Account at risk of deactivation for 'fake' used book without invoice. Advice wanted.

Account Health Product Authenticity and Condition
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The book in question was published in multiple editions. Some included a limited edition print on the front panel of the dust jacket. Most did not.

I had a copy that may previously have had the print. It was signed, and included a certificate of authenticity.

I listed it, and noted in my description that it did have the signature, but did not include the print.

I listed it on the corrrect Amazon page, which does not mention the limited print.

A customer bought the book. Despite the fact that the Amazon page does not mention any limited print, and the fact that I expicitly stated that no print was included…
He believed that he was going to get the print.

He received the book, and, of course, there was no print included.

He complained, and demanded a return & refund. He opened an AZ complaint. He returned it, and I refunded, of course.

However, in his complaint, he used the word ‘fake’.

So Amazon warned me that my account was at risk of deactivation. My rating is now 196, and I have a product athenticity complaint. I clicked throgh the links to appeal, and found that my choices were to admit that my product was fake, or to provide an invoice.
I contacted seller support, who, as expected, was totally unhelpful. The rep first told me that I had to provide invoices. After some conversation, he finally understood that used books did not have invoices. So he told me that I had to take the other alternative of admitting that I had sold a counterfeit.

I balked at this. I don’t want the professional or legal liability of admitting to having sold a counterfeit item. The rep assured me that my acount would not be deactivated, and that in 180 days the complaint would fall off and that the account would then not be at risk.

So, I have questions:

  1. Is the rep correct? Will my account be safe if I do nothing? ( I have no other faults on my account, other than the related AZ complaint. )

  2. Should I confess to the alleged sin? Will this make my account safer? Will it come back to haunt my account later?

  3. Should I consider arbitration? If so, how do I initiate it?

In summary, how do I make this go away with minimal damage suffered?

no coke

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I would take a bunch of pictures of the book all sides, etc.

& submit them in the appeal

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That sounds reasonable. However, submitting an appeal requires checking one of two boxes:

  1. Admit that you did sell counterfeit items, or
  2. Claim that you have invoices.

IOW, there is no option in which a seller can submit an appeal without explicitly claiming that one or the other is true. Yet both are false.

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I would claim I have invoices & submit the images in it’s place and upload a PDF letter with explanation as well if there is no box provided to enter details.

I can’t hurt.

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I used the ‘invoices’ option, clicking a bunch of boxes, attesting to a bunch of things that were not true. This got me to the point that I could submit a file.
I wrote a brief explanation of the issue, and submitted it.

Maybe they will read it.

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Did you ever hear back from @DBB or @earlylarkspur ?

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Did you ever hear back from @DBB or @earlylarkspur ?

In this thread ?

No, I have not heard from them. Our friend DBB last posted in late 2024, and it was a notice of a major software failure. So I do not think that they will ever participate here again.
Earlylarkspur was last seen in 2024 also. ( FWIW, Earlylarkspur still sells on Amazon, and shows a 99% feedback )

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Yes, several users seem to only visit when there is a specific need, as with OSFE. I had just hoped they had some insight for you.

Do you have an update @rms ?

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If you do nothing, you should be OK. Falling under 200 AHR does not mean that your account is in danger of suspension as much as that you are at risk if immediate suspension should anything else go wrong, rather than a warning. One violation of this type will not shut you down.

That said, if anything else happens before this violation falls off, you are more likely to have real trouble from it than you would if you got the same violation without this on your account. Since you are a relatively low volume seller and don’t have a lot of other sales to pad your metrics, I would be more cautious about keeping this on my account, just because of the risk of compounding violations.

I don’t think there is any reason not to try fighting it first, but I have no idea how. I do not sell books or used items, so I have nothing useful to offer in that regard.

If fighting it fails, admitting to the violation just to clear it seems relatively safe. I have done this for a few violations over the years and my metrics go back up, and I have never had any issues down the line as a result of my “admissions.”

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