Let’s dive into Honey — the browser extension you’ve probably seen your favorite influencers rave about. It’s the one promising to save you money by automatically applying coupon codes at checkout. It’s built a cult-like reputation as a must-have for online shoppers, with influencers hyping it up as a no-brainer way to score “free money.” Sounds great, right? But here’s the kicker: Honey might not be the golden deal it’s made out to be. In fact, it could be one of the biggest deceptions in influencer/affiliate marketing.
Disclaimer
This story has gained significant attention over the past couple of weeks, but it’s important to note that, at this stage, these are merely allegations amongst the creator community and legal community, and none of the claims have been proven in court. We are simply relaying the developing store, and the following article does not reflect our opinion.
These claims accuse PayPal of replacing affiliate links, indicating that the content creators drove traffic to purchases with links crediting Honey, a browser extension owned by PayPal that applies coupon codes on e-commerce websites. Kristensen Law Group, EKSM and Eagle Team filed the putative class action lawsuit on Dec. 29 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Northern California, San Jose Division.
Honey, now owned by PayPal, faces serious accusations of undermining both consumers and the very influencers promoting it. The alleged scam? Honey may be hijacking affiliate commissions — a critical income stream for content creators. By overwriting original tracking cookies with its own, Honey could be pocketing commissions meant for influencers. This isn’t a small glitch; it’s a multi-million-dollar issue that could be draining creators’ earnings without them even realizing it.
**Here are the allegations about Honey’s practices, which have raised serious concerns:
- Affiliate Cookie Replacement: Honey allegedly replaces influencers’ affiliate cookies during checkout, redirecting commission credit to themselves instead of the original content creator.
- Cashback Manipulation: Honey Gold—now PayPal Rewards—reportedly incentivizes users with cashback offers to ensure they secure the final click, allowing Honey to claim the affiliate commission.
- Unnecessary Clicks: Honey allegedly prompts users to perform extra clicks to lock in their affiliate credit, even when those actions may not be necessary.
Additionally, Honey’s coupon-finding claims have been questioned. Businesses partnering with Honey can reportedly control which discount codes are shared, often withholding the best deals from users. This explains why consumers sometimes find better discounts on their own.
The concerns don’t stop with consumers. Businesses are also impacted. Honey is accused of applying discounts without proper authorization, leading to unexpected costs that disrupt pricing strategies. These practices have even drawn attention from the Better Business Bureau.
While none of these claims have been proven in court, the allegations paint a picture of potentially exploitative and deceptive business practices, raising significant questions about the ethics of Honey’s operations and its partnerships with influencers.
Background and Initial Claims
Overview of Honey’s Promotion as a Money-Saving Tool
By now, most people have heard about Honey, the browser extension that claims to save you money by automatically applying coupon codes at checkout. It’s been marketed so aggressively that it’s hard to avoid. The promise is simple: install Honey, and you’ll never have to hunt for coupon codes again. It’s supposed to be free money, and who wouldn’t want that?
Description of Influencers’ Endorsement and Consumer Trust
Influencers across YouTube and other platforms have been a significant part of Honey’s marketing strategy. These influencers, often trusted by their audience for their recommendations, have promoted Honey as a must-have tool for online shopping. The pitch is always the same: Honey is free, easy to install, and saves you money without any effort. With influencers vouching for the product, many consumers didn’t think twice before adding it to their browsers. The trust placed in these influencers transferred to Honey, making it one of the most popular browser extensions available.
Introduction to the Investigative Process and Initial Skepticism
Despite its glowing endorsements, growing skepticism around Honey’s practices began to surface. Questions arose about how a free tool was generating revenue, prompting a closer look into its business model. The investigation involved reviewing hundreds of documents, analyzing advertisements and sponsorships, and consulting with various stakeholders. As the findings unfolded, it became clear that consumers might be misled — and influencers promoting Honey could unknowingly be part of a larger scheme. The deeper the investigation went, the more it appeared that Honey might be orchestrating one of the biggest scams in the influencer space, potentially causing financial harm to creators without their awareness.
