Boiled Frog Parts User Guide

BFP is a cloud based application designed for Professional Service Technicians. It allows each of us to buy and sell the parts that we use everyday. Your parts inventory is stored in the cloud along with hundreds of other Service operations. You can buy directly from any other business easily. You can also sell parts. You choose which parts you wish to sell. You deal directly with other professionals via email and the telephone. You sell for your price and your conditions. There is no software to buy. It is already available in the cloud. It takes no space on your computer and never needs to be backed up.

Let’s Get Started

• Boiled Frog Parts is constantly being improved as more functions are added . This users manual will try to keep up with the changes. You are encouraged to check for newer versions of this guide regularly.

Two of the concepts on which BFP has been built are simplicity and a desire to minimize the time required to enter and edit parts. Another is accuracy. As professionals selling to professionals we have an expectation that information describing items will be accurate to a high degree. That includes quantities in stock. It is the responsibility of sellers to adjust the quantity and availability of parts as they are sold or re-inventoried.

For additional help email: Support@boiledfrogparts.com

This is your home page when logged in

Only the items in green can be selected

Your information will be in here after you log on.

Next Step is to Add Some Parts to Your Inventory List

101 Generic Service Co. 100 Main St Anytown, USA 222-5551212 Goodguy@any.com Bob

Immediate Global Search Search every part of every field

including description and Board ID numbers with a

single, simple input right from the your home page.

Enter 4 characters or more

Click this button

Home Page Details

Global Search Button

Useful Links

Watch US Grow

These numbers are real as of December, 2013. The numbers are growing each day. They represent the work of the BETA testers that have given their time to this project. You have the opportunity to join our group from it’s very beginning. The variety and quantity of parts will grow when you become a part of our marketplace.

Enter Parts to sell or keep track of for yourself When you log into your home page you will have the choices shown below

Self explanatory headings for

each category

Simply choose the item type and you will be directed to the input pages For each category.

Your Inventory

Note the arrow: This row of selections only appears on this page. Here you add and edit your inventory

This entire area remains blank until you choose “add” then you can add a part or find a part that you wish to edit.

Adding A Part to Your Inventory

Click The add

button

You are now ready to add the part to your inventory

Note the text boxes have changed from gray to white.

Part Number is obvious. Part ID is the number on the board most likely to be searched by others Part Price

See Tips for Description Entry

Product Type Will Expand to Allow All Types of Product

Brand Drop Down Box accepts text to quickly get to the Brand You Need

Click “Save New” and in 15 to 30 seconds you have added a part into your inventory. Remember to select negotiable or fixed price

1. From your Home page select “your inventory” from the line of choices at the

top of the page. Choices show in green.

2. Click Major Parts to input boards or Discrete Components for IC’s, Transistors etc.

3. The various fields are filled in gray at this point and do not accept input.

4. Click the "add" button. Now the fields will change to white and will be open for input. Very Important: Navigate between the fields using your MOUSE ONLY, not the return or tab keys.

5. Fill out the part information fields as appropriate.

6. When you are satisfied with the information click the "save new“ button That should do it. You now have added a part to sell.

Let’s Go Over the Steps To Add Parts to Your Inventory

Tips on entering Data

• When entering parts, of course the objective is to offer your items to the widest audience possible. You can increase your chances by using the same nomenclature conventions as other sellers. Limit the use of hyphens and spaces. Example, Sony Part numbers are easily read as 8-123-456-00 but if we all use 812345600 we don’t have to look twice and your part won’t be missed. Another example is descriptions. Here we take a different approach. Here we put more information in so as to cover all bases. Examples may be, T-Con board and TCON board. Both will be found by a description search of either provided both are entered by the seller. Consider this, Power Supply Board, Power PCB, Power PWB, SMPT Board, PWR BD, these are all descriptions of the same thing. It might be wise to do a search of other service centers to see what the most popular descriptions really are before you enter your part.

• Description is also a good place to enter special numbers like those found on labels or generic board numbers. Separate description details with comas. Example Power Board, BN44-00167A, Hansol. That is how it appears on the board itself. Searching for BN-4400167A will find it. Searching for Power Board will find lots of Power Boards and searches for Hansol will find just Hansol boards. There are more numbers on that board and each can be entered when separated by a comma.

