Canton, OH Soliciting & Door-to-Door: Solicitor Permits (2026)

Canton Codified Ordinances 749.01 defines an "itinerant retailer" broadly: any person, corporation, partnership or unincorporated association, or their employee or agent, who offers anything of value for sale, barter or exchange on a street, alley, other public place, or private property, expressly including people selling door to door and people selling from a mobile cart or trailer. The definition carves out an owner or tenant selling from their own residence, and a business owner selling from or immediately next to their own storefront. Section 749.02 requires a City License Bureau permit before engaging in this business at all.

Outside the Downtown Canton Special Improvement District (SID), the annual fee is $250 per itinerant retailer, with the permit expiring one year after issue. Inside the SID, the fee rises to $250 a month or $1,000 a year, unless the retailer is working a designated special event co-sponsored by the SID, the Pro Football Hall of Fame Museum, Visit Canton, Arts in Stark or the Chamber of Commerce. No permit can be issued or renewed unless the applicant is current on City income taxes, including withholding, under 749.02(d), confirmed by a certificate of compliance from the Canton Income Tax Department, and any owner holding a 20% or greater stake who is delinquent blocks the whole entity from getting a permit.

The permit must be displayed and is not transferable to anyone but the named licensee under 749.03. Sales are barred within 1,000 feet of a school between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on school days, to anyone standing in the roadway, or to occupants of motor vehicles, under 749.04.