Orangeburg County, SC Soliciting & Door-to-Door: Solicitor Permits (2026)
Key Facts
- License issuer
- Clerk of Court
- Enforcing agency
- Sheriff's Department
- License expiration
- December 31 every year
- Fee
- Set annually by County Council
- Penalty
- Misdemeanor under § 1-8
- Exempt
- Newspapers, produce, samples to established houses
Summary
Anyone who wants to sell goods, wares, or merchandise door-to-door in unincorporated Orangeburg County must first get a peddler or hawker license from the clerk of court under County Code § 8-51. The county council sets the license fee, licenses run through December 31 each year, and the sheriff's department enforces the article; selling without one is a misdemeanor.
If any hawker or peddler sells or exposes for sale any goods, wares, and/or merchandise in the county without having obtained a license for that purpose from the clerk of court, such hawker or peddler shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished in accordance with section 1-8. ... No person shall serve as a hawker or peddler exposing for sale or selling any goods, wares or merchandise in the county until and unless he has received and is ready to produce and exhibit a license from the clerk of court in the county so as to sell, or expose for sale, goods, wares, and/or merchandise in this county. ... The clerk of court shall issue a license to all hawkers and peddlers, to be good in this county until December 31 next after the date of their issuance, upon receiving from the applicant such fee as the county council shall establish as a license fee for hawkers and peddlers in this article.
Full Breakdown
Article II, Division 2 of Chapter 8 requires every hawker and peddler exposing goods, wares, or merchandise for sale in the county to first obtain and be ready to exhibit a license from the clerk of court (§ 8-51). The clerk issues that license once the applicant pays whatever fee the county council has set, and each license states the sum paid and the privileges it grants (§ 8-52). Section 8-53 leaves the fee itself to the county council, which can reset it each year by majority vote without amending the article, and every license expires on December 31 regardless of when it was issued.
The article exempts vendors of newspapers, magazines, vegetables, tobacco, and other agricultural products, along with traveling salespeople selling by sample for established commercial houses, and no county peddler license is required at all for sales conducted within the limits of one of the county's incorporated municipalities, such as the City of Orangeburg or the Town of Santee (§ 8-31). The sheriff's department has exclusive jurisdiction to enforce the article (§ 8-32), which means deputies, not code enforcement or the clerk of court, check licenses and investigate complaints about unlicensed peddling on the ground.
Violations & Fines
Selling or exposing goods, wares, or merchandise for sale without a license is a misdemeanor under § 8-33, punishable under the county's general penalty provision, § 1-8. Because enforcement sits with the sheriff's department, an unlicensed peddler stopped in the unincorporated county can be cited on the spot and referred for prosecution rather than simply warned.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a door-to-door seller need a permit in unincorporated Orangeburg County?
Who issues and enforces the peddler license?
Is anyone exempt from the peddler license requirement?
What happens if someone peddles goods without a license?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Orangeburg County
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