Chapter 5.08
AUCTIONEERS – PEDDLERS – ITINERANT MERCHANTS

Sections:

5.08.010    Purpose.

5.08.012    Definitions.

5.08.020    License required.

5.08.030    Application.

5.08.040    Fee.

5.08.050    New license required after expiration of previous license.

5.08.060    Forms of application and license to be prepared.

5.08.070    Certain orders and sales excluded.

5.08.080    License inapplicable to dock facilities.

5.08.010 Purpose.

The council finds a condition exists and for many years has existed within the city whereby the inhabitants and residents of the city have had no adequate protection against irresponsible persons, firms, and corporations engaged in the city in the business of auctioneers, canvassers, hawkers, peddlers, and itinerant merchants, traders, and vendors of stocks, bonds, real estate located outside of the state, insurance, magazines, books, pictures, photographs, jewelry, automobiles, vehicles, clothing, optical goods, goods, wares, and merchandise, and other articles of commerce within the municipality; and this chapter is enacted and enforced so as to protect, preserve, and promote the welfare, happiness, safety, and well-being of the inhabitants and residents of the city. (Code 1962 § 5-4)

5.08.012 Definitions.

Canvasser or Solicitor. A “canvasser” or “solicitor” is defined as any individual, whether a resident of the city or not, traveling either by foot, wagon, automobile, motor truck, or any other type of conveyance, from place to place, from house to house or from street to street, taking or attempting to take orders for sale of goods, wares and merchandise, personal property of any nature whatsoever for future delivery, or for services to be furnished or performed in the future, whether or not such individual has, carries or exposes for sale a sample of the subject of such sale or whether he is collecting advance payments on such sales or not; provided, that such definition shall include any person who, for himself, or for another person, firm, or corporation, hires, leases, uses, or occupies any building, structure, tent, boat, hotel room, lodging house, apartment, shop, or any other place within the city for the sole purpose of exhibiting samples and taking orders for future delivery.

“Peddler” as used herein includes any person, whether a resident of the city of Ketchikan, Alaska, or not, traveling by foot, wagon, automotive vehicle, or any other type of conveyance, from place to place, from house to house, or from street to street, carrying, conveying or transporting goods, wares, merchandise, meats, fish, vegetables, fruits, garden truck, farm products or provisions, offering and exposing the same for sale, or making sales and delivering articles to purchasers, or who, without traveling from place to place, shall sell or offer the same for sale from a wagon, automotive vehicle, or other vehicle or conveyance; and further provided, that one who solicits orders and as a separate transaction makes deliveries to purchasers as a part of a scheme or design to evade the provisions of this chapter shall be deemed a peddler subject to the provisions of this chapter. “Peddler” includes “hawker” and “huckster.”

“Person” as used herein includes the singular and the plural and also means and includes any person, firm, or corporation, association, club, copartnership or society, or any other organization.

Transient Merchant, Itinerant Merchant and Itinerant Vendor. For the purpose of this chapter a “transient merchant, itinerant merchant or itinerant vendor” is defined as any person, firm or corporation, whether as owner, agent, consignee or employee, whether a resident of the city or not, who engages in a temporary business of selling and delivering goods, wares and merchandise within the city, and who, in furtherance of such purpose, hires, leases, uses or occupies any building, structure, motor vehicle, tent, or boat, public room in hotels, lodging houses, apartments, shops, or any street, alley, or other place within the city, for the exhibition and sale of such goods, wares and merchandise, either privately or at a public auction; provided, that such definition shall not be construed to include any person, firm, or corporation who, while occupying such temporary location, does not sell from stock, but exhibits samples only for the purpose of securing orders for future delivery only. The person, firm, or corporation so engaged shall not be relieved from complying with the provisions of this chapter merely by reason of associating temporarily with any local dealer, trader, merchant or auctioneer, or by conducting such transient business in connection with, as a part of, or in the name of any local dealer, trader, merchant or auctioneer. (Ord. 759 § 1, 1972)

5.08.020 License required.

It is unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation to engage in the business of auctioneer, canvasser, hawker, peddler, or itinerant merchant, trader and vendor, of and in the temporary or transient business of, vending or selling stocks, bonds, real estate located outside of the state, insurance, magazines, books, pictures, photographs, jewelry, automobiles, vehicles, clothing, optical goods, goods, wares, merchandise, and other articles of commerce within the city, without first having complied with the provisions of this chapter and having obtained a license so to do as herein provided. (Code 1962 § 5-5)

