proposed sale is of the character that the applicant desires to conduct and advertise, the clerk shall issue a license, upon the payment of the fee of one hundred dollars ($100), together with a good and sufficient bond payable to the city or town in the penal sum of one thousand dollars ($1,000) with sureties approved by a justice of the district court whose judicial district is situated in the city or town in which the sale is to be conducted, conditioned upon compliance with §§ 6-14-3 and 6-14-4 and other pertinent sections of this chapter, to the person applying for the license, authorizing him or her to advertise and conduct a sale of the particular kind mentioned in the application, according to the requirements of this chapter; provided, that, after a change in the ownership of the whole of the goods, wares, and merchandise, or of the entire balance in case a portion has already been sold, no person shall carry on the sale until the new owner of the goods, wares, and merchandise or balance of the goods, wares, and merchandise shall have obtained from the city or town clerk the license required by § 6-14-3 in the manner previously provided; provided further, however, that any merchant who shall have been conducting a business in the same location where the sale is to be held for a period of at least one full year, prior to the holding of the sale, shall be exempted from the payment of the fee and the filing of the bond provided for in this section.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 6-14-6