You probably must've heard about ‘Honey’ (aka joinhoney.com), a free browser extension that helps you save money by showing you discounts on the product you are purchasing. Many influencers have promoted the Honey extension, claiming it can help save money, but an investigation by YouTuber MegaLag reveals it’s a scam. Honey isn't only scamming users, but also the influencers and creators who once got paid to promote it. Honey is also stealing money from influencers with millions of dollars. What's more interesting is that Honey is being run by PayPal, who paid $4 billion for this browser extension.
Image: MegaLag / YT
How does Honey work that it is taking money from you instead of saving it? Let's say you watch a YouTube video and like a product being promoted. You immediately go to its affiliate link under the video and go to the website. If you make a purchase, the YouTube creator who directed customers to the website will get the commission too. The affiliate cookie will be of the YouTube creator’s and he will get the commission after the purchase happiness. You have Honey browser on, so it finds you ten coupon codes that you can apply to save the money during purchasing the product. But when you try to apply the coupon codes, none of them work. But do you know what happens when you turn to Honey browser to find some coupons for you? The creator’s affiliate cookie gets removed and replaced with Honey’s cookie and that's how they pocket the commission money for themselves.
Honey itself admitted that if Honey browsing extension is activated on a site while shopping, it receives the credit for the purchase made. Even if Honey finds a coupon code that works, it is still unethical and a fraud to get the affiliate cookie of the creator who recommended the product replaced with their own affiliate cookie to get the commission. There's a term in affiliate marketing called “Last Click Attribution” which means that the affiliate link which was last clicked gets the commission. For instance, you are looking for shoes to buy on a shoes block and choose one of them. But somehow you don't make the purchase there but after some days, you see the same shoes in a YouTube video so you click the affiliate link under it. This way the YouTube creator gets the commission and not the shoes blog. But in the case of Honey browser, it is always getting the last click no matter what the situation is. There's also PayPal Rewards that Honey offers so users click on Honey no matter what, giving it the last click. As a result, anyone who is advertising the product from influencers to bloggers do not get a penny.
Even if you are making a purchase from an affiliate link and Honey doesn't have to offer any coupons or rewards, its popup still appears with the message that it didn't find anything. When you click on the “Got It” button, it again changes the affiliate cookie to Honey’s. Similarly, if you are making a purchase and it has the option to pay via PayPal, Honey’s pop up again appears asking you to checkout with PayPal. When you click on it, affiliate cookies again change which means that commission is going to PayPal’s Honey. This means that influencers who promoted Honey and engage with affiliate marketing are losing their commission to Honey.
Honey also controls the amount of discount codes users get. You can find higher discount codes on the internet but Honey only shows discounts of lower value as the company Honey partners with can control what discounts customers get. This much means that Honey isn't showing the best deals possible, rather withholding them from users for their own financial gain. Many influencers still don't know what Honey is doing with them and the ones who came to know have immediately stopped their partnerships with the web browser. There is still more to Honey scam that needs to be uncovered so influencers and customers don't fall for it.
Read next: Google Maps Are Nearly Impossible To Use In The West Bank, Shocking New Investigation Reveals
How does Honey work that it is taking money from you instead of saving it? Let's say you watch a YouTube video and like a product being promoted. You immediately go to its affiliate link under the video and go to the website. If you make a purchase, the YouTube creator who directed customers to the website will get the commission too. The affiliate cookie will be of the YouTube creator’s and he will get the commission after the purchase happiness. You have Honey browser on, so it finds you ten coupon codes that you can apply to save the money during purchasing the product. But when you try to apply the coupon codes, none of them work. But do you know what happens when you turn to Honey browser to find some coupons for you? The creator’s affiliate cookie gets removed and replaced with Honey’s cookie and that's how they pocket the commission money for themselves.
Honey itself admitted that if Honey browsing extension is activated on a site while shopping, it receives the credit for the purchase made. Even if Honey finds a coupon code that works, it is still unethical and a fraud to get the affiliate cookie of the creator who recommended the product replaced with their own affiliate cookie to get the commission. There's a term in affiliate marketing called “Last Click Attribution” which means that the affiliate link which was last clicked gets the commission. For instance, you are looking for shoes to buy on a shoes block and choose one of them. But somehow you don't make the purchase there but after some days, you see the same shoes in a YouTube video so you click the affiliate link under it. This way the YouTube creator gets the commission and not the shoes blog. But in the case of Honey browser, it is always getting the last click no matter what the situation is. There's also PayPal Rewards that Honey offers so users click on Honey no matter what, giving it the last click. As a result, anyone who is advertising the product from influencers to bloggers do not get a penny.
Even if you are making a purchase from an affiliate link and Honey doesn't have to offer any coupons or rewards, its popup still appears with the message that it didn't find anything. When you click on the “Got It” button, it again changes the affiliate cookie to Honey’s. Similarly, if you are making a purchase and it has the option to pay via PayPal, Honey’s pop up again appears asking you to checkout with PayPal. When you click on it, affiliate cookies again change which means that commission is going to PayPal’s Honey. This means that influencers who promoted Honey and engage with affiliate marketing are losing their commission to Honey.
Honey also controls the amount of discount codes users get. You can find higher discount codes on the internet but Honey only shows discounts of lower value as the company Honey partners with can control what discounts customers get. This much means that Honey isn't showing the best deals possible, rather withholding them from users for their own financial gain. Many influencers still don't know what Honey is doing with them and the ones who came to know have immediately stopped their partnerships with the web browser. There is still more to Honey scam that needs to be uncovered so influencers and customers don't fall for it.
Read next: Google Maps Are Nearly Impossible To Use In The West Bank, Shocking New Investigation Reveals
