Thinking of selling my forum

[Gantry]

Have run an active forum now for over 10 years or more since the v1 days. Almost 8,000 members, very active. I do not have ads, and I've been hesitant to monetize it since it's a boardgames related site and I actually don't play that board game anymore so my interest in the subject is low.

I'm thinking of selling it to interested members, just enough to cover my costs all these years, or else if there's any 3rd party that will buy sites without destroying their user base I might consider that.

Anyone ever sell to a 3rd party? How was it valuated? Did the buyer end up destroying the forum for your community? Pros/cons?

[shadav]

it's really hit and miss....
you might have better luck asking in your forum if someone there wanted to buy it from you and maintain it, as they would be invested in the site, members, and content....
but again it's really hit and miss how long someone keeps it up and running

monetizing it isn't a bad idea, you can place google ads into the footer and maybe after the first post to try and get a bit of money
and/or sell ad space in those spots
that way it's not too intrusive.

if you're not killing resources, you could maybe get by with a decent free host (maybe)
or shop around for a cheaper host

[vbgamer45]

Always a risk selling to a third party but if you moved on and the the community doesn't matter you can list your site for sale either here or places flippa.
If you have a trusted person on the forum they might be able to take it over just it depends on their skillset.

[Gantry]

if you're not killing resources, you could maybe get by with a decent free host (maybe)
or shop around for a cheaper host

Yeah it's not that, I own my own hosting so my cost is nil. I'd rather sell it to someone who is invested in the content, as my goal is to get rid of the time needed to maintain the site properly.

[shadav]

let's keep things civil thanks

[Steve]

I didn't get a sense of anything being anything but civil but if you took it that way I would hope the OP would explain.

Edit: just checked the deleted post and I can see why your comment was made, which I now echo.

[landyvlad]

I'd rather sell it to someone who is invested in the content, as my goal is to get rid of the time needed to maintain the site properly.

I applaud you for this: "to someone who is invested in the content" because my forum stemmed out a previous forum owner just shutting the site down with no notice, everything just GONE. I had to start from scratch.

If you want to ensure the new owner is from the member base and  invested in it, you shouldn't get out of the SELL mindset (it's not a business), instead adopt a HANDOVER mindset.

Is there a member on your forum who is interested - possibly an admin or mod on the site already and with sufficient technical knowledge or intellect to manage the hosting (cpanel) side of things as well as the SMF forum proper?
If not already, and someone is interested, get them on board as an admin til they learn the ropes / are confident.tropes and  meanwhile you can take a backseat just offering guidance as needed.

If you did a handover, the new person would be responsible for ongoing hosting and domain name costs, etc.
It wouldn't be reasonable to attempt to recover all costs incurred to date. Consider it as money spent on a hobby.

[Gantry]

Thanks for that, indeed you're correct, it is a handover mindset. I've already reached out to my #2 for comments, then we'll bring it up to the others.