The Doorstep Playbook

Door-to-Door Permit Rules in New York: 5 Cities Checked

So far 5 cities in New York have been checked. Each one links to its own card, which cites the ordinance and shows the date it was checked.

Buffalo

  • Permit: Yes for selling goods — a peddler license per person, plus a badge worn while working.
  • Fee: $75.00 per person — the "Peddler of any other product" personal license in the city's fee chapter (175-1, under 316-11), and the same figure on the city's application form. A vehicle used to peddle is a separate $63.00 license in the fee chapter; the city's form instead prints $150.00 "With Conveyance". $75.00 plus $63.00 comes to less than the form's $150.00, so the form and the code do not match on the vehicle price. The license expires April 30 (316-12).
  • Hours you may knock: Not before 7:00 a.m. nor after 7:00 p.m., and not at any time on Sunday (316-8). The section is worded for peddling "on the public grounds of the City"; the city's application form states the same limits for every mobile peddler as Monday through Saturday, 7:00AM to 7:00 PM, no Sundays.
  • Checked: 19 September 2026

New York

  • Permit: No door-to-door license was found.
  • Fee: None found for knocking itself, because no door-to-door license is listed. The fees for any trade license on DCWP's list are on that license's own checklist.
  • Hours you may knock: Not published. The city's door-to-door sales rule (6 RCNY 5-49) was read in full and sets no knocking hours, and the city's pages give none. The rest of the Administrative Code was not searched for an hours rule.
  • Checked: 19 September 2026

Rochester

  • Permit: Yes — a solicitor's license from the City of Rochester, procured three days before starting work (62-2(B)).
  • Fee: The code publishes no fee line for a house-to-house solicitor with no vending unit. Every solicitor fee in 62-3 is tied to a truck, trailer or cart: $330 for a vending truck or vending trailer license and $250 for a vending cart license outside the three vending districts, each of which "shall include a solicitor's license." Identification badges are $24 each with the first one per license free, application materials cost a nonrefundable $7 credited toward the license fee, and a lost license or badge is $10 (62-3). Which figure a door-to-door crew pays is a question for the clerk. Licenses expire December 31 and are not prorated.
  • Hours you may knock: Chapter 62 sets no hours for house-to-house soliciting. The only clock times in the chapter are for vending trucks parked on the street.
  • Checked: 18 September 2026

Syracuse

  • Permit: Yes — a Solicitor's License for the company, plus a badge for each assistant/rep who goes door to house or business to business ( § 9-138 ).
  • Fee: $350 per year for the company's Solicitor's License, plus $100 for each assistant's badge — the license holder's own badge is included at no extra charge (§ 9-142.1, § 9-142.5, § 9-142.6).
  • Hours you may knock: No business in a residential neighborhood between 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 a.m. the next morning — in effect, the door is open 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (§ 9-143.1). A separate, looser rule bars business in any street between 9:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m.
  • Checked: 19 September 2026

Yonkers

  • Permit: Yes — a Commercial Solicitation license, per rep.
  • Fee: $23.50 license fee, non-refundable, per the city's current application. The code set the solicitor's license at $19.50 and has it increase 5% annually (20-6(D)), so the form is the number to go by. A lost license or badge is replaced for $12 (20-5(A)).
  • Hours you may knock: No knocking prior to 10:00 a.m. or after 8:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and none at any time on a Sunday, New Year's Day, July 4, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day (20-21(B)). The city's form says Sundays and federal holidays.
  • Checked: 18 September 2026

Back to the Permit Lookup

City not on this list? The City Clerk Call Sheet has the eight questions to ask any city.