How many communities have you sold?

[Diesel]

Greetings,

When I was 13 years old I had a Invisionfree community and had it very popular but couldn't sell it becouse it was against their rules. Later when I came to know about phpBB and IPB. I brought a host and a made a community about TEENS i made it very popular in the late 14s , I sold the website on 2004 for $200. I wish I shouldn't of sold it becouse it has now more than 1500 members and is worth in $1500. Anyways , what do you think of building communities and selling them off at a very good profit?

I have sold about 5 communities. I just sold one recently for $320.

How many have you sold and what do you think of it? :think:

[DavidL]

A couple months ago I sold one for $1200 It was a linux community of around 40 members at the time. The ones I am building now I do not plan to sell but plan watch them grow. I'll give it a break when I hit around 3-5 busy forums :)

-Dave

[Jan]

I have often wondered why people sell communities and who buys them, and how do the members feel about it being taken over by a stranger.

I would hate to know I joined a community that the owner only created to make a profit, not because he/she had a genuine interest in the forum.

[writespeak]

I have often wondered why people sell communities and who buys them, and how do the members feel about it being taken over by a stranger.

You and I know of an example where the community members were the clients of a web host. The company was sold because the owners wanted to move on to other things, and the forum was part of the company. I remember thinking, "You can't buy us!" when the sale happened. And we pretty well said in the forum that the new owner would have to adapt to us.

I would hate to know I joined a community that the owner only created to make a profit, not because he/she had a genuine interest in the forum.

That wasn't the situation in the example I mentioned, but I was thinking the same thing when I read the first post in this thread. You can buy and sell company equipment and accounts and so on, but a community is...a community. It develops a life of its own.

OTOH, with a large community such as WHT where the owners aren't very involved, the sale of the forum makes (made) little difference to the members. It's still run the same way and by the same people.

Lois

[Diesel]

A couple months ago I sold one for $1200 It was a linux community of around 40 members at the time. The ones I am building now I do not plan to sell but plan watch them grow. I'll give it a break when I hit around 3-5 busy forums :)

-Dave


You sold it for $1200 with just 40 members? I sold mine with 485 members for $320. :bonk:

[Jamesc]

You sold it for $1200 with just 40 members? I sold mine with 485 members for $320. :bonk:

But if you would have seen the skin:p it was hot!

[Diesel]

But if you would have seen the skin:p it was hot!

I don't really go for skin , I go for members and the 'revenue' :monkey: :yippee:

[Papoloko]

I don't really go for skin , I go for members and the 'revenue' :monkey: :yippee:
This my sound stupid but I'm new to this whole thing. How can you get "revenue" out of the forums beside selling it?

[Doug]

You can put ads up on it, some charge for premium or just regular membership, use promotions from other companies and such. A lot forums get a lot of traffic, and I suppose with traffic, comes a lot of potential revenue.

I sold a site (with a large community) for quite a bit. I stayed onboard (as the lead administrator) for a while until the new owner basically kicked me out. No loss for me, though. I'm working on creating a new community (which has about 700 members now) and the entire staff from the old site, and most of the active members went with me.

I think if you spin it right, someone buying a community can work out. If the old owners stay onboard, it's more likely work out than if they don't.

Doug

[Papoloko]

It make a lots of sense. There could be "good money" in it if one become good at building forums. I will keep the advices for a future. Thanks and "Merry Christmass"
Papoloko

[spechackers]

i donot sell community, though sell domains.