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

Code of Ordinances §§ 12-275 to 12-285 governs commercial soliciting and canvassing, defined in § 12-276 as going house to house to solicit orders for merchandise for future delivery or for installing or servicing household equipment such as furnaces, boilers, washing machines, storm windows, awnings, roofing or siding. 00 under the § 12-6 schedule; a firm's payment can cover its agents, employees, distributors and direct sales personnel, and § 12-279(b) lets an applicant engaged in interstate commerce ask the clerk to adjust a fee it can show is an unreasonable burden on that commerce.

Licenses expire one year from the application date under § 12-280. Section 12-281 requires the license to be carried and shown on request to any citizen or police officer, and requires the firm's name and address to be lettered on business vehicles or equipment (private passenger cars excepted). under § 12-282. Section 12-283 grants reciprocity to solicitors already licensed by another Wayne County governmental unit or the state, if that unit reciprocates for Dearborn licenses. Every order taken must be written in duplicate with both parties' names and addresses, the terms, a description of goods and the down payment, with a copy given to the purchaser under § 12-284.

Section 12-285 makes it unlawful to solicit on any premises after being told to stop or where a posted sign near the entrance reads "No Soliciting," "No Peddlers or Agents," "No Canvassing," "No Agents" or similar language. The stated purpose in § 12-275 is protecting citizens from crime by solicitors and protecting residents' privacy in their homes.