Perth Amboy, NJ Soliciting & Door-to-Door: Solicitor Permits (2026)

A solicitor or canvasser under § 275-11 is anyone, resident or not, traveling by foot, wagon, automobile, motortruck or any other conveyance from place to place, from house to house or from street to street taking or attempting to take orders for goods, wares, merchandise or personal property for future delivery, or for services to be furnished later. The definition applies whether or not the person carries a sample or collects advance payments, and it reaches anyone who hires or uses a building, tent, railroad boxcar, boat, hotel room, lodging house, apartment, shop or other place in the City of Perth Amboy for the sole purpose of exhibiting samples and taking orders. Excluded are wholesale solicitation from sample to dealers, sale of a person's own product, growth or manufacture, and sale of newspapers or periodicals.

Section 275-1 makes it unlawful to carry on any listed occupation without first obtaining a license, and each day of unlicensed activity is a separate violation. The Chapter 275 fee schedule lists solicitors or canvassers at $5.00, paid annually unless otherwise provided. The City Clerk issues the license (§ 275-3), it expires on December 31 (§ 275-10), it cannot be transferred (§ 275-4), and no refund is made after issuance (§ 275-8). A licensee without a fixed place of business must carry the license at all times while working or possess and present other proper evidence of it (§ 275-6). A duplicate for a lost license costs fifty cents ($0.50) (§ 275-7).

Enforcement runs through the Police Department. Under § 275-12 every police officer is an inspector of licenses and can demand exhibition of the license, and failure to exhibit is itself a violation. The Council can suspend or revoke a license after a hearing on at least three (3) days written notice (§ 275-13). People selling goods they carry with them are peddlers under Chapter 317 instead, and foot peddlers are prohibited within the City limits (§ 317-18).