diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 2c4a90e..5162375 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
     "name": "orbit-db-http-api",
-    "version": "0.3.0-rc.2",
+    "version": "0.3.0-rc.3",
     "description": "An HTTP API Server for the OrbitDB distributed peer-to-peer database",
     "main": "src/cli.js",
     "keywords": [
diff --git a/src/lib/orbitdb-api.js b/src/lib/orbitdb-api.js
index 64a4d24..48f295f 100644
--- a/src/lib/orbitdb-api.js
+++ b/src/lib/orbitdb-api.js
@@ -177,7 +177,9 @@ class OrbitdbAPI {
                 method: ['POST', 'PUT'],
                 path: '/db/{dbname}/inc',
                 handler: dbMiddleware( async (db, request, _h) => {
-                    return {hash: await db.inc(parseInt(request.payload.val || 1))};
+                    let incval
+                    incval = parseInt(request.payload ? request.payload.val || 1 : 1);
+                    return {hash: await db.inc(incval)};
                 })
             },
             {