Bethlehem, PA Soliciting & Door-to-Door: Solicitor Permits (2026)
Key Facts
- License fee
- $10.00 per day, §303.01(a)(4)-(5)
- License authority
- City Treasurer, under Article 303
- Uninvited peddling
- Declared a nuisance, § 311.01
- Exempt sellers
- Farm produce, religious/political canvassers
- Street-crying hours
- Barred before 7am, after 10pm, Sundays
- First offense penalty
- $100 fine or 30 days jail
Summary
Bethlehem requires peddlers and solicitors who sell goods, wares, or merchandise door-to-door to buy a $10.00-per-day City license under Section 303.01, and separately declares uninvited house-to-house peddling a nuisance under Section 311.01. Religious and political canvassers are exempt from both the license fee and the nuisance rule.
(4) Peddlers and solicitors of $10.00 per day bread, meat, vegetables and food articles (5) Peddlers and solicitors of $10.00 per day goods, wares, or merchandise ... 311.01 PEDDLING ON PRIVATE PROPERTY WITHOUT INVITATION DECLARED A NUISANCE. Except as hereinafter provided in Section 311.02, the practice of going in and upon private residences in the City by solicitors, peddlers, hawkers, itinerant merchants or transient vendors of merchandise, without having been requested or invited to do so by the owners or occupants of such private residences, for the purpose of soliciting orders for the sale of goods, wares and merchandise and/or disposing of and/or peddling or hawking the same, is declared to be a nuisance and punishable as such.
Full Breakdown
00-per-day license fee, payable to the City Treasurer, for peddlers and solicitors of bread, meat, vegetables and food articles, and separately for peddlers and solicitors of goods, wares, or merchandise. 01(b) exempts members of political and religious organizations selling political newspapers or religious articles from that fee. 01 declares it a nuisance for a solicitor, peddler, hawker, itinerant merchant, or transient vendor to go onto a private residence without having been requested or invited by the owner or occupant, for the purpose of soliciting orders or selling merchandise.
01(b): sellers of milk, dairy, vegetables, poultry, eggs and other lawfully authorized farm produce, and religious or political solicitation where the fee charged only covers publishing or manufacturing cost and the material offered is limited to religious or political content. , and none within 150 feet of a school or house of worship during school hours or services.
Violations & Fines
Soliciting without the Section 303.01 daily license, or peddling a private residence without invitation under Section 311.01, is punishable under Section 311.99 with escalating fines: $100.00 (or thirty days) for a first offense, $300.00 (or sixty days) for a second, and $600.00 (or ninety days) for a third or later offense. A general Article 303 licensing violation instead carries a flat $600.00 fine or up to ninety days under Section 303.99.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a permit to go door-to-door selling in Bethlehem?
Can I be cited just for knocking on doors without a license?
Are religious or political canvassers exempt?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Bethlehem
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