Norfolk, Virginia: door-to-door solicitor permit

• The answer: No commercial solicitor permit is in the City Code. Chapter 40, Solicitors and Solicitations, has one working article and it covers charitable solicitation only. The "Peddlers Permits" line on the city's Business Permits page (Zoning Department) is the street and sidewalk vendor program: the city's own Vendor Regulations sheet is about pushcarts, stands and mobile vendors vending from a vehicle, not house-to-house sales. What the code does require is a city business license, and it names peddlers and itinerant merchants as needing one even with no fixed place of business (24-25.3).
• Where it comes from: Norfolk City Code Chapter 40 and Chapter 24, Article II-A, Business License Taxes and Fees. Business licenses come from the Commissioner of the Revenue. The city's Business Permits page sends peddler permits to the Zoning Department.
• Fee: The license tax for "itinerant merchants or nonfood peddlers" is $500.00 per year (24-25.9(c)(7)), and the city's Vendor Regulations sheet lists the same figure, "General Vendor - $500.00". State law defines a peddler as someone who carries goods from place to place and sells them (Va. Code 58.1-3717), so whether a rep who only takes orders for a service falls in that class is a question for the Commissioner of the Revenue. There is no solicitor permit fee because there is no solicitor permit.
• Hours you may knock: The code sets no knocking hours for commercial door-to-door sales. A full-text search of the City Code for solicitor, peddler, canvasser, door to door and itinerant found none. The hours on the city's Vendor Regulations sheet are for street vendors.
• What the rep carries: Nothing specified in the chapters read.
• What takes the time: Nothing published: no background check, bond or fingerprinting for door-to-door sellers was found in the chapters read.
• Code: Norfolk City Code 24-25.3, 24-25.9(c)(7) and Chapter 40, Article II (charitable only). Code of Virginia 58.1-3717.
• Read it yourself: Norfolk City Code Chapter 40 · Norfolk City Code Chapter 24, Article II-A · Code of Virginia 58.1-3717 · City of Norfolk Business Permits page · City of Norfolk, Vendor Regulations (revised 10/15/15) · checked 19 September 2026

Ask the clerk, and write the answer down: Does a rep taking orders door to door for a service (no goods carried) need a city business license as a peddler or itinerant merchant, or nothing? Does the Zoning Department's peddler permit apply to anyone other than street and sidewalk vendors? Does the city enforce any hours for residential door-to-door sales? Clerk’s name ______________   Direct line ______________   Date called ______________