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That's actually not true anymore for a large number of (PC) games. Buying PC games in the store is really nothing more than buying the serial which is then, more often than not, tied to an account (Origin, Steam, Ubisoft). As a result the physical product you bought in the store becomes a digital product once you install it.
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But in that case, the physical medium is almost completely irrelevant. It exists merely as a ferry for the license between the store and your account – once you register the game, the disc is useless. It can’t be resold, and you don’t even need it to play the game.
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The point of selling a license could be that many people want to sell a game once they are done with it so they have money to buy a new one. That's the main reason the second hand console game market is thriving.
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Does that argument hold water when you take into account the much cheaper prices and frequent sales that the digital marketplace allows?
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Whether or not it's a smart thing to do isn't really the issue though, it's about not being able to sell something that you own. Maybe it's no major issue for a 60 dollar game. But expand it to a 300 dollar piece of software and it suddenly does become an issue.
If today I decide to get out of the website business I would like to be able to sell the various forum software licenses I have in my possession. That way I get some money back and someone else is able to get a license to a product they would never have bought for full price.
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That’s an interesting comparison and it’s something I’m not sure how to approach.
In theory, it would be identical to consumer licenses, but the much higher price of a specialist license like professional software makes it a less cut-and-dry situation.
How do those licenses currently work, actually? I’m guessing you mean stuff like vBulletin – surely the software they provide you is digitally distributed, so do they allow you to transfer or resell your licenses?