I hope I worded that right. Anyhow, we are always buying stuff through Amazon and we also have an Amazon affiliate account. If we click on one of our own banners to go to the Amazon store (say I click on a free shipping banner) do we get credit for it in our affiliate account? Is it against the TOS? Will we be penalized for it? Hope this makes sense. Thanks.
I do not think you can. The TOS says something about "Not placng an order under a session that you have opened for yourself, family, friends etc" I haven't read it recently, but I suggest that you do. This question has come up before - I imagine a lot - and people have said that they do buy through their own aff. links and had no trouble. But I do think it is against the TOS.
I don't know about amazon but most affiliate programs have a clear written policy against such things. Most of the time it's: no, you're not allowed.
It's quite specifically against the terms of service, though whether Amazon will bother to check and/or penalise you for doing so is another matter entirely.
You can use your links to place orders but this does not mean that they will give you commission on the purchases Amazon is known for debiting the commissions back for purchases made by you if they track them
no you are not supposed to do that quote Operating Agreement: "You may not purchase products during sessions initiated through the links on your site for your own use, for resale or commercial use of any kind. This includes orders for customers or on behalf of customers or orders for products to be used by you. Such purchases may result (in our sole discretion) in the withholding of referral fees or the termination of this Agreement."
I recently by accident used my own affililate link to purchase something, and they did take back the commissions. So you definitely can't use your own link.