Pismo Beach, CA Soliciting & Door-to-Door: Solicitor Permits (2026)

Chapter 5.28 of the Pismo Beach Municipal Code governs peddlers, solicitors and itinerant vendors. A solicitor is a person who goes onto property in the city without being requested or invited by the occupant to take or solicit orders for goods or for services to be performed in the future. A peddler is defined the same way, except the peddler carries goods and offers them for sale on the spot. The peddler definition also reaches anyone who solicits orders and makes deliveries as a separate transaction as part of a scheme to evade the chapter.

Section 5.28.030 requires each person who desires to solicit or peddle in the city to obtain a business license first, under Section 5.04.020. Section 5.28.040 lists who is exempt: people who solicit orders for products sold on an established route such as a bakery, newspaper or dairy products route; people who solicit orders from retail dealers on behalf of a wholesaler, jobber or manufacturer; people who solicit for a bona fide political or religious purpose; city residents under eighteen years of age; and state-licensed real estate agents working under a broker who holds a business license in the city. Exemption is not automatic. A completed proof of exemption form must be filed with the city manager or a designee, and an exemption certificate must be issued.

A peddler or vendor working from a wagon, pushcart, conveyance or other vehicle must display the city business license or exemption certificate in a conspicuous place and show it on demand to any police officer or any person being sold to (Section 5.28.050 A). The city manager or a designee can revoke a license or certificate for fraud or false statements, violation of any city ordinance or regulation, a conviction for a crime involving moral turpitude, unlawful or nuisance-causing conduct, or soliciting on premises posted with a "No Solicitors" sign. Revocation takes effect three days after notice is mailed or on personal delivery. A person can seek review under Section 1.08.010, and the license is suspended while the review is pending.