Dubuque, IA Soliciting & Door-to-Door: Solicitor Permits (2026)

Section 4-5A-1 defines a "solicitor" broadly as anyone "offering and exposing goods, wares, merchandise, products, or services for sale, or taking or soliciting orders...for future delivery from place to place, house to house, door to door, or street to street," regardless of whether the seller collects advance payment, but excludes calls made exclusively on businesses, professional offices or institutions, or on customers strictly by appointment. Section 4-5A-3 exempts vendors selling to established customers, nonprofits organized under Iowa Code chapter 504 or IRS-recognized nonprofits with a permanent Dubuque County office, churches and schools with a county office, hobbyist artists and fundraising charitable groups, buyers of gold, bullion and jewelry, and mobile food vendors.

To get licensed, § 4-5A-4 requires filing with the City Clerk on the city's form; the police chief investigates every applicant and reports back before the clerk decides, weighing the truthfulness of the application, whether an Iowa retailer's sales tax permit is held if applicable, and, for a foreign corporation, its authority to do business in Iowa. Section 4-5A-5 requires a $5,000 surety bond covering ordinance compliance, unpaid taxes, court fines and up to one year of civil claims from buyers. The license fee is set administratively by the city manager under § 4-5A-6, and § 4-5A-8 makes any misrepresentation about an item's condition, quality or cost a violation barring the solicitor from a new license for two years.

Denial, suspension or revocation under § 4-5A-9 covers grounds from any law violation to felony convictions or sex-offender registration, appealable to the city manager within ten days under § 4-5A-10.