Direct linking with redirect question, affiliate noob

I've been trying to figure out a way to get a jump start in all things IM and from what I can see affiliate marketing might be a good path to start with. Toying with the idea of direct linking using google adwords, or maybe bing but here's my issue. As I understand it google (and maybe bing etc...) will only allow 1 impression with a specific URL at a time. Thinking that if there are more than one affiliate using direct linking that only the top bidder for any keyword using the url of the merchant would ever show up. Assuming of course that my affiliate link having the URL to the merchant site would cause the "one impression" rule to come into effect. Is it possible (and/or advisable) to use a url in the ad that goes to one of my pages that would redirect to the merchant with my affiliate code? Or am I over thinking this? Just starting out I don't want to get banned right out of the gate. Not opposed to black hat tactics per say but want to have a grasp on what I'm doing so that I can lessen my chances of getting black listed. Thanks BTTH