ShopBack (and Assuming Others) Also Guilty of Stealing Affilate Link Hijacking Like Honey

ricadam on 23/12/2024 - 22:39
Last edited 23/12/2024 - 22:39

For the background, please check out this link which goes into detail of what Honey has been accused of. I decided to post this separately to the original post as it's in relation to ShopBack (and assuming other cashback sites that are used frequently here on this site).

I thought I'd just take a look at ShopBack in particular as I have that installed on my browser currently. Turns out, clicking "Activate Cashback" on a website changes whatever previous affiliate link you had to theirs.

This means that if you had wanted to use a referral code from your favourite influencer, or anyone on this site who had uploaded their referrals. That person would have missed out on a commission. It also means ShopBack returns a very small fraction of the stolen affiliate money back to the user as a cashback, just like Honey Gold.

For the test, I used lego.com. I went to a well known Lego blogger, Jay's Brick Blog, picked a product link (that contained his affiliate URL), activated ShopBack and noted the affiliate URL and cookie before and after the activation, just like the youtube video about Honey. The general commission rate if you were an affiliate for Lego is 3-5%. Whereas the ShopBack cashback is currently only 1.8%, which means that they would pocket the difference for every sale they poach from unsuspecting users.

General Discussion Cashback

Related Stores

ShopBack AU
ShopBack AU
Third-Party

Comments

  • Clear on 23/12/2024 - 22:40
    +8

    Surely this is a joke post right?

    • ricadam on 23/12/2024 - 22:40
      -4

      What makes you say that? Genuinely curious?

      • Clear on 23/12/2024 - 22:44
        +7

        Scotty summed it up well. How do you think the cashback providers are making any money if they give you 100% of the affiliate commission from your purchase? Are they taking out loans to fill your pockets with cashback? That won't last long.

        A percentage of the affiliate income (usually on the smaller side) will be kept by the cashback provider while the rest goes to you. Sometimes they'll do massive increases as a form of loss leading (which does cost them money) or the stores will give them increases.

        • ricadam on 23/12/2024 - 22:48
          -3

          Didn't see that comment from him, thanks for pointing it out.

          Taking a portion of a commission is one thing, and that could be expected. But there is a lack of transparancy when it comes to refferal link hijacking. They are assuming that most people don't know much (or anything) and abusing that to skim off the top.

          • Clear on 23/12/2024 - 22:50
            +5

            @ricadam: If the cashback providers via affiliate networks don't use a referral link, cookie etc. then how is your purchase going to be tracked and how is the cashback going to be paid? There's nothing malicious happening here in your example. It's doing what it's supposed to… tracking your purchase.

            You "activate cashback" via the plugin/website/app, make a purchase, it gets picked up by the affiliate network, the affiliate network attributes the commission to the referring cashback provider and the cashback provider adds a tracked purchase to your account.

            If we take AliExpress for example. The standard rate that TCB/SB/CR would normally get is 7% (roughly) outside of promotions. The standard rate for CR is currently 4.5% and TCB is 5.5%. That means only 2.5% and 1.5% is being pocketed by both. While SB have had their rate increased by AliExpress so they're able to raise theirs to 7%.

            Now if this was 'Honey Gold' it would have been reversed. You'd get 1.5% and they take the rest. You as the consumer making money is not in their best interests. It's just an incentive to get you to use their plugin to "find deals" and make them more money. While a cashback provider's main goal is to make you money.

            • marshmall0w2 on 24/12/2024 - 00:06
              -1

              @Clear: Bro, you have to stop being disingenuous with this. It is one thing for a "cashback" company to claim that using their services for cashback is due to clicking on the link they provide on their website or by clicking the button provided by their extensions to claim said cashback; and another thing to quietly track every other link clicks through to their network by having their extensions installed and then burying this mechanic in comparison to their "transparent" how-does-it-work page, which only references clicking buttons and their links consensually.

              It is also quite disingenuous to say that it is cashback provider's main goal to make us money. No, their main goal is ALWAYS to earn money. Multiple sales research online show that companies putting themselves on cashback websites generate more sales. These companies actually pay cashback websites and cashback websites also admit this fact. Cashback websites are essentially glorified gamification sales boards similar to huge sales discounts found on Asian shopping sites, except instead of direct huge discounts, they give "cashbacks" instead. But the effective price is the same. In fact, in reporting terms, companies can even report the sales made through cashbacks as the actual figure because they are not actually marking down the products. Then, the cashback expenses of companies is another reporting figure.

              • Clear on 24/12/2024 - 00:10

                @marshmall0w2: If your first paragraph is true and Shopback is "secretly" recording other clicks and stealing profit there are ways we can easily find that out. As they have with Honey. I'll wait for proof.

                My remark about the difference between Honey wanting to suck all the money out of you vs cashback companies wanting to give you money back was a very basic, generalised comment. I could write a whole wall of text explaining the business model but I don't think it's relevant. You've covered enough of it.

