Portland, Maine: door-to-door solicitor permit

Partly read: the permit answer is sourced, but the fee or the hours could not be read from the city’s own pages. The clerk questions below cover the gap.

• The answer: Yes for transient sellers — no one may make transient sales of consumer merchandise or services in the city without a city license (19-56), and the seller must hold the state transient seller's license first (19-57). The city chapter takes its definitions from a state chapter (32 M.R.S.A. Chapter 69-A) that has since been repealed; the current state law defines a transient seller as one selling to consumers by personal contact with no permanent place of business in Maine (32 M.R.S. §14701(8)). Whether a given sales team is "transient" is a question for the city.
• Where it comes from: The City of Portland's Department of Permitting and Inspections handles business licensing; the state license comes from the Maine Department of Professional and Financial Regulation (32 M.R.S. §14702).
• Fee: $109.00 for the transient sellers license, which expires December 31 (15-12), plus a nonrefundable $45.00 administrative fee on an original application (15-6(a)), so a first license carries both. Renewals carry a $35.00 administrative fee on top of the license fee. The table does not say whether the license is per rep or per company. The state license fee is separate and was not read.
• Hours you may knock: Chapter 19 sets no knocking hours for transient sellers; its only hours rule is for street vendors. Other chapters of the city code were not searched for a door-to-door hours rule.
• What the rep carries: State law: every transient seller and each employee carries the state license in immediate possession while selling and shows it to anyone who asks (32 M.R.S. §14703(2)), and every buyer gets a written receipt showing the state license number, the seller's name and permanent place of business (§14704(2)). The city chapter adds no badge rule.
• What takes the time: The state license must be in hand before the city license issues (19-57). No city processing time is published.
• Code: Portland City Code, Chapter 19 — Peddlers and Solicitors, Article III — Transient Sales (19-46 to 19-58), and Chapter 15 — Licenses and Permits (15-6, 15-12), as posted by the city as chapter PDFs (Chapter 15 marked Rev. 5-19-2025). State: 32 M.R.S. Chapter 128, Subchapter 2 — Transient Sellers of Consumer Merchandise.
• Worth knowing: Selling on behalf of a bona fide nonprofit is exempt from the city article (19-47). State law leaves towns free to add their own transient seller rules (32 M.R.S. §14705).
• Read it yourself: Portland City Code, Chapter 19 — Peddlers and Solicitors (PDF) · Portland City Code, Chapter 15 — Licenses and Permits (PDF) · Maine Revised Statutes, Title 32, Chapter 128 — Regulation of Transient Sales (PDF) · checked 23 September 2026

Ask the clerk, and write the answer down:

• Whether a door-to-door sales team for a company based outside Maine needs the city transient sellers license, and whether it is one license per rep or per company
• Whether any city ordinance outside Chapter 19 sets door-to-door knocking hours
• How long the city takes to issue the license once the state transient seller's license is in hand

Clerk’s name ______________ Direct line ______________ Date called ______________