5.08.030 Application.

No person, firm, or corporation shall engage in the business of auctioneer, canvasser, hawker, peddler, or itinerant merchant, trader and vendor of, and in the temporary or transient business of vending or selling stocks, bonds, real estate located outside of the state, insurance, magazines, books, pictures, photographs, jewelry, automobiles, vehicles, clothing, optical goods, goods, wares, merchandise, and other articles of commerce within the municipality without first making and filing an application in writing with the director of finance for a license to engage in such business or businesses, which application shall be filed with said director at least seven days before such applicant shall be authorized to begin to do business within the municipality. The application shall be sworn to by the applicant, and shall state the name and residence of the applicant, the business in which the applicant desires to engage, the length of time for which said license is desired, and the name or kind of such article or commodity which is intended to be sold, vended, hawked, or peddled, and the name and address of the principal, if any, of the applicant. If the applicant desires to sell, vend, hawk, or peddle stocks or bonds, the application shall also contain the name and address of the principal office, both within and without the state, of the association, corporation, company, or other concern by whom or in whose name such stocks or bonds are issued, and an itemized financial statement such as is required to be furnished by foreign corporation when registering in the state, and a statement showing the actual assets and liabilities thereof, and a statement showing the nature and kind of such stocks and bonds, and how and in what order, if at all, secured or preferred for payments. In addition to the foregoing facts, the application shall contain an appointment and designation by the applicant of the director of finance, or, at the applicant’s option, of a permanent resident of the municipality, to act as agent for the applicant, upon whom service of summons in such action or actions, that may be brought, may be made if the applicant after due diligence cannot be found within the city; provided, if the applicant shall exercise the option to appoint a resident other than the director of finance, he shall also file the written consent of such resident to act as such agent. (Code 1962 § 5-6)

5.08.040 Fee.

Upon the filing of the application the director of finance, if the application is in proper form, shall approve it and shall issue a license to the applicant authorizing the applicant to begin business within not less than seven days after the date of the filing of the application, upon the payment to the director of finance by the applicant of the sum of $2.00 for a license for one day, or the sum of $10.00 for a license for one week, or the sum of $20.00 for a license for one month, or the sum of $30.00 for a license of three months, or the sum of $50.00 for a license for six months, or the sum of $100.00 for a license for one year.

The fee structures as provided in this section shall be waived for any person: (1) who is a full-time student in an institution of higher education and is under the age of 23; and (2) who is under the age of 18. (Ord. 759 § 2, 1972. Code 1962 § 5-7)

5.08.050 New license required after expiration of previous license.

No person, firm, or corporation shall continue in any of said businesses after the expiration of the term of the license so issued to such applicant without first having applied for and obtained a new license for such further term that applicant desires to continue in said business, which new license shall be applied for in the same manner and issued only upon the same terms as hereinabove provided for the original license. (Code 1962 § 5-8)

5.08.060 Forms of application and license to be prepared.

The director of finance shall prepare or cause to be prepared forms of applications and licenses to be used in accordance with this chapter. (Code 1962 § 5-9)

5.08.070 Certain orders and sales excluded.

This chapter shall not apply to orders taken by commercial travelers in the usual course of business or to sales by producers of farm and dairy products, or to the sale of moccasins or other curios by natives, or to the sale of fish or other marine products; nor shall this chapter apply to vendors of religious leaflets and books whose primary purpose is the dissemination of religious ideas as an exercise of the religion of the vendor, or to unpaid solicitors for national or local charitable and/or community service organizations operated not for profit. (Ord. 844 § 1, 1976. Code 1962 § 5-10)

5.08.080 License inapplicable to dock facilities.

No license issued pursuant to this chapter authorizes any such applicant, transient merchant, itinerant merchant, itinerant vendor, peddler, canvasser or solicitor, or any other person, to engage in any such businesses or activities upon the city’s dock facilities under the jurisdiction of the port of Ketchikan, and any license issued pursuant to this chapter shall clearly so state. Any violation of this section is a misdemeanor, and violators shall be punished as provided in Chapter 1.02 KMC. (Ord. 890 § 14, 1978)