                I should disclose that I have worked on the development of an affiliate network about 4-5 years ago too :)

  • ThePointsGuru on 23/12/2024 - 23:18
    +6

    Isn't this how any browser extension work? (shopback, Cashrewards, Topcashback, Qantas Shopping, Velocity Shop and earn).
    Clicking on activate cashback is just a shortcut for visiting the site via ShopBack. They have created the browser extension to alert you of available cashback and make it easy to mimic shopping via shopback with just one click.

    • ricadam on 23/12/2024 - 23:25
      -4

      The issue here is if you using an existing refferal code, and then activate the cashback. They change your previous refferal code to theirs. So the intial provider of the refferal code now no longer gets the commission.

      I guess it's up to you to determine if that's shady or not. Because they do not tell that this would happen.

      • ThePointsGuru on 23/12/2024 - 23:31
        +9

        How can you expect the merchant to pay a commission to both Shopback and the previous affiliate? The merchant will only pay for the click that generated the sale and in this case its Shopback

      • Clear on 24/12/2024 - 00:05
        +5

        That's what we call double dipping. If that was allowed you could make a fortune.

        Lets use Temu as an example. You'd activate 100% cashback ($50 cap) at Cashrewards, 45% at Shopback and 38% for Topcashback. That's 183% cashback and the store would lose out big time.

        Unfortunately some people think this is allowed and will often complain in cashback deals. Then the reps come in with proof that the last click was a different provider, or even Honey.

  • CodeXD on 23/12/2024 - 23:27
    +11

    tl;dr activating shopback cashback uses shopback affiliated

    Isn't this common sense? lol

    • DoctorCalculon on 24/12/2024 - 22:15

      OP did not understand the concept of "Last Click Attribution".

  • SBOB on 23/12/2024 - 23:35
    +3

    had wanted to use a referral code from your favourite influencer

    And why would you do this, instead of actually getting the financial benefit yourself via whatever cashback option you're clicking?
    Does JV send feet pics for referral clicks?

    • eug on 24/12/2024 - 10:48

      And why would you do this, instead of actually getting the financial benefit yourself via whatever cashback option you're clicking?

      Some people want to support the content creator who brought the product to their attention. They can do that by using their referral code.

  • askbargain on 24/12/2024 - 00:02
    -2

    Well done OP, don’t let the haters bring you down.

    • Murkymerv on 24/12/2024 - 05:21

      They can only hate here , cashback is a waste of time.

  • 7ekn00 on 24/12/2024 - 01:01
    +3

    I'd rather have the cash back than give it to a poor struggling influencer that has to peddle merc/affiliate links to be appealing ;)

    If I want to support a creator, I don't click the cashback / honey link …

    Have made sure a few affiliate links for items reviewed by Project Farm actually had his affiliate links in the cookies!

  • plmko on 24/12/2024 - 01:14
    +2

    Lol I bet OP thinks they've found something but actually did a no shit sherlock moment.

    This thing blowing up is a storm in a tea cup rage bait.

  • 1989jdm on 24/12/2024 - 07:24
    +1

    You lost me at “your favourite influencer”
    We live in very different worlds

  • Repstar on 24/12/2024 - 07:37
    +2

    This is a dumb post. “Activate Shopback” is your referral link.

  • zerog101 on 24/12/2024 - 08:46

    This isn’t the same as honey tbh… honey was making claims that were untrue regarding coupon codes. Activating cashback isn’t really the same.

    If ShopBack doesn’t find cashback does it still take the commission ? Now that would be something

  • pegaxs on 24/12/2024 - 09:11
    +1

    Tell you what, OP, you are going to shit and fall back in it when you hear about what retail stores do… apparently they buy the goods in their stores at what they call a “wholesale” price and then sell it to us with a markup on it and call that “retail” price… and you know what they say when we find out they are jacking up the “wholesale” price? That they are just making a profit to cover expenses…

    I know it sounds like a conspiracy theory, but “trust me, bro”, they really are doing this…

  • JimmyF on 24/12/2024 - 13:28

    Turns out, clicking "Activate Cashback" on a website changes whatever previous affiliate link you had to theirs.

    That's how the Cashback works…. They take the 'affiliate' commission and give you some cents from it.

    The difference is, you are doing this, while honey was doing it without telling you they had been.

  • geeaad on 24/12/2024 - 13:36
    +1

    Also, Honey does that stupid "Hey, no coupons found" [click got it] yoink

    From my experience the Cashback stores are initiated by the user.

    • JimmyF on 24/12/2024 - 15:15

      From my experience the Cashback stores are initiated by the user.

      That is the difference indeed, CB are user initiated, Honey seems to be verging on stealing/fraud with the, oh I've got no coupons for this site. Clicking ok on the prompt to make it disappear but really Honey secretly steals the affiliate commission.

  • c64 on 24/12/2024 - 18:08

    i suggest you create separate browser profiles for each affiliate you want to use. then they can't interfere with each other.

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