<b>Q: How do I stop affiliates from buying through their own links?</b>

<b>Q: How do I stop affiliates from buying through their own links?</b>

Self-referral (an affiliate placing their own order to pocket the commission, often stacked with a discount) is common and mostly preventable. Treat it as a terms issue plus a detection issue.

In your terms:

— State plainly that self-purchases earn no commission and repeated attempts mean removal
— Decide your stance on family/household orders and write it down

To detect it:

— Match affiliate account email, address, and payment details against order data
— Flag conversions where the click-to-buy time is near-instant on a high-value first order
— Watch for a partner whose only conversions are single orders to one address

Reverse the commission, keep the sale, and warn first unless the pattern is clearly systematic.

Caveat: a one-time self-test purchase to check that tracking works is normal and good-faith. Don't ban over it. The behavior worth acting on is repeated self-orders, especially stacked with a stackable coupon. Distinguish the two before you accuse anyone.

Got a question? Send it in.