Texas Door-to-Door Solicitation Laws for Business Teams

Write down what the team will do at each Texas door before the first shift: ask a question and record it, book a visit, or take orders. Chapter 601 applies when the merchant or the merchant's agent engages in a personal solicitation of a sale at a place other than the merchant's place of business, and the Attorney General's summary sets the line at buying more than $25 worth of goods or services or more than $100 worth of real estate. A canvass that only records answers takes no order; a team that writes orders on the porch is covered.

Read the solicitor ordinance of every city on your list before its first shift, because each city sets its own. In League City, every door-to-door solicitor applies for a permit, passes a background check and visibly displays a Solicitor Identification Card issued by the Police Department, and solicitation is only permitted from 9 a.m. to sunset, Monday through Saturday. In Coppell, a non-refundable $50 permit fee is due with each application. Put each city's hours on the shift plan and each person's card in their kit.

If your team works in Spanish or another language, print the contract and cancellation notice in it too. The Attorney General's guidance says those documents must be in the same language as that principally used in the sales presentation. Keep one stack of forms per language in each team member's kit, and have the shift lead check before the team heads out.

Say the right to cancel out loud at the door: Chapter 601 makes it a violation to fail to inform the consumer orally of the right to cancel the transaction. Then give every covered buyer a contract or receipt stating the date of the sale, the name and address of the merchant, and a statement of the right to cancel, including an address for sending the cancellation notice. The buyer may cancel until midnight of the third business day after signing, and after a cancellation the salesperson has ten business days to refund the money, return any negotiable instruments concerning the sale and return any trade-in items, so the office needs a refund routine before the first order is signed.

Track each address so a refusal is never knocked twice and a city's permit list matches the people who worked it. Each visit records Yes, No, Not Home or Skip, plus notes.