Summary: After you move a station to a new or replacement computer, the Merchant App will not sign in. An empty scale record saved on the station is blocking it. Shipstore has to remove that record, and then sign-in works.

Problem

You installed the Merchant App on a new computer and pointed it at a station you already use. Sign-in fails with one of these:

Exception getting person - Object reference not set to an instance of an object. (PeopleController)

Unable to parse login response - Object reference not set to an instance of an object. (Login)

The app may also ask you to set up a new station instead of connecting to the one you picked.

Cause

The station has an empty scale record saved on it, and that empty record breaks sign-in.

It gets created when the scale part of a station is opened or saved with no scale attached, or when somebody signs in before the station is finished. It cannot be removed from the screen, so only Shipstore can take it out. A fix for this is planned for a coming release.

How to check: look at the scale settings on the station. If the scale section is blank but was opened or saved at some point, this is very likely the cause.

Fix

  1. Email support@shipstore.com. Say which station and which computer, paste the exact message you get, and ask for the empty scale record on that station to be removed.
  2. While you wait, check the Merchant App was installed in the normal install folder. If it went somewhere else, uninstall it and install it again in the standard folder.
  3. After Shipstore confirms the record is gone, close the Merchant App, open it again, and sign in.
  4. To keep it from happening again, do not open or save the scale section on a station unless you are attaching a scale.

What you should see

The Merchant App signs in with no object reference message, the station you already use loads on the new computer, and labels print from it.

Related articles

  • Merchant App login fails: Exception Getting Person
  • Set up the Merchant App on a new station
  • A station scale will not connect or read weight