One self-purchase can zero out a year of earnings

One self-purchase can zero out a year of earnings
The mistake people rationalize: clicking your own link to 'test it' and buying. Amazon's terms ban commissions on your own orders, and the pattern (same IP, same payment) is trivially flagged.
— Accounts closed for self-referral forfeit all pending balance, not just the flagged order
— Reinstatement rate after this specific violation: near zero, anecdotally
Fix: test links in an incognito window, never complete checkout. Use the SiteStripe 'Get Link' preview, not a live buy.
So what: the downside is your entire unpaid balance and account — the upside of testing-by-buying is $0.