Buying a forum (first timer) ... need help asap.

[DEADBOLT]

Hello..

My name is Rani (Ronnie) and I reside in San Diego, CA. I'm purchasing a car club forum that i've been a moderator of for over a year. Since I've never done this kind of purchase before, I'm not sure what steps I should take. The owner and I came to an agreement on a price, and he requested that I draft the purchase agreement... These are the Q that are going through my head:

1) Where would I find someone to help me with drafting a contract?

2) What do I need to include in the contract for him to release liability to me? Meaning what's involved in running/owning a forum?

3) What should I expect when I buy the forum?

4) What "estimated" fees should I expect as expenses?

5) anything else I need to know which I forgot to mention?

I know I have a lot of questions, and I sincerely apologize for that, however, I dont have a lot of time to waste, so I need to get my facts straight so I don't get cheated.

I ppreciate all your help and support.

[SHFarms]

Well. I can answer one part to your problem.

For monthly fees, it depends on how big/popular the forum is, how many visits a day it gets and so on.. the more people, the more for monthly charges.

You'll need to ask the current owner/person you are going to be purchasing it from what hosting company and plan he has, and where his domain is registered.

Hope that helps somewhat

Good luck.

[lisa]

Also, don't forget to ask about the forum software license. For example, this forum license has to be renewed once per year and I have to pay a yearly fee. It's not a necessity but if you want to have technical support for your software it's important to keep your license current.

[DEADBOLT]

Originally Posted by SHFarms

Well. I can answer one part to your problem.

For monthly fees, it depends on how big/popular the forum is, how many visits a day it gets and so on.. the more people, the more for monthly charges.

You'll need to ask the current owner/person you are going to be purchasing it from what hosting company and plan he has, and where his domain is registered.

Hope that helps somewhat

Good luck.

Thank you! I'll definitely have a talk with the owner more about hosting, current company in charge of running it.

Originally Posted by lisa

Also, don't forget to ask about the forum software license. For example, this forum license has to be renewed once per year and I have to pay a yearly fee. It's not a necessity but if you want to have technical support for your software it's important to keep your license current.

I googled the site itself and it told me the site expires august 2010. is that the same as the license? I'm such a noob, it's not even funny lol.

Everything seems to be in good standing and active, so I'm guessing there aren't many issues. So I'm hoping this sale goes thru smoothly. I just really need to know what things should I be aware of when speaking with him... or what things to ask about.

[SHFarms]

Possibly the expiration date you found is for the domain name, a license for the software is what gives you the permission/ability to use their software. The prices for the licence depend on the company who made the software and how popular/nice to use it is. For a vbulletin(software website babble is using) license its 170 dollars.

And being a noob is sometimes fun cause you get to learn new things and it can be an adventure!

[DEADBOLT]

Originally Posted by SHFarms

Possibly the expiration date you found is for the domain name, a license for the software is what gives you the permission/ability to use their software. The prices for the licence depend on the company who made the software and how popular/nice to use it is. For a vbulletin(software website babble is using) license its 170 dollars.

And being a noob is sometimes fun cause you get to learn new things and it can be an adventure!

What other softwares are there available for me to choose from? The way I understood the owner saying... or other admins on that site, is that the site is running using windows 98 base software. My guess would be that's the software used... am i correct? I was thinking of having it run on at least windows xp or higher, what's recommended? Also, is the $170 a one-time fee, or is there a monthly charge to use the software? I'll take Lisa's advice and get my hosting through Website Palace, and also purchas the vbulletin to run it.

The site is very basic compared to other car clubs i'm a part of, so I don't think it's anything fancy. That's the first thing i need to do, it's to update the software of the forum to something new, and change the layout of it... just need to build a strong base for it, then change the look. As of now, the forum has 16,783 members, and 238,521 posts/articles, so it's not really a slow site.

I agree on the noob comment, i feel the same way. However, sometimes it makes you feel like an idiot lmao. it's like everyone knows these basic info, and I don't have a clue.

[lisa]

Wait... if the forum is already live it has to be hosted somewhere. Before you go signing up with hosting plans and buying licenses find out what software the person is currently using for the forum (vbulletin, Simple Machines, PHPBB, etc.) If they are using Simple Machines or PHPBB then the license won't cost you anything. I'm not sure you need to buy a new license, you just need to transfer ownership of the existing license over to yourself and take care of the renewals. So I would ask the seller...

