Sioux City, Iowa: door-to-door solicitor permit

• The answer: Yes — a transient merchant license. It is unlawful to engage in the business of a transient merchant without one (4.56.030), and the definition covers anyone in business in the city less than a year who takes or attempts to take orders for goods or services to be furnished or performed in the future (4.56.010). A company working through employees gets one license and each employee carries a duplicate; agents who are not employees each need a separate license (4.56.110).
• Where it comes from: The City Clerk takes the application; the fee is paid first to the City Treasurer, whose receipt goes in with the application (4.56.070).
• Fee: Transient merchant license: up to three months $35.00, up to six months $70.00, up to one year $140.00; duplicate license $2.00 (4.56.070). Annual fees are prorated quarterly and every license expires December 31. On top of that, a bond approved by the City Attorney: one thousand dollars, or two times the value of the goods or services offered, whichever is greater (4.56.100). Sellers whose sales stay at or under one hundred dollars per household in three months and who take no payment or deposit until delivery can ask in writing to be exempt from the bond (4.56.100).
• Hours you may knock: No door to door activity before nine a.m. or after nine p.m. on any weekday, and none at any time on a Sunday or on a state or national holiday (4.56.080).
• What the rep carries: The license (for employees, the duplicate license), kept on the person at all times while doing business and shown on request (4.56.040, 4.56.110).
• What takes the time: The application lists the managers, addresses, where the company worked transiently in the past three years, and any felony conviction of the manager in the past five years (4.56.050). The bond must be approved by the City Attorney (4.56.100). The City Clerk may deny within twenty-one days (4.56.130). No processing time is published.
• Code: Sioux City Municipal Code, Title 4, Chapter 4.56 — Sales Regulations and Transient Merchants (4.56.010 to 4.56.140), on enCodePlus.
• Worth knowing: No selling in defiance of a notice at a residence saying peddlers or solicitors are not welcome or not invited (4.56.080). The license is not transferable and the fee is not refunded (4.56.060). Charitable and nonprofit solicitation is handled separately under Chapter 4.52.
• Read it yourself: Sioux City Code 4.56.010 — Definitions · Sioux City Code 4.56.030 — License required · Sioux City Code 4.56.040 — License display · Sioux City Code 4.56.050 — Application · Sioux City Code 4.56.060 — Issuance · Sioux City Code 4.56.070 — License fees · Sioux City Code 4.56.080 — Sales regulations · Sioux City Code 4.56.100 — Bond required · Sioux City Code 4.56.110 — Duplicate and individual licenses · Sioux City Code 4.56.130 — Denial or revocation · checked 21 September 2026

Ask the clerk, and write the answer down:

• How long the application and bond approval usually take
• Whether Saturday counts as a weekday for the nine to nine rule in 4.56.080
• Whether a door-to-door team with no deposits qualifies for the bond exemption in 4.56.100

Clerk’s name ______________ Direct line ______________ Date called ______________