Jacksonville, NC Soliciting & Door-to-Door: Solicitor Permits (2026)

City Code Sec. 17-1 makes it unlawful to sell, offer for sale, or solicit orders for goods, wares, merchandise, food, periodicals, or services as an itinerant merchant or by going door-to-door without first securing a peddler/solicitor's permit, unless the resident or business invited the visit. The permit must be carried and displayed at all times while soliciting. Applications go to the public safety department and must include the applicant's name, addresses, employer, goods to be sold, the requested period (capped at sixty consecutive days but renewable), a ten-year criminal history, and identification details, plus the fee set by the city's fee schedule.

The director of public safety must act on a complete application within seven working days and must deny it if the applicant has a felony conviction within ten years, certain theft, fraud, or moral-turpitude convictions within five years, lacks required licenses, or cannot legally drive when driving is part of the job. Permits renew for up to three sixty-day periods with no renewal fee, then require a new application. Denials and revocations can be appealed in writing to the city manager within ten days, and the city manager's decision is final municipal action.

The section exempts pre-ordered deliveries, petition circulation, political/social/religious expression, sales by charitable or civic organization members who receive no compensation, school-age fundraising, nonprofit solicitation, sales to businesses, and farm produce sales already authorized by law. Peddling or soliciting from a right-of-way is separately barred under G.S. § 20-175, except for non-obstructive newspaper distribution.