Ames, IA Soliciting & Door-to-Door: Solicitor Permits (2026)

Section 17.26 covers peddlers, solicitors, and transient merchants. Anyone soliciting orders or peddling goods residence to residence, anyone occupying an outdoor or intermittent indoor sales location, and anyone soliciting gifts or donations residence to residence must first obtain and visibly wear a registration and identification badge from the City Clerk. Registration requires the applicant's name, address, date of birth, social security number, physical description, and phone number; the vehicles used; the products sold and their prices; the supplier's contact information; proof of a state sales tax permit; any prior criminal or ordinance convictions; and the last three municipalities where the applicant conducted similar activity.

Minors must be registered by a parent or guardian. The City Clerk must issue the badge or explain a denial within five days, and must refuse registration for incomplete or false information or if the applicant's registration was revoked or invalidated in the past six months. Adults must produce a driver's license, passport, or other photo ID at registration, and the badge itself carries the registrant's photograph. The badge is valid for sixty days from issuance, and the applicant pays a fee the Ames City Council sets to cover administration and enforcement costs; groups of three or more registrants brought together by a non-selling organization pay only a single fee. Deliveries on regular routes, exempted non-profit activity, and the separately regulated street vendors under Sections 22.11 through 22.23 fall outside Section 17.26.