Honey, Stealing Comissions and Preventing Real Discounts

OzBurger on 22/12/2024 - 19:08
Last edited 23/12/2024 - 00:00 by 1 other user

https://youtu.be/vc4yL3YTwWk?si=-DxmlZTdKYvxNO7A

https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/1hjmjsx/megalag_exp…

Honey is a browser extension that claims to offer the best possible discount by offering coupon codes.

It appears that they are overriding affiliate clicks and stealing comissions as well as preventing people from geting the best discounts possible.

Wouldn't you know it, they are part of PayPal.

tl;dr: Honey acts against the best interest of both influencers that promote it and users that use it.

Honey overrides referral cookies even if it didn't find any discount code. This effectively means that actual affiliates get no money from Honey user purchases and it goes to PayPal instead.

Honey Gold returns a very small fraction of this affiliate money back to the user. MegaLag tested it on his own referral link with and without Honey and comparing the results: he received $35.60 commission from the purchase without Honey, and $0.89 worth of Honey Gold points with Honey activated.

Honey publicly states that its business partners have control over the codes that are presented to users. So a user relying on Honey will be intentionally given worse discount codes than they might have been able to find on their own manually.

TLDR from Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/1hjmjsx/comment/m37…

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Comments

  • Clear on 22/12/2024 - 19:17
    +2

    TIL honey had a cashback program. Before that it was always well known they were dishing out affiliate links to their users and bringing in the rewards for themselves. Affiliate marketing is good money. Why do you think cashback sites here always mention not to use it?

    • OzBurger on 22/12/2024 - 20:09

      I had seen Honey before but never bothered to install it as it seemed very USA centric.

      This explains why sites like Cash Rewards wouldn't work when they are used.

      • neoleo on 22/12/2024 - 20:43
        +1

        I didn't notice Honey extension in my Safari browser before today or maybe I forget. I have Paypal app installed though. I have disabled this extension before cashback transactions today, no problem with tracking.

      • Clear on 22/12/2024 - 20:50
        -1

        It's been a common theme over the years. People click through CR/SB and then go activate some discounts from Honey. The commission goes to the last click and that's Honey. Sooooo many forum posts and negs in deals have been caused by this.

  • welcomeUniverseWorld on 22/12/2024 - 19:35
    +4

    Thanks. I just removed it.

    • OzBurger on 22/12/2024 - 20:09
      +1

      Excellent

  • Gdsamp on 22/12/2024 - 19:47
    +1

    Just watched this video. as always if the product is free you are the product

    • Gdsamp on 22/12/2024 - 19:50
      +1

      Also, iirc Microsoft Edge has a similar feature - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/edge/learning-center/save-mo…

      Are they doing something similarly scummy here?

    • OzBurger on 22/12/2024 - 20:10

      Absolutely.

      Some times you just accept this as fact. But stealing the "last click" from the Influencers they were paying to promote their "service" is pretty scummy.

  • Sye on 22/12/2024 - 20:16
    +1

    Another case of corporate theft and they get away with it.

    • OzBurger on 22/12/2024 - 20:44

      Absoloutely!

  • neoleo on 22/12/2024 - 20:32

    I have disabled this extension in my Safari settings for iPad before I used Shopback for Pizza Hut transactions today. I have changed a lot of settings in my iPad to ensure no problem with cashback tracking. No problem so far.

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/comment/16090469/redir

  • holdenmg on 22/12/2024 - 20:32

    I like https://zyft.com better than Honey.
    :+)

  • askbargain on 22/12/2024 - 20:56
    +2

    I use Honey only on Edge (third browser). Edge allows you to only run add on when clicked. Just use it to find a coupon code and copy it to your main browser.

  • cashless on 22/12/2024 - 22:05
    +3

    I thought this thread was going to be about shrinking your kids

  • Rebsphere on 23/12/2024 - 00:08

    I did not know this. Thanks for posting. Will be removing Honey from my Chrome browser.

  • geekcohen on 23/12/2024 - 05:41

    Okay, so due to this - I've removed it (like many others). Now the question is, what are alternatives? Honey has provided me with some great coupons recently and saved me a few bucks when doing Xmas ordering.

  • OBEY YOUR MASTERS on 23/12/2024 - 09:29

    Its a wonder that some kind of legal case cant be made againt Honey/Paypal? It seems like straight up theft?

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