Associate
It's not faux outrage when the consumer, influencer and retailer are being ripped off.
Honey (coupon browser extension) scam
- Thread starter hyperseven
- Start date
It's not faux outrage when the consumer, influencer and retailer are being ripped off.
On what basis - genuine q? Swapping out affiliate links I agree - but not having every single possible offer is a BS claim. What about student discount or blue light card? Or Samsung preferred purchase portal? Any fool thinking honey is the the final word in discounts is my line.
Associate
But the difference is that the honey pop up is saying "click here to check for discount codes". It is not saying click here for cashback. It seems like Honey is stealing the "last click" needed for the TopCashBack to work.
It’s stupid to think you can fit a comprehensive breakdown of a 20 min video in two bullet points. As proven by this post you made.
You didn’t understand the point Ray made (because you didn’t watch the video I’m sensing a theme here) and tried to dismiss it as faux outrage from a position of ignorance.
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Associate
Watch the video.
The replacing of the affiliate link is doesn’t seem illegal just scummy and it
messes up affiliate marketing.
Yeah makes sense - basically a license to print money with that feature. Still, no end user harm unless you red pill their impossible claim.
Did you even watch it? Usually those who can't summarise don't actually understand.
Associate
Not exactly sure what you mean by that but the end user harm is Honey stopping them getting cashback that they would have received if Honey hadn't tricked the end user into an action that basically disabled TopCashBack. Not to mention Honey not providing the cheapest discount codes available despite them promising that Honey would provide the cheapest discount codes available.
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It's a bit like a recruiter phoning you up for a job that was originally publicly available. If you've made all the work to find it then you've got a problem, if however the role was always and still is available but they offer a better way of getting the job due to contacts then there's nothing illegal in using them.
Nothing wrong with in competition in that way.. but I suspect if AWS etc change the referral mechanism then Honey is screwed.. and as all the others are out of business (monopoly) then suddenly the end user is pooched.
Because they offered stores the opportunity to choose which codes were or weren't offered to users, so it was sometimes withholding the best discounts available (and known to the platform).
Hmm not sure I fully buy that one. Cashback has always been fragile and not guaranteed - sites have always been clear offer stacking would result in rejected claims.
Available to whom though? I can see this being a useful feature for restricting publication of codes Vs. just reducing a consumers discount potential
However the user has elected to use and has not understood the result - hence it's still not Honey's legal problem (there's probably general T&C in honey's legals to support that too).
Is it anti-competitive - yes in the end, but in the short term it's not anti-competitive and it's just one company screwing over it's competitors in the market.
How legal it is in a global context, then it's up for debate..
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Yeah cashback sites are becoming less useful these days.
The landscape 10-15 years ago was different where you almost always get a better deal going through quidco/TCB, nowadays I barely use them as they're almost always more expensive.
Available to anyone.
They sold themselves to consumers on the basis it will find any discount available, they sold themselves to businesses on the basis they could restrict which of the available codes found/submitted it would actually show to the end users.
Caporegime
I think is theft tbh.
If i choose to support an influencer by buying through their code, then another popup hijacks that last click, then wtf?
He describes it well in a shop scenario where the salesman doesn't get the commission, but the cashier just yoinks it from the payment.
I genuinely am not too bothered but if I was involved in the chain, I'd be livid.
Them also false advertising the best deal or no deals found, very very shady.
If i choose to support an influencer by buying through their code, then another popup hijacks that last click, then wtf?
He describes it well in a shop scenario where the salesman doesn't get the commission, but the cashier just yoinks it from the payment.
I genuinely am not too bothered but if I was involved in the chain, I'd be livid.
Them also false advertising the best deal or no deals found, very very shady.
If availability was that ubiquitous you wouldn't need honey at all. There's a common sense middle ground that says if you weren't issued the code you aren't automatically entitled. Special codes for blue light card etc...
Caporegime
It's quite annoying or fun...when you can get a good deal but it requires actual work. I open several windows
1 - Direct, normal search, cookies and all
2 - Quidco - Fully let the site track cookies
3 - VPN, signed in
4 - VPN, signed out, incognito (and one signed in)
5 - Using the app on the phone for mobile prices
That would be just for 1 hotel booking site like Booking.com, then repeat on another site like Agoda.
And then I would do the same on just plain Google maps and then again on Tripadvisor.
Ended up with soooo many windows opened to save £5 a night.
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