West Virginia requires nonexempt telemarketers to register and post security with state tax officials, limits telemarketing to a residence to 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. local time, bars calls to people who asked not to be called, and allows one party consent recording.
From official sources, checked September 26, 2026. General information, not legal advice.
No person may act as a telemarketer without first registering with the secretary of the Department of Tax and Revenue. The first application is due at least 60 days before the telemarketer offers consumer goods or services, and registration is renewed every year. The application must come with a continuing surety bond or an allowed substitute such as a letter of credit or certificate of deposit. The West Virginia Tax Division posts the registration form and lists the exemptions, which include business to business sales, licensed insurance and real estate professionals, and a person who makes the major sales presentation and completes the sale at a later face to face meeting rather than on the call.
It is an abusive telemarketing act for a telemarketer to engage in telemarketing to a person's residence at any time other than between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. local time, Monday through Sunday, at the called person's location. The same section bars threats, intimidation, profane or obscene language, and repeatedly or continuously engaging a person in a way a reasonable person would find annoying, abusive, or harassing. Because the article's definition of telemarketer leaves out the persons exempted in its second part, these limits reach nonexempt telemarketers. A consumer has a cause of action for these abusive acts, and the state may seek injunctive relief, restitution, civil penalties, forfeiture of bond, and other remedies.
West Virginia's telemarketing article makes it an abusive act to call a person who previously said they do not want outbound calls made by or on behalf of the telemarketer whose goods or services are offered. A telemarketer is not liable for such a call if it has written procedures to avoid these calls, has trained its personnel in them, keeps a recorded list of people who asked not to be called, and the later call was an error. The Attorney General's robocall page points residents to the National Do Not Call Registry, which it says lets consumers register home or mobile numbers to keep telemarketers from calling.
When making a telemarketing communication with a consumer, a telemarketer must promptly and clearly disclose its true identity, that the purpose of the call is to sell consumer goods or services, and the nature of those goods or services. More disclosures, including the total cost and the refund and cancellation terms, are due before the consumer pays. Sending misleading or inaccurate caller identification information is an unfair or deceptive act. Every telemarketer must accept returns or cancellations for at least seven days after delivery, disclose that policy, and refund or credit the consumer within 30 days after receiving the return or cancellation notice.
The telemarketing article does not apply to a business to business sale. Its definitions are built on consumer goods or services, meaning property or services sold to a natural person primarily for personal, family, household, or agricultural purposes, property or services sold as a profit or investment opportunity, and property meant to be attached to or installed in real property. The West Virginia Tax Division lists business to business sales among the sales that do not make a person a telemarketer.
West Virginia's wiretap law makes it lawful for a person to intercept a wire, oral, or electronic communication when the person is a party to it or one of the parties has given prior consent, unless the purpose is a criminal or tortious act. A separate section applies to a person, firm, or corporation that monitors calls between its employees or agents and its customers: it must notify each employee or agent that their calls are subject to monitoring, and it must provide telephones for employees' personal use that are not monitored.
The article does not apply to a person who neither makes the major sales presentation nor completes or provisionally accepts a sale during the call, but makes the major sales presentation and completes the sale at a later face to face meeting under the chapter's home solicitation provisions. That exemption is lost if the seller, in violation of the article's payment pickup rule, sends someone to the consumer mainly to collect payment or deliver an item.
The first application must be made at least 60 days before offering consumer goods or services, and renewal applications are made every year. Registration is void if the surety bond ends without a replacement on file, and a surety may cancel the bond with 60 days written notice.
The Attorney General's robocall page directs residents to the National Do Not Call Registry and does not describe a separate state list. The telemarketing article separately bars calls to a person who told the telemarketer they do not want its calls.
Checked September 26, 2026. Every fact on this page comes from these official sources. General information, not legal advice: rules change, so confirm with the cited statute or agency and with counsel.
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