We revisit the role of shake-up and shake-off effects in neutrinoless double-$\beta$ decay, following earlier work by Drukarev et al. [Phys. Rev. C 94, 035504 (2016)]. We find in agreement with Drukarev et al. that the $Q$ value of the decay is reduced by any atomic excitation in the final-state but not by the difference in atomic binding energy of the initial and final state atoms, as was recently suggested by Mei et al. [Mod. Phys. Lett. A 37, 2250058 (2022)] and Mei et al. [Nucl. Phys. A. 1032, 122623 (2023)]. We discuss how the absorption of subsequent atomic de-excitation ejecta shifts the neutrinoless double-$\beta$ decay peak back to its nominal value. We propose an in situ experimental verification of these ideas, and discuss the impact of shake-up and shake-off on two-neutrino double-$\beta$ decay spectral shapes.

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• Beta decay
• Double beta decay
• Neutrinoless double beta decay
• 59 ≤ A ≤ 89
• 90 ≤ A ≤ 149