Battle Creek, MI Soliciting & Door-to-Door: Solicitor Permits (2026)

Chapter 864 of the Battle Creek Codified Ordinances does not use the word solicitor for the license. It defines a vendor in Section 864.01(d)(3) to include a person who travels from place to place, house to house, or street to street taking or attempting to take orders for merchandise for future delivery, or for services to be furnished in the future. That holds whether or not the person carries a sample and whether or not advance payments are collected. Section 864.02 then bars any vendor from operating in the City without a vendor's license from the City.

The license comes from the City Clerk on a sworn application listing the applicant's name and birth date, addresses, the nature of the business, the proposed length of time, and any criminal conviction. A business applicant lists every person who will vend for it, with name, address, and date of birth. The Chief of Police investigates business and moral character before approval. The fee, general liability insurance, and bond amounts are set in the schedule in Section 802.24, and a license is never valid for more than one year.

Section 864.08(b) fixes the door-knocking window: only between 9:00 a.m. and sunset, local time. Section 864.08(d) bars anyone under eighteen from vending unless supervised by a parent or guardian or holding a valid state work permit or training agreement under the Youth Employment Standards Act 90 of 1978. Section 864.08(f) requires the license to be displayed so it is visible to customers.

Section 864.04 lists the exemptions. They include a person soliciting orders by sample, brochure, or catalogue, or making sales on residential premises, on an invitation from the owner or legal occupant, commercial travelers selling to merchants for wholesale houses, and a person selling goods he or she raised, produced, or manufactured. Nonprofit organizations are exempt too, except in the Downtown Business District.