Honey scam (the browser extension for voucher codes)

Probably relects poorly on my character, but when it transpired that the people mainly affected by the scam were also the same YT hucksters shilling it in the first place, i laughed pretty hard.

Yeah, I can't say I have much sympathy for some of them but to be fair it was being done in a very under-handed way and Honey is, on the surface at least, a legitimate company (and acquired by PayPal a while back) so it wasn't as though they were deliberately pedaling what they knew to be a scummy company. The fact Honey are also scamming users by deliberately withholding the best voucher codes in many cases though takes it beyond not having sympathy for a few millionaire YouTubers

If you have it installed, it will also be stealing affiliate links from singletrackworld btw.

Unsurprisingly there's a lot of videos about it on YouTube but most of the sentiment from consumers is interest rather than outrage.

Personally, I tried it a while back and it seemed to fail to find me anything useful. I concluded that whatever honey were doing to make money they were getting more from the deal than me so I uninstalled it. Now I know that they were making their money by being sneaky and underhand I certainly don't regret my decision.

It's the first I've heard of it, but it sounds like the dead last sort of thing I'd want installed into my browser.

I'm shocked that a business model we all knew was set up to capitalize on affiliate links was making money off affiliate links, SHOCKED.  Come on, the whole point of their extension was they inserted themselves as the affiliate link in every transaction you made.

Next you'll tell me that you weren't aware topcashback / groupon / quidco are also taking the referral money and not paying you 100% of it.

Same but different with Tredz, Sigma Sport or any of the other shops that offer you another fiver off if you sign up to their newsletter and use a code.  It's because their T&Cs state that if you use a voucher code it doesn't then qualify for affiliate marketing / cashback, etc and they know you'll take the £5 off and they won't have to pay >£5 to google / STW / etc.

it doesn’t always give the best available codes

That bit at least is news to me and a bit sneaky.  Although not entirely unsurprising.

I’m shocked that a business model we all knew was set up to capitalize on affiliate links was making money off affiliate links, SHOCKED.  Come on, the whole point of their extension was they inserted themselves as the affiliate link in every transaction you made.

I'm not sure it was as obvious as that, now for sure it wasn't obvious what their business model actually was (as at least one YouTuber flagged a few years ago) as they were spending loads of money on advertising and seemingly just providing a way to save consumers money and that probably should have been more of a red flag but given it's taken several years for this to be fully uncovered I don't agree it's obvious. Honey never stated anywhere they were replacing affiliate referrals with their own (especially as they do it even if they don't find a voucher code!) in order to make their money.

I've never actually used Honey myself and only became aware of it when the investigation video popped up in my feed, I was still pretty outraged though at just how scummy they've acted. Even just the affiliate referral thing is scummy, OK if they paid a popular creator thousands for them to advertise Honey in a video I'm less outraged by that content creator likely having lost money in the long run as they would be getting less affiliate link revenue (that's almost amusing in how devious it is) but for all the other businesses and creators who Honey didn't pay for advertising but still lose out on the affiliate link revenue if people installed Honey it's just plain scummy.

I’m shocked that a business model we all knew was set up to capitalize on affiliate links was making money off affiliate links,

I think Honey's particular business model relied on consumer clicking an affiliate link from the creator's video (in the expectation that the creator would get a kick back), and at checkout replacing that link with one of their own that meant that they got the kick-back instead.

I think Honey’s particular business model relied on consumer clicking an affiliate link from the creator’s video (in the expectation that the creator would get a kick back), and at checkout replacing that link with one of their own that meant that they got the kick-back instead.

It did that anyway.

It's not that different to how any other cashback site works.  If you use topcachback then that gives you the cashback rather than pay STW / A.N.Other advertiser that kickback.  The only difference was it did it even if there was no discount code.  They all work in a similar way by inserting themselves as the "affiliate ".

Same if you search for "voucher code for ........" and click on a site, whether there's a code or not there will be a HotUKDeals, Daily Mail, Sun, and whoever else trying to get you to click on their site so they can then be the last link in the purchase so they get the referral.  Honey just did it more efficiently by being a plugin.

I've noticed that Bing now does the same in Edge, it'll even link you to a competitor if it finds a cheaper price elsewhere.

Maybe it's just my slightly autistic brain but I genuinely though this was all pretty obvious what they were doing?

Maybe it’s just my slightly autistic brain but I genuinely though this was all pretty obvious what they were doing?

Yeah so did I.

I used it for a while, but haven't seen the pop-up thing on any browsers recently... checked email and apparently I 'earned' from a purchase in December. Well I never.

So looked at the site, which shows I've got £60 worth of vouchers I had no idea I was collecting. Better stick em on me Amazon account.

I feel proper scammed!

I still think this is different. If you go to a site like HotUKDeals and follow their link to the seller's site then they should get referral revenue. But if say you're already on the seller's web-site (opened by using an affiliate link) and in a separate window Google for voucher codes then there's two choices:

1). You follow a link on the voucher code site that opens another tab to the seller's web-site and that would grant the voucher site the referral revenue (nothing wrong with that, even if you used someone else's affiliate link to get the seller's web-site originally you have deliberately initiated a new connection to the seller's web-site from the voucher code site).

