PayPal Honey: Difference between revisions

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==Incidents==

=== Affiliate-tampering controversy (''Dec. 2024'') ===

===Affiliate-tampering controversy (''Dec. 2024'')===

==== MegaLag Investigation (''Dec. 2024)'' ====

====MegaLag Investigation (''Dec. 2024)''====

On December 21 2024, the tech-related YouTube channel MegaLag posted a video titled "Exposing the Honey Influencer Scam," in which they alleged that Honey was engaging in systematic manipulation of affiliate marketing links through a process known as "cookie stuffing."<ref>[https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/laguna-niguel-man-receives-fifteen-month-prison-term-defrauding-ebay "Laguna Niguel Man Receives Fifteen-Month Prison Term For Defrauding eBay"] ''U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of California''. August 4, 2014. Retrieved January 18, 2025.</ref> Through this type of "affiliate poaching," Honey was alleged to have removed the original content creator's affiliate cookie, which tracked that the content creator was responsible for the sale so they could receive a later commission, and instead injected Honey's own affiliate cookie without the user's knowledge. Through this process, Honey effectively claimed the commission for the sale that would have gone to the content creator who originally guided the user to the product. Honey did this even when it explicitly offered no discount or coupon codes to the purchaser.

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The video presented several scenarios in which this "affiliate poaching" would occur, even when Honey offered no discounts or coupons to the user, namely:

* Upon the user clicking "Activate Rewards" when presented with a Honey pop-up indicating to do so.

*Upon the user clicking "Activate Rewards" when presented with a Honey pop-up indicating to do so.

* Upon the user clicking "Got It" to acknowledge and discard a Honey pop-up stating, "We searched for you but didn't find any deals."

*Upon the user clicking "Got It" to acknowledge and discard a Honey pop-up stating, "We searched for you but didn't find any deals."

* Upon clicking "PayPal" when presented with a Honey pop-up recommending the user check out via PayPal, which owns Honey, even when the option was already present on the native website and would have preserved the original content creator's affiliate cookie and commission if the user had done so through that website and not Honey's pop-up.

*Upon clicking "PayPal" when presented with a Honey pop-up recommending the user check out via PayPal, which owns Honey, even when the option was already present on the native website and would have preserved the original content creator's affiliate cookie and commission if the user had done so through that website and not Honey's pop-up.

===== Affiliate test =====

=====Affiliate test=====

Part of the investigative piece included a section in which MegaLag tested what would happen to their own commission when purchasing a product with Honey and without Honey. They signed up for an affiliate program through a popular VPN provider and then made two distinct purchases. One purchase was made using the Honey browser extension, and the other without using the extension. They made each purchase using a VPN server in different countries (one in the USA and one in the Netherlands), and used "separate, new browser sessions with cookies cleared."<ref>{{Cite web |first=MegaLag |date=21 Dec 2025 |title=Exposing the Honey Influencer Scam |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc4yL3YTwWk |url-status=live |access-date=08 Jan 2026 |website=YouTube.com |at=11:03-11:07}}</ref> They also signed up for Honey's rewards program to test how much of the commission would be shared with a consumer.

They found that when purchased without the use of Honey, they received a $36.50 commission for the sale as expected. However, when purchasing the product with the use of Honey, MegaLag received no commission and the commission was instead redirected to Honey. MegaLag also demonstrated that of the $35.60 commission poached by Honey, only $0.89 was shared with the purchaser via the rewards program.

==== Misleading consumers ====

====Misleading consumers====

Additionally, contrary to marketing claims about finding "the best deals," Honey was found to have agreements with partner stores allowing them to control which coupon codes appeared through the extension. This meant stores could hide better discounts while only showing Honey users lower-value coupons. The practice directly contradicted years of marketing claims that promised users they would "always get the best deal possible."<ref name="megalag-video" />

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''on a more funny note, the current live version of the TOS<ref name="terms-of-use" /> (checked on 5 February 2025) shows "Last updated January 16, 2024"''

=== Coercing businesses to partner with Honey in order to protect private discount codes (''Dec. 2025'') ===

Further investigations released by Megalag in December 2025 allege that Honey promotes discount codes for businesses that have not consented to partner with them, including scraping and publicizing discount codes meant for private employee use and not intended for public use. The promotion of these codes has been reported to have negatively affected the financial standing several smaller businesses.

When asked by such businesses to remove these private discount codes, Honey is alleged to have told those businesses that they are unable to remove the codes unless the business agrees to partner with them, essentially paying a fee to be protected from a service they do not want to partner with. Honey is also reported to have attempted to deceive such businesses about the company's capacity to remove such discount codes, with one agent claiming to one business that Honey was unable to remove a private employee coupon code from public distribution unless the business partnered with Honey, just one month after the same agent agreed to remove the private code of another business upon request. Honey eventually agreed to remove the code, however the business claims that the problem has occurred repetitiously.