1) What forum software does the forum operate on?
2) When does the license expire?
3) How much are the yearly updates? (if any)
4) Where is the domain hosted and how much are the monthly hosting fees?

Updates aren't necessary but if you want support and all the latest forum software bug fixes, etc. then you want to keep your license current. Even though vbulletin costs $170 the license renewal is only like $40. So you would only pay the renewal for whatever software they are using.

Windows 98 and XP have nothing to do with this. That is the PC operating system and don't affect the operation of the forum. When I say "software" in this case, I mean the script that the forum is running on. For example this forum uses vbulletin and that's what I mean when I say software.

Don't feel bad about the questions, that is what this forum is for.

[SHFarms]

The hosting is a monthly fee, which is what "puts" the forum on the internet.

The domain name is a yearly fee and its the www.--.com of the website and that's the address you type in the access the forum files/scripts being hosted Online.

The hosting and domain can be bought through the same company, or different company, so you will want to ask the person your buying from who hosts the website, and the domain and how much are they montly and yearly?

Next is what Lisa said, what is the software(script) they are using that runs the forum. What is the yearly renewal cost if any..

[DEADBOLT]

Originally Posted by lisa

Wait... if the forum is already live it has to be hosted somewhere. Before you go signing up with hosting plans and buying licenses find out what software the person is currently using for the forum (vbulletin, Simple Machines, PHPBB, etc.) If they are using Simple Machines or PHPBB then the license won't cost you anything. I'm not sure you need to buy a new license, you just need to transfer ownership of the existing license over to yourself and take care of the renewals. So I would ask the seller...

1) What forum software does the forum operate on?
2) When does the license expire?
3) How much are the yearly updates? (if any)
4) Where is the domain hosted and how much are the monthly hosting fees?

Updates aren't necessary but if you want support and all the latest forum software bug fixes, etc. then you want to keep your license current. Even though vbulletin costs $170 the license renewal is only like $40. So you would only pay the renewal for whatever software they are using.

Windows 98 and XP have nothing to do with this. That is the PC operating system and don't affect the operation of the forum. When I say "software" in this case, I mean the script that the forum is running on. For example this forum uses vbulletin and that's what I mean when I say software.

Don't feel bad about the questions, that is what this forum is for.

Thank you so much for all your time and help through this. I actually think they're using PHPBB. I say that becuz my best friend is a software guru and he built me a site that matches the one i'm buying and he said he used PHP. It was an exact replica of the one i'm getting.. and he made it in 15 minutes. I'm not sure what he's using for hosting though, so i'll have to ask him.

I checked vbulletin and these are the prices I found:

- vBulletin 4.0 Forum Classic
Upgrade = FREE
New License = $195
- vBulletin Publishing Suite
Upgrade = $160
New License = $235

Which one would I get?

Either way I want to upgrade to vBulletin to avoid any possible issues + I'll be adding a chatroom as part of the upgrades I want to add to the forum, so an upgrade in software is a must. I'll definitely be annoying you more when I sign the contract and the upgrades begin. I'm very mechanically inclined but i'm not that knowledgeable about details of softwares, hosting, websites, etc... never done it before.

Originally Posted by SHFarms

The hosting is a monthly fee, which is what "puts" the forum on the internet.

The domain name is a yearly fee and its the www.--.com of the website and that's the address you type in the access the forum files/scripts being hosted Online.

The hosting and domain can be bought through the same company, or different company, so you will want to ask the person your buying from who hosts the website, and the domain and how much are they montly and yearly?

Next is what Lisa said, what is the software(script) they are using that runs the forum. What is the yearly renewal cost if any..

lol I need to get ahold of that dude and slam him with questions about all this. I know it's a lot of headache to deal with at first, but it'll pay off in the end once I have it all set up and running.

[DEADBOLT]

Ok, I spoke to the owner today. We discussed things more in detail and came to pretty much a good agreement. I was told the site is running with PHPBB software, which i will change to vBulletin. Contract to be signed next week and I'll take full control over the forum/domain name. He'll transfer it into my name and i'll gain full owner access.

Now my Q is, Where can I get a website sale contract from? I tried to google some, but nothing usefull came up in the results. Anyone know a place or a website I can get contracts from? What forms would I need besides domain name sale and website sale?

Thanks for all your guys' help.