Door-to-Door Permit Rules in Washington: 6 Cities Checked

Bellevue

Permit: No chapter for peddlers, solicitors or canvassers exists in the Bellevue City Code.
Fee: The code prints $80.00 for the general business registration certificate, and the same section says the director adjusts that fee every January 1 by the cost-of-living change, so the amount charged today is not the printed one (4.03.030). This is not a door-to-door-specific fee — it is the standard registration any business doing more than $4,000 a year of business in the city must carry, per the threshold effective January 1, 2026 (4.03.025). There is no solicitor fee because there is no solicitor license.
Hours you may knock: Not published. No chapter of the Bellevue City Code sets knocking hours for commercial door-to-door sales; the only "Soliciting" section found (BCC 3.43.280) governs selling inside city parks, a different question.
Checked: 19 September 2026

Permit: Yes. Anyone who sells or offers to sell services, goods or merchandise at retail by going house to house, place to place, or by indiscriminately approaching individuals is a "solicitor" and needs a license before working (5.07.010, 5.07.020).
Fee: $10 per calendar year for the company's master solicitor license, plus $2 per calendar year for each individual solicitor listed and certified under that master license — or $5 per calendar year for a solicitor who is not certified under a master license (5.07.030).
Hours you may knock: Not published. Chapter 5.07 sets no clock-time or sunset limit on when a licensed solicitor may work.
Checked: 19 September 2026

Permit: Yes. The company takes out a residential sales license , then gets a residential seller’s agent identification for each rep (6.260.040, 6.260.090).
Fee: Annual, per the License Fee Ordinance: residential seller $163; residential seller having one or more employees $237; residential seller’s agent card $53 (6.204.030). The company license plus one agent card per rep. The city’s page shows the same $237 and $53 and says half-year licenses are available.
Hours you may knock: Eight in the morning to nine at night. It is unlawful to “sell before eight (8:00) a.m. or after nine (9:00) p.m. of any day” without the buyer’s specific prior consent (6.260.050(C)).
Checked: 19 September 2026

Permit: Yes. A business registered with the city must also get a separate "itinerant vendor" permit when a person "travels from door to door as the principal means of conducting business" selling any goods, merchandise, service or product (10.40.010).
Fee: The city's application form says "No Fee with Proof of Business Registration." The cost is the business registration itself: the code sets the regular and the nonresident registration at $131 per twelve-month period from January 1, 2024, plus a per-person personnel fee, and allows a yearly CPI adjustment (08.02.0206). Confirm this year's figure with Taxes and Licenses.
Hours you may knock: Not published. Chapter 10.40 sets no knocking hours. The old solicitation section in the penal code, 10.10.027, shows as repealed.
Checked: 18 September 2026

Permit: Yes. A door-to-door soliciting license, per person, with a city photo ID card.
Fee: $90 per license for a six-month term (6B.170.030). The city's License Fees page lists the same $90. The city's guide also lists a city business license if the rep is a subcontractor; that cost is separate.
Hours you may knock: Not published. Chapter 6B.170 sets no knocking hours.
Checked: 18 September 2026

Permit: Yes. A solicitor/peddler permit and license, per person.
Fee: For 2026 the city charges $20.56 per person for a first-time license and $71.96 for a renewal, nonrefundable. The code's base figures are a $20.00 registration fee that counts as the first year's license fee (5.50.040) and $70.00 per year (5.50.060), both raised every January 1.
Hours you may knock: Not published. Chapter 5.50 sets no knocking hours.
Checked: 19 September 2026

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