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The suspects, four females and seven males ranging in age from 19 to 26, were fined a total of $2,800 and asked to leave Bluffton.
All 11 are employees of a firm called Extreme Marketing based in Georgia. Bluffton Police Chief David McAllister said the group pays its employees to travel around the country to sell products.
McAllister said none of suspects had prior criminal records.
"Most of them were fairly naive," he said. "They were just looking for a job that let them travel the country while making pretty good money."
The suspects are from Washington, Oregon, Illinois and Florida.
Extreme Marketing provided Bluffton police with documents proving it is a legitimate business. The official told police the employees were not authorized to lie to customers about being university students or about the company being a charity.
McAllister urged Bluffton residents not to buy anything from door-to-door salesmen. "It's just not a good way to do business and it's not legal in this town," he said.
Officials from Extreme Marketing told Bluffton police they would give full refunds to anyone who has made a cash purchase. Otherwise, McAllister said, customers should cancel their checks if they feel they've been misled.
"This is a quality of life issue," McAllister said. "We've got to deal with the small stuff so Bluffton doesn't become a place for more dangerous solicitors."
Extreme Marketing officials could not be reached for comment.
