Berwyn, IL Soliciting & Door-to-Door: Solicitor Permits (2026)

Section 860.02 of the Berwyn Code of Ordinances requires a license for every person engaged in peddling, commercial soliciting or itinerant vending. The application is made on a form from the City Collector. It repeats the business license questions of Chapter 801 and adds a long list of required answers: name, residence address and length of residence, business address, Social Security number, a physical description, residences for the past three years, the employer or organization represented and for how long, employers for the past three years, a description of what will be sold or promoted, the period the license is sought for, the date of any earlier application, any earlier revocation by Berwyn or another municipality, any conviction under a soliciting ordinance, proof of authority to solicit for the organization represented, and any felony conviction in the last ten years or misdemeanor or ordinance conviction in the last five years.

The Police Department investigates. A felony within ten years, or a misdemeanor, ordinance violation or license revocation within five years, blocks issuance when the conviction bears a reasonable relationship to peddling and soliciting. Otherwise, once the applicant pays the $75 annual fee set in § 801.13(AAA) and meets the business license rules, the license issues within seven days. Under § 860.02(D) the city can revoke a license after notice and hearing for a violation of Chapter 860, any other city ordinance or state or federal law, or when the holder stops meeting the qualifications.

Fund solicitors follow § 860.03 instead. They comply with the Solicitation for Charity Act where it applies and register with the City Clerk at least three days before soliciting, with no fee and no license. An organization with a fixed place of operation in Berwyn for over two years is exempt from registering if it keeps a list of its solicitors' names and addresses on file with the city and follows the Act. An itinerant vendor, defined in § 860.01 as a temporary seller working from a room or structure for up to 120 days, is treated as a peddler.