If the OP is direct linking the article to the Vendor's sales page then yes, it would be the same. However, if the OP is linking to their own landing page to pre-sell the visitor, then no... a hop would then be from a button or link on the landing page to the vendor sales page.
It seems to be a problem for many people this past week. I have sent in a request for more infor on my account however i still have not hread back from them and my account has not changed. Again, several people I know are having the same issue. I did have a few guy test the system and made a purchase and never got credit for it. the credit went only to the seller and the affiliate promoting the product. Hope this helps and hope this is a problem they fix soon.
I've got a similar situation brewing. I'm promoting a product and, at this point, have had over 400 hops, 27 order impressions, 1 sale. Is the problem the actual sales landing page?