• Lastly., remember searches are a minimum of 4 digits. Descriptions of less that 4 digits are not likely to be found. You are taking your chances.

Master List

The Master List is a list of all the parts you have on BFP. It shows those you wish to sell as well as parts

just for your own use. The master list is for information and it facilitates editing. The “Select” link on the left of each part will open the part for

specific edits

STOP Sorry. Get used to it. Never use the “TAB” key or “Enter” key on any of these pages.

Use your mouse to navigate to any location

Your inventory will integrate with the Looking Glass Service Shop application in the future.

Part Availability

This is where to go to find the parts you are looking for. You can search by part number, description or from a specific seller

Tom Brucker points out that here – less is more. You’ll call up more parts by entering fewer characters. That can be helpful when you are looking for certain parts .

This search will find parts listed by every shop participating. This is page 3 of 3 pages of matches

When you find the part you want simply click on the select button next to it.

The next slides will show you

important details

This is the bottom part of the Previous page once you have hit select

This is what you will see once you have selected a part. Notice all the details have been filled in.

In this example the seller has chosen a fixed price for the part. He could have used the “make offer” option which is based on his asking price.

Now is the time you actually contact the seller and settle on the details of your purchase. All transactions are strictly between you as the buyer and the seller. Here you can select the type of shipping and leave a message for the seller. You can make an offer for a part when so marked or make an inquiry about details. You can also request a phone call to discuss details if need be.

When you hit the order button 2 emails are sent within seconds. One is a confirmation back to you, the other is your order directly to the seller. Ideally you will get an acknowledgement email back from the seller but remember, we are all busy service technicians running calls and doing bench work. It may take a bit of time but you will hear from the seller.

• We have just covered the 2 most important parts of the BFP system. Listing your inventory to sell and buying parts that you need.

• There is a lot more that the system can do and there are more things that you will need to know about our environment.

• Trust • We consider ourselves like a brotherhood. As such there is a high level of trust between us. We trust that the parts we buy

will be as described. We trust that the parts we buy will be given priority shipping by sellers. As you develop relationships within this group some parts may be shipped to you before payment is even discussed. We know how important speed is these days. We trust payment will be prompt. We expect that there will be returns. Return policies will differ from seller to seller. You will have to develop your own policy on taking back parts. We suggest that all return shipping costs are paid for by the buyer unless the part is defective. BFP has a way of dealing with excessive returns, abuses of the system and payment problems. There is a problem review board made up of qualified technicians to sort through disputes. In some extreme case they may recommend exclusion of one party or another.

• Speed • This entire system is built around the concept of speed of usage. Time is money. Listing a part should take less than a minute

and buying a part only a few seconds.

• No Cost • Buying and selling involves no cost to you at this point in time. Ebay can be an expensive, on going cost and BFP is the

opposite. You can have hundreds of parts for sale and pay nothing at all for the listings. Your parts will be seen by the people most likely to buy them too. NO D.I.Y. buyers are allowed on the system.

What We Are Trying to Accomplish

We are attempting to make a competitive market place for all types of goods and services related to the

repair industry.

It will be a little like the stock market.

But not exactly.

And a bit like an open air market

Again not exactly

I need it, who has it and how much is it?

We professionals know that one of the most important steps on the way to a completed repair is the availability of parts. When we look for a particular part we turn to the internet of course. An internet search for any part will invariably turn up multiple items, often when checking we find it is “out of stock”. We look to our favorite distributors first and that includes the manufacturers themselves. Manufacturers it seems, have lost touch with the marketplace. Often the cost of new part will preclude a reasonable end price and the sale is lost. We turn to eBay and find parts too but we consider ourselves lucky when parts arrive and work as described. Not to mention the cost of listing parts on eBay for sellers.

Who sets the price? The free market! We will display parts from hundreds of shops, distributors, on line sellers running their own web sites and even eBay sellers. We welcome all vetted sources to list their parts on BFP. The results will be a single place to see availability and price listed side by side. You make the final choice of who you will buy from using your own criteria. Plus, In many cases the final price will be negotiable. This market place will be driven by relationships between Professionals.