Scenario 1: Overwriting Affiliate Cookies
Explanation of Affiliate Marketing and Tracking Cookies
Affiliate marketing is a straightforward concept where content creators, like influencers, earn a commission for driving sales to a retailer through their unique links. A tracking cookie is saved in their browser when a viewer clicks on an influencer’s affiliate link.
This cookie ensures that if the viewer makes a purchase, the retailer knows to credit the influencer for the sale.
Take, for example, a popular tech influencer like Linus Tech Tips. When he shares an affiliate link in his videos, it contains a specific tracking tag, such as “shortcircuit,” which helps the retailer identify him as the source of the sale.
This tag is stored as a cookie in the viewer’s browser, typically for 30 days, ensuring that even if the purchase isn’t immediate, Linus still gets his commission.
Description of Honey’s Process of Replacing Cookies
Enter Honey, the browser extension that’s supposed to save you money by applying coupon codes at checkout. But here’s the twist: Honey can replace these affiliate cookies. When you reach the checkout page and Honey offers to applydiscounts, it quietly opens a new tab and replaces the existing affiliate cookie with its own. This maneuver effectively steals the commission from the original influencer who promoted the product.
Detailed Process of How Honey Claims Commissions
Here’s how it unfolds: You click on the affiliate link from Linus’s video, and his cookie is set in your browser. At checkout, Honey pops up, and you click to apply discounts. Honey then executes a sneaky move by opening a tiny, almost unnoticeable new tab. This tab acts as a phantom referral click, which tells the retailer that Honey referred you to make the purchase, not Linus. Consequently, Honey claims the commission that should have gone to Linus.
*The Following evidence was tested and supplied by Youtuber Megalag
Evidence Gathered Through Personal Testing
Youtube channel Megalab uncovered that Honey systematically replaces affiliate cookies, redirecting commissions from content creators to itself. After conducting personal tests and receiving confirmation from Honey, it became clear that this wasn’t an accident but a deliberate practice. Honey’s actions, described as potentially fraudulent, significantly affect influencer earnings — and this may only be the beginning of their questionable tactics.
Scenario 2: Honey Gold and Last Click Attribution
Introduction to Honey Gold and its Rebranding as PayPal Rewards
Honey Gold is a feature of the Honey browser extension that markets itself as a cashback program. It’s supposed to reward users for their purchases by giving them points, which can be redeemed later.
How Honey Gold Encourages Users to Click for Cashback
So, here’s how it goes down. You’re at the checkout page of an online store. You’ve done all your shopping, and you’reready to complete your purchase. Suddenly, Honey Gold pops up, urging you to click to get cashback. Just a simple click, and you could get rewarded. Sounds enticing, doesn’t it? Except, there’s a catch. Honey is ensuring that clicking they’re the last interaction before you complete the purchase.
Explanation of the Last Click Attribution Model and its Exploitation by Honey
Now, we need to understand the last click attribution model. It’s a common practice in affiliate marketing where the entity responsible for the last click before a purchase gets the credit (and commission) for that sale. Honey knows this well and uses it to their advantage. By encouraging you to click for Honey Gold right before you buy, they mop up the commission meant for the original referrer. That referrer could be your favorite influencer who introduced you to the product in the first place. Honey swoops in at the last moment, effectively cutting the original affiliates out of the deal.
Scenario 3: Unnecessary Clicks and Commission Theft
When it comes to prompting unnecessary consumer clicks, Honey has it down to an art form. They’ve crafted a system that cleverly nudges users into giving them the last click—often without providing any valuable service in return. This scenario is where Honey’s tactics become particularly grating. Even if there are no new coupons to apply, Honey still prompts an interaction, ensuring that they steal the commission credit by merely being the last to interact with the user’s purchase process.
Imagine this: You’re ready to buy a product, and Honey pops up with a dancing coin or a cheerful reminder to apply coupons, even when they have nothing to offer. This little ritual offers no real savings or value to you as the consumer. Instead, it’s all about ensuring that Honey is the final touchpoint before the purchase is finalized, thereby securing their undeserved commission.
