Queen Anne's County, MD Soliciting & Door-to-Door: Solicitor Permits (2026)

Article II of Chapter 16 of the Queen Anne's County Code governs peddlers. Under § 16-6, to act as a peddler means to act as an itinerant or door-to-door peddler or salesperson of goods, wares or merchandise, by sample or otherwise. Section 16-8 then provides that a person who is not a resident of Queen Anne's County cannot act as a peddler in the county unless licensed by the County Commissioners. The licensing duty is written for non-residents. The code applies in unincorporated Queen Anne's County, and the incorporated towns such as Centreville and Queenstown have separate codes.

Section 16-7 exempts a person going door-to-door for a nonprofit, charitable or eleemosynary agency or organization, a person selling farm produce or seafood of any kind that the person produced or took in Queen Anne's County, and a person selling or delivering newspapers.

The application steps are in § 16-9. The applicant submits an application on the form provided by the County Commissioners, and the form carries the information the County Commissioners need to keep a proper and complete listing of persons acting as peddlers. The applicant files a bond with sureties approved by the County Commissioners in the amount of $1,000 and pays an application fee of $5 for each year. The license year begins January 1, and the County Commissioners cannot prorate the cost for portions of a year. The County Commissioners must issue a license to each applicant who meets the requirements.

Article I of the same chapter is a separate rule for hucksters, who sell vegetables, fruits, eggs, poultry, meats or other farm produce. Hucksters are licensed by the Clerk of the Circuit Court, with annual fees of $15 for county residents, $25 for other Maryland residents and $100 for non-residents of the state. A resident farmer or grower selling the farmer's or grower's own produce is outside that article.