It’s a scenario many of us are familiar with – you’re at home and there’s a knock on the front door, which you open to be greeted by a salesperson wanting to sell you something.

This may not be a welcome sight, so it’s worth knowing that there’s a simple way to stop uninvited salespeople showing up on your door-step – by displaying a ‘Do Not Knock' sticker at your front door or gate.

Consumer Protection created ‘Do Not Knock’ stickers following a 2013 Federal Court ruling in South Australia that found ignoring a ‘do not knock’ sign was a breach of the law.

More recently, a Western Australian resident was fined $400 by his local council when his dog bit a door-to-door salesperson, who was within their rights to knock, as the property only had a ‘beware of the dog’ sign on the front gate and not one to indicate that salespeople weren’t welcome.

Displaying a ‘Do Not Knock’ sticker sends a clear message to salespeople that they should leave without knocking on your door. Ignoring such a message means they are in breach of the Australian Consumer Law and can be reported to Consumer Protection.

It’s important to realise the signs don’t prevent approaches from people seeking donations for licensed charities or those promoting religion, but they should deter people from selling goods and services.

Consumer Protection hands out hundreds of free ‘Do Not Knock’ stickers every year – either from our city and/or regional offices, through mail-outs when requests come to the contact centre, or via our Community Education team when they are visiting communities.

Please investigate whether your neighbours, friends, family are also interested before lodging a mail-out request as it’s more economical for us to post out a bundle of stickers. Send a request containing your postal address to consumer@demirs.wa.gov.au or call 1300 30 40 54.

Did you also know that there are restrictions on when uninvited salespeople can visit you? They must not come on a Sunday or a public holiday, before 9am or after 6pm on a weekday or before 9am or after 5pm on a Saturday.

Commissioner for Consumer Protection, Lanie Chopping