PayPal Checkouts: The Sneaky Last Click
One of the particularly galling examples of this unnecessary click-bait is when Honey offers to check out with PayPal.You might already see PayPal as an option on the checkout page, yet Honey’s prompt makes it seem like they’re offering something exclusive. This prompt is misleading. It’s not about providing convenience but ensuring they get that last click. When users click to proceed with PayPal through Honey’s prompt, they unwittingly hand over the commission credit to Honey, robbing the original affiliate of their rightful earnings.
Criticism of Honey’s Aggressive Tactics
Honey’s aggressive pursuit of the last click blatantly disregards fairness in the affiliate marketing ecosystem. They exploit the simplicity of ‘last click wins’ to divert commissions away from the original affiliate who genuinely earned it through their promotions and content. It’s a tactic that not only frustrates content creators but also deceives consumers who believe they’re getting additional value from Honey.
Partner Businesses’ Control Over Coupon Codes Shared by Honey
Here’s how the scam works: Partner businesses have the power to dictate which coupon codes Honey can share. Thismight sound absurd, but it’s true. According to Honey’s own FAQ, partners control the discounts that appear on the platform. This setup lets businesses keep the most attractive offers away from consumers, undermining Honey’s central promise to find the best possible deals. It’s essentially a rigged game where the house always wins. Sure, Honey will apply some discounts, but only the ones that their partner businesses have sanctioned. It’s a strategic ploy that benefits everyone except the consumer.
Impact on Influencers and Content Creators
Widespread Promotion of Honey by Influencers
If you’re a regular on YouTube or social media, you’ve probably heard about the browser extension Honey. It’s beenmarketed as a magical tool that saves you money by automatically finding coupon codes at checkout. The pervasive promotion by influencers made it sound irresistible. Influencers portrayed it as free money. Install it, and never pay full price again—what’s not to love? This narrative was everywhere, spearheaded by high-profile users who often had no idea that Honey was quietly siphoning money out of their pockets.
Tech Channel Breaking Ties
The tech industry wasn’t spared from Honey’s questionable practices. Take Linus Tech Tips, one of YouTube’s largest tech channels. For years, they promoted Honey, encouraging millions of viewers to install the extension. However, they eventually cut ties with the company. Why? They discovered that Honey was quietly overriding their affiliate links, effectively stealing commissions they had rightfully earned. Despite the long-standing partnership, Linus Tech Tips ended it once they realized the extent of the unethical behavior. This kind of covert manipulation is shockingly underhanded, yet it went mostly unnoticed and unaddressed for years.
Reflecting on the Deceptive Business Model of Honey and PayPal
As we’ve meticulously unraveled the practices of Honey, now owned by PayPal, it’s clear that their business model is builton deceptive foundations. What appears to be a friendly, money-saving tool is actually a sophisticated mechanism for redirecting affiliate commissions intended for creators into their own pockets. The misleading nature of Honey’s operations extends beyond users to creators and businesses alike. By exploiting the nuances of affiliate marketing, such as last-click attribution, Honey effectively ensures it captures commissions without adding genuine value to the purchase journey.
Moreover, by positioning itself as a consumer ally that finds the best deals, Honey effectively masks its true operations.The reality is that partnering businesses control which discounts are shared, allowing them to manage consumer perceptions while Honey takes its cut. This tactic not only misleads consumers but also pressures businesses by facilitating unauthorized discounts, impacting their financial strategies.
Ethical Implications of Browser Extensions
The ethical landscape of marketing tools and browser extensions calls for rigorous scrutiny. Extensions like Honey, while initially appearing beneficial, could potentially have far-reaching negative impacts if left unchecked. The alleged practices of overwriting affiliate cookies, misleading consumers regarding discounts, and exploiting businesses demand a closer look at the ethical implications and responsibilities such companies hold.
Wrapping Up
We would love to hear your thoughts on this as the story continues to develop!
