Could you sell your site with preconditions for the new owner?

[Cedric]

I was wondering if any of you have had experience with this. Specifically, I'm wondering if it's possible to sell a forum with preconditions set. Don't worry, I don't intend on selling Admin Junkies, but thought this might be a good discussion.

For example, let's say that I want to sell my forum to someone else, but I want to make sure that they keep the community intact and don't make any major changes to the forum without consulting me first. Is this something that's possible to negotiate when selling a forum, or is it generally an all-or-nothing deal? Perhaps having a contract ?

I'd love to hear from anyone who has sold a forum before, or anyone who has experience with buying and selling websites in general. Have you ever set preconditions when selling a site? Did the buyer agree to them, or did you have to compromise on anything? And if you were buying a forum, would you be open to negotiating preconditions, or would you prefer a more straightforward purchase?

Let's have a conversation about this and see if we can learn from each other's experiences!

 

[Arantor]

As a rule... is it possible to negotiate? Sure, you can put it in the contract. Of course you can put it in the contract. The other party is free to sign the contract or not sign the contract as they see fit, and/or negotiate changes to that contract from you prior to signing.

The question that never gets asked by people who have such aspirations: what is the fallback position? Let's say you have a forum about Widgets, it's the gosh darned best Widget forum out there, and your branding is blue because Widgets come in a blue box, and you're using the correct licensed font from WidgetMaker for the site because you're the most official fan site going, and because it's a hobby site, you don't run ads. And I come along, also a fan of Widgets and see that you're getting fed up/frustrated/bored/whatever and I offer you a tidy sum of money for it. You agree on provision that I will keep the site as-is, won't run ads, say. I shrug, and agree.

Now... what happens if I then run ads? Or I turn the colour to green because I like green and the font from Widgetvetica to Widget New Roman? These changes are against the contract but... what are you going to do about it? Unless there's something in the contract as a penalty, you can do precisely nothing - because chances are the contract would have included you handing over all admin powers to me so you can't undo anything I've done, and chances are you're not going to win by suing me for breach of contract because in pretty much every country you'd have to prove that you were 'damaged' by the breach of contract.

My take on it, then, is: if you're going to sell (or even give away) your site, you have to be prepared for it to go in directions you don't control. You handed over the reins, it's no longer your call to make. And if they run it into the ground, that's entirely on them. You can have regrets for a poor decision but that's honestly the limit of what you can expect.

 

[Cory]

I personally probably wouldn't set preconditions for selling a forum of mine if I ever were to. Taking over ownership of a forum is pretty much selling a product in stores where the buyer has complete ownership of that item now. It would be hard to set preconditions and the fact that you want to sell the board away anyway probably means you shouldn't have much say in how it is running after ownership is transferred.

 

[Ravenfreak]

If I ever did sell one of my sites to another person I wouldn't set any preconditions because I feel like I would be overstepping. After the sale is final, I feel like the new owner is in full control and whatever they wish to do with the site is out of my hands at that point.

 

[Bluezone777]

If you feel the need to set preconditions to the new owner then you aren't truly ready and willing to let it go. I'd say it's a sign you should keep it and find a way to keep it going. It is only when you are truly ready and willing to let it go to someone else is when you should sell.

 

[Uncrowned]

You can, but a lot of issues along the way. A contract is only a piece of paper unless you are willing to jump into court and spend thousands of dollars ensuring it is fulfilled and that completely ignores the loopholes and how the contract can be interpreted. You are generally much better off selecting a new owner you have faith in or just dropping the entire idea and moving on as the new owner does as they want.

Of course, if you are genuinely deadset that the forum needs to run as is, perhaps you need to look into other options than simply selling it. Partnerships, investors, etc.

 

[Heatman]

The only way this is going to be possible is for you not to sell the forum completely 100% out to the new owner which will ensure that you still have a stake in what goes on in their community. But once you have completely sold the forum, it will very difficult for you to tell the new owner how to run the platform. I'm not sure anyone would buy a forum with conditions on how to run it.