Q: How are affiliates earning commission on their own purchases?

Q: How are affiliates earning commission on their own purchases?

Self-referral. A partner clicks their own link, buys, and pockets the commission as an instant discount — sometimes in bulk through friends and burner accounts. It's small per order and easy to ignore until it's thousands a month.

Close the gap:

— Add an explicit no-self-referral clause and disqualify those orders in your terms.

— Flag orders where the buyer's IP, device, or address matches the partner's account.

— Watch for one-and-done partners: a single large order on their own link, then silence.

— For high-discount programs, this is your biggest leak — audit it monthly, not yearly.

Caveat: don't accuse on a single match — a partner genuinely buying your product once isn't fraud, and false accusations torch goodwill. Set a threshold (pattern of self-purchases, not one) before you act, and lead with a question, not a ban.

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