I agree with you, I think the only way that they might be able to get someone to buy through a banner would be if there was some direct tie to the to the page.

I agree with you, I think the only way that they might be able to get someone to buy through a banner would be if there was some direct tie to the to the page. The page content would have to say something like "you can buy the item we reviewed through this banner, the vendor is reliable". I think it's still a bit of a stretch...