2). You just copy the code from the voucher site and paste it into the seller's web-site you previously opened. I don't think any shadiness can happen here, the only way I see the voucher site gets revenue is if it's a unique voucher code linked to the voucher site (not sure if that's a thing, if it is and if the voucher site then gets all the referral revenue it's a bit crappy for the affiliate and it would be better if the referral revenue was split but even so I think it's still way less scummy than what Honey is doing).

With Honey it's more hidden in that not only is still not made obvious to the consumer that the affiliate revenue is no longer going to who they thought it was but they are stealing the affiliate revenue even if they don't provide a voucher code (so they add absolutely nothing to the transaction). Heck even if you don't ask Honey to check for vouchers it can still insert itself and replace the affiliate tracking in certain situations.

Can confirm that if you have this installed in your browser and then click on a link on the forum that leads to a sale, our affiliate link will be replaced by Honey and we won't get the sale.

While I do fully appriciate the loss of earnings for the affliliate links,  like Mark has just stated above..

For the end customer, who was probably going to pay full price anyway...
If Honey gives you a 5% discount code, and not a higher 10% code... I have still saved 5% more than planned, by just having it in my browser..

I am struggling to understand what the problem is here? And why people who don't 'earn' from Honey would care about this?

If Honey gives you a 5% discount code, and not a higher 10% code… I have still saved 5% more than planned, by just having it in my browser..

Because even if it finds zero vouchers for you it still replaces the affiliate link with its own. So you get no value from it and Singletrack also loses out and hence has to put up prices/new ads.

Honey just did it more efficiently by being a plugin.

whilst collecting your browsing, purchasing & online transaction history. As long as you're cool with that...

TINAS you are misunderstanding it, it's essentially hijacking every affiliate link you click and claiming the profit as theirs. The Legal Eagle vid on YouTube (only about 10 mins or so long) explains it well.

It’s the first I’ve heard of it, but it sounds like the dead last sort of thing I’d want installed into my browser.

I heard of it ages ago when everyone was promoting it. TBH I didn't realise it was an extension and just another coupon site.

Had I realised what it was then no, no bloody way. How long had it been since those of us in the know were deleting browser toolbars and other shite hijacking out clueless friends and relatives computers? Not that long.

Probably relects poorly on my character, but when it transpired that the people mainly affected by the scam were also the same YT hucksters shilling it in the first place, i laughed pretty hard.

Yeah it does tbh. It's not like it's a gambling site or any of the many ills folk promote. That you think someone deserves to be ripped off just for advertising something fairly innocuous speaks volumes.

How long had it been since those of us in the know were deleting browser toolbars and other shite hijacking out clueless friends and relatives computers? Not that long.

Precisely my reasoning.

I am struggling to understand what the problem is here? And why people who don’t ‘earn’ from Honey would care about this?

Their advertising and messaging within the extension is they're always providing you the best discount code available, that's a flat out lie and designed to stop more savvy consumers googling for codes and trying them. Instead they charge the seller a commission to only present codes up to an agreed discount level. Sure you might still make a saving but it's still deceitful, if they marketed it as "a convenient extension to maybe find some voucher codes for people that don't want to bother searching for better codes" then that would be different.

“a convenient extension to maybe find some voucher codes for people that don’t want to bother searching for better codes

That's exactly what I saw it as.

I mean, the extension itself says

"Honey: Automatic Coupons & Rewards
Automatically find and apply discounts when you shop online!"  er...

Thanks to this thread, I now have £50 sat on my Amazon account I didn't know I had. (I can assure anyone concerned that STW won't have lost a single penny of revenue due to my use of Honey. So no-one has been "scammed")

whilst collecting your browsing, purchasing & online transaction history. As long as you’re cool with that…

I'm not particularly and I don't have Honey or similar plugins for that reason.

TINAS you are misunderstanding it, it’s essentially hijacking every affiliate link you click and claiming the profit as theirs. The Legal Eagle vid on YouTube (only about 10 mins or so long) explains it well.

No I'm not misunderstanding it, that's exactly how I assumed it worked.

(I can assure anyone concerned that STW won’t have lost a single penny of revenue due to my use of Honey. So no-one has been “scammed”)

Do you have the extension installed?

Because if you do and you've used any links posted here then yes, they have lost out.

@Squirrelking

Thats also not how it works either.. Just having the extension installed doesn't mean the STW will have lost out.

Its only once you choose to use Honey that the link is changed.. Not saying thats okay, but it doesn't work like you've stated.

Also, I firmly believe every user on here would care more about the chance of getting a discount, then they do STW getting a kickback.

Also, I firmly believe every user on here would care more about the chance of getting a discount, then they do STW getting a kickback.

Speak for yourself.

@jhpbk

Yes, sorry, you're right. The complaint states though, that if you click the Honey pop-up at any time during the checkout process then they hijack the sale link so it may not be as clear cut as "didn't ask for codes".

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69503243/9/wendover-productions-llc-v-paypal-inc/

(para 32)