El Paso, Texas: door-to-door solicitor permit

• The answer: Yes — a vendor or solicitor license, per person. The code covers the principal and every "agent, servant or employee" (5.15.020). A solicitor is anyone taking orders for merchandise delivered later; a vendor includes anyone carrying merchandise "from house to house" and selling on the spot (5.15.010).
• Where it comes from: The city's permit official, at the Business Licensing Center in Planning & Inspections (One-Stop Shop). Out-of-town applicants are also referred to the chief of police (5.15.030).
• Fee: Annual, per person, set in the code in words (5.15.040): itinerant (non-resident) vendor or solicitor, one hundred dollars per year; a vendor or solicitor using a private motor vehicle for the business, seventy dollars per year; every other person, forty dollars per year. A two-day temporary license for an itinerant is twenty dollars (5.15.070). The city's licensing pages do not list the vendor license fee, so confirm the current figure.
• Hours you may knock: Chapter 5.15 sets no knocking hours.
• What the rep carries: The license itself. The licensee "shall carry his license with him" and show it to any inspector or police officer who asks; it is not transferable (5.15.050).
• What takes the time: Proof of a Texas limited sales and use tax permit, or that you applied for one, is part of the application (5.15.030). For reps who do not reside in El Paso, the chief of police may require fingerprinting and periodic reports (5.15.030). The license runs one year from issuance (5.15.060).
• Code: El Paso City Code Chapter 5.15, Vendors and Solicitors (5.15.010 to 5.15.100). Municode shows the code as codified through Ordinance No. 019889, enacted June 23, 2026 (Supp. No. 95, Update 4).
• Worth knowing: Read 5.15.095 before you plan a neighborhood: it says vending or soliciting "shall be on premises which are zoned for retail sales". Ask the licensing office how that applies to residential door-to-door work. "Itinerant" means you do not reside in El Paso, and reside means thirty straight days in the city before applying (5.15.010). Anyone "engaged wholly in interstate commerce" is listed as exempt (5.15.090). Each act of soliciting without a license is a separate offense (5.15.100).
• Read it yourself: El Paso City Code Chapter 5.15, Vendors and Solicitors · City of El Paso, City Issued Licenses · checked 18 September 2026

Ask the clerk, and write the answer down: The current license fee for a non-resident solicitor, and whether it matches 5.15.040; How 5.15.095 (premises zoned for retail sales) applies to residential door-to-door sales; Whether the police fingerprint every out-of-town rep, and how long that takes; Any city hours for door-to-door sales. Clerk’s name ______________   Direct line ______________   Date called ______________