How login protection works

Don't sign in to different store accounts on the same platform through the same IP. Merca records the login at launch, and checks again in the store window. Add the username when you add a store, and pick a node when you add a node. Both checks run in the desktop app.

Only one login per platform on an IP

After you check a node, it has an IP. The first time you Launch a store on that IP, Merca records the platform and username under Account records, marked Allowed.

If you then launch another store on the same IP, same platform, but a different username, launch is blocked: Another account already uses this platform on this node. The store window does not open.

That username is added to Account records as Blocked. Launching it again is still blocked until you Allow it. The Allowed login can still launch.

Add store does not run this check. Launch does. The store needs a node first.

The same IP can serve different platforms. Amazon on one login and Shopee on another is fine. What gets blocked is two logins on the same platform. One Amazon, one TikTok Shop, and one Walmart on the same node is also fine; see Can one node run stores on different platforms.

Account records are keyed by IP and are kept for good. If two nodes share an IP, they share the records.

If another Merca user later buys that IP and you still have an Allowed record, their launch of a different account on the same platform is blocked, and they cannot Allow a new record. After you delete the Allowed record, other accounts can launch; their own Blocked row still stops that login until they Allow it. The Deleted row stays in the list so later users can see this IP was used.

If launch is blocked

1. Open the Merca desktop app and go to Nodes.
2. Open Account records on that node.
3. If this login should use that IP (for example a platform sub-account), click Allow. If the list already has someone else's Allowed record that was not deleted, Allow is not available. If an account should no longer use the IP, Delete its record. To allow a sub-account, see How to add a platform sub-account.

After Allow, this login can use the IP; the Allowed login still can. Delete keeps the row in the list as Deleted. It cannot be undone, and it no longer takes part in launch checks. Launching the same username again adds a new Allowed row. Allow and delete need the owner or an admin.

The store window checks the login

In the store browser, signing in with a username that is not the one saved on the store is blocked. The alert is Login does not match.

Close the alert and sign in with the saved username. To use a different account, change the store Username in Merca, then launch again.

Signing in to a platform this store is not set up for is also blocked: Platform not on this store.