Gilbert, AZ Soliciting & Door-to-Door: Solicitor Permits (2026)

Article VI of Chapter 14, 'Transient Merchants,' defines a transient merchant broadly in Section 14-166 as anyone who collects, sells, solicits or takes orders for future delivery of goods, wares or merchandise by foot, cart, wagon, automobile or other conveyance, moving place-to-place, house-to-house or business-to-business: a category that expressly includes special events vendors and seasonal sellers such as Christmas tree or pumpkin-sale operators. Section 14-167 exempts sales required by statute, court-ordered or bona fide auction sales, persons invited into a private residence to sell or solicit, and members of a charitable or religious nonprofit soliciting donations or selling to benefit the organization.

Everyone else must comply with Section 14-168: it is unlawful to conduct business as a transient merchant without first obtaining and maintaining a Town business license, and the application filed with the development services director must describe the goods being sold, state how long the applicant intends to do business, describe any vehicle used, disclose prior felony, misdemeanor or ordinance-violation convictions, list the intended sales locations, and include proof of the applicant's identity and age; anyone selling from a vehicle must also carry liability insurance.

Section 14-169 then restricts where a licensed transient merchant can operate: sales must be on a paved surface adjacent to an occupied commercial building or set up in one street-adjacent spot at a time, the same location cannot be repeated more than once in any seven-day period, and merchants may not work the traveled portion of a right-of-way, a 'temporary stationary location' (the same spot or within 300 feet of it for over an hour), within 300 feet of a school, within a public park without a parks and recreation permit, or in an area a police officer deems congested.