==References==

[[Category:PayPal]]

@@ Line 36: / Line 36: @@
 ==Incidents==
-=== Affiliate-tampering controversy (''Dec. 2024'') ===
+===Affiliate-tampering controversy (''Dec. 2024'')===
-==== MegaLag Investigation (''Dec. 2024)'' ====
+====MegaLag Investigation (''Dec. 2024)''====
 On December 21 2024, the tech-related YouTube channel MegaLag posted a video titled "Exposing the Honey Influencer Scam," in which they alleged that Honey was engaging   in systematic manipulation of affiliate marketing links through a process known as "cookie stuffing."<ref>[https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/laguna-niguel-man-receives-fifteen-month-prison-term-defrauding-ebay "Laguna Niguel Man Receives Fifteen-Month Prison Term For Defrauding eBay"] ''U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of California''. August 4, 2014. Retrieved January 18, 2025.</ref> Through this type of "affiliate poaching," Honey was alleged to have removed the original content creator's affiliate cookie, which tracked that the content creator was responsible for the sale so they could receive a later commission, and instead injected Honey's own affiliate cookie without the user's knowledge. Through this process, Honey effectively claimed the commission for the sale that would have gone to the content creator who originally guided the user to the product. Honey did this even when it explicitly offered no discount or coupon codes to the purchaser.
@@ Line 49: / Line 49: @@
 The video presented several scenarios in which this "affiliate poaching" would occur, even when Honey offered no discounts or coupons to the user, namely:
-* Upon the user clicking "Activate Rewards" when presented with a Honey pop-up indicating to do so.
+*Upon the user clicking "Activate Rewards" when presented with a Honey pop-up indicating to do so.
-* Upon the user clicking "Got It" to acknowledge and discard a Honey pop-up stating, "We searched for you but didn't find any deals."
+*Upon the user clicking "Got It" to acknowledge and discard a Honey pop-up stating, "We searched for you but didn't find any deals."
-* Upon clicking "PayPal" when presented with a Honey pop-up recommending the user check out via PayPal, which owns Honey, even when the option was already present on the native website and would have preserved the original content creator's affiliate cookie and commission if the user had done so through that website and not Honey's pop-up.
+*Upon clicking "PayPal" when presented with a Honey pop-up recommending the user check out via PayPal, which owns Honey, even when the option was already present on the native website and would have preserved the original content creator's affiliate cookie and commission if the user had done so through that website and not Honey's pop-up.
-===== Affiliate test =====
+=====Affiliate test=====
 Part of the investigative piece included a section in which MegaLag tested what would happen to their own commission when purchasing a product with Honey and without Honey. They signed up for an affiliate program through a popular VPN provider and then made two distinct purchases. One purchase was made using the Honey browser extension, and the other without using the extension. They made each purchase using a VPN server in different countries (one in the USA and one in the Netherlands), and used "separate, new browser sessions with cookies cleared."<ref>{{Cite web |first=MegaLag |date=21 Dec 2025 |title=Exposing the Honey Influencer Scam |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc4yL3YTwWk |url-status=live |access-date=08 Jan 2026 |website=YouTube.com |at=11:03-11:07}}</ref> They also signed up for Honey's rewards program to test how much of the commission would be shared with a consumer.
 They found that when purchased without the use of Honey, they received a $36.50 commission for the sale as expected. However, when purchasing the product with the use of Honey, MegaLag received no commission and the commission was instead redirected to Honey. MegaLag also demonstrated that of the $35.60 commission poached by Honey, only $0.89 was shared with the purchaser via the rewards program.
-==== Misleading consumers ====
+====Misleading consumers====
 Additionally, contrary to marketing claims about finding "the best deals," Honey was found to have agreements with partner stores allowing them to control which coupon codes appeared through the extension. This meant stores could hide better discounts while only showing Honey users lower-value coupons. The practice directly contradicted years of marketing claims that promised users they would "always get the best deal possible."<ref name="megalag-video" />
@@ Line 81: / Line 81: @@
 ''on a more funny note, the current live version of the TOS<ref name="terms-of-use" /> (checked on 5 February 2025) shows "Last updated January 16, 2024"''
+=== Coercing businesses to partner with Honey in order to protect private discount codes (''Dec. 2025'') ===
+Further investigations released by Megalag in December 2025 allege that Honey promotes discount codes for businesses that have not consented to partner with them, including scraping and publicizing discount codes meant for private employee use and not intended for public use. The promotion of these codes has been reported to have negatively affected the financial standing several smaller businesses.
+When asked by such businesses to remove these private discount codes, Honey is alleged to have told those businesses that they are unable to remove the codes unless the business agrees to partner with them, essentially paying a fee to be protected from a service they do not want to partner with. Honey is also reported to have attempted to deceive such businesses about the company's capacity to remove such discount codes, with one agent claiming to one business that Honey was unable to remove a private employee coupon code from  public distribution unless the business partnered with Honey, just one month after the same agent agreed to remove the private code of another business upon request. Honey eventually agreed to remove the code, however the business claims that the problem has occurred repetitiously.
 ==References==
 {{Reflist}}
 [[Category:PayPal]]