Honey (coupon browser extension) scam

[RxR]

Wut?

I'll be surprised if honey owner doesn't get sued in some jurisdiction

 

[Minusorange]

I used it but like everyone, never ever got the best price, what I didn't know about was the sneaky referral changing going on, still going to use Paypal though because, what's the other option ?

 

[arknor]

ncorrect !
Did you watch the video ?

To the consumer, Honey is advertised as ‘it will get you the best price possible’, and ‘it will find you the best coupon available’

not getting the best deal is hardly the same as getting scammed, lazy people get a discount, most of them wouldn't have found the best discount available anyway.

just infuluencers trying to get it ousted as a bad programme wahhhhhh wahhhhh, it's stealing my money....

most influencers are stealking other peoples content all the time... 90% of them have no originality



Microsoft Edge can auto fill in codes too and doesn't always find the best ones, it's just how it is

Signing deals with stores to give them Honey specific codes, likely the code also would give them a commission when used and generate more profit that way too. This will also reduce the end user's discount as it does not give the best code to the user.

It's the same thing for all affiliates? I would personally always edit out the affiliate on a link anyway

BTW I saw a video the other day that made me think of you

Someone found the worlds largest tube TV that had been sitting in some nooddle factory/restaurant in Osaka

Crazy they put such an expensive 200kg TV in what they say was basically a waiting room

 

[Raymond Lin]

I used it but like everyone, never ever got the best price, what I didn't know about was the sneaky referral changing going on, still going to use Paypal though because, what's the other option ?

Paypal as a payment service is fine. There is actual value there. We know they get a cut and a fee. That is up front and transparent.

That is the issue, Honey is not being transparent. It is deceiving on many levels.

 

[Dis86]

You're lucky I don't bread dangerous dogs

Do you prefer yours battered?

 

[SKILL]

I'm no lawyer but all the claims I've seen seem to have enough ambiguity to not quite cross the line, maybe at some point that'll be taken to court and decided properly one way or the other but until then it's just opinions either way.

Sure Honey are shady but I'm personally leaning to the side of 'just' shady rather than outright illegal. Deception is just the way modern capitalism works it seems.

 

[Chuk_Chuk]

Mr Beast, LTT and others have been involved in shady stuff before, so this doesn't surprise me in the slightest. Given YouTube's own adverts seem to be scams half the time, I'm not surprised that the advert-in-the-video is also a scam.

Well the idea of a free internet being built on the back of advertising is now collapsing. There simply doesn’t seem to be enough ad dollars to support it without scam companies getting involved.

And I have my doubts on the actual effectiveness of those ad dollars. It feels like marketing is an industry built on the success of a few specific highly successful examples. Dare I say they are the modern day snake oil sales men.

 

[NickK]

Doesn't mean content is paid for by the consumer - Advertising already takes care of that on YT.

But then, what entitles you to make money from putting your opinion on the internet, in the first place?

Nothing prevents you from offering a collative and opinion service if people are willing to pay to make it worthwhile.

Payment in kind - the act of providing the product or the service for free (including vacations). They should pay income tax but how many do?

 

[Raymond Lin]

Well the idea of a free internet being built on the back of advertising is now collapsing. There simply doesn’t seem to be enough ad dollars to support it without scam companies getting involved.

And I have my doubts on the actual effectiveness of those ad dollars. It feels like marketing is an industry built on the success of a few specific successful examples. Dare I say they are the modern day snake oil sales men.

It depends.

This is this dude who just uploads his twitch gaming streams (4hrs or so) directly to YouTube, with no edits...so no work required really. He got....$84,000 over a 4 month period.

Of course, if the video cost you $100,000k to make, then it's not good. But this cost him nothing and he made $84k (before tax).

It seems there is money to be made, you just need an audience.

 

[Chuk_Chuk]

It depends.

This is this dude who just uploads his twitch gaming streams (4hrs or so) directly to YouTube, with no edits...so no work required really. He got....$84,000 over a 4 month period.

Of course, if the video cost you $100,000k to make, then it's not good. But this cost him nothing and he made $84k (before tax).

It seems there is money to be made, you just need an audience.

I’ve seen that video and that was all from Google ads if memory serves me right.

Google ads still has scam companies constantly peddling nonsense. I remember seeing ads as I was scrolling for a scam mr beast giveaways in the YouTube app.

Remove all of those ads as well as the buy my course and make 6 figures in 6 weeks and how much money would google ads really bring in?

Google was in hot water because they lied about actual verified eye balls on their ads. They wouldn’t need to do that if the industry was actually healthy.

 

[ttaskmaster]

Nothing prevents you from offering a collative and opinion service if people are willing to pay to make it worthwhile.

Nothing preventing those people from deciding your service ain't worth **** and withdrawing or reassigning their comission-generating referral codes either, it seems.
Maybe you haven't influenced enough people to justify your payment (in kind or otherwise)....

Payment in kind - the act of providing the product or the service for free (including vacations). They should pay income tax but how many do?

Some interesting guidance on what is and isn't considered taxable income/advertising content - Includes links to the official ASA guidance for content creators and influencers:

Sponsored Content: What Are The Rules? – Ethical Influencers

ethicalinfluencers.co.uk

 

[mid_gen]

I’ve seen that video and that was all from Google ads if memory serves me right.

Google ads still has scam companies constantly peddling nonsense. I remember seeing ads as I was scrolling for a scam mr beast giveaways in the YouTube app.

Remove all of those ads as well as the buy my course and make 6 figures in 6 weeks and how much money would google ads really bring in?

Google was in hot water because they lied about actual verified eye balls on their ads. They wouldn’t need to do that if the industry was actually healthy.

Do you know how ads work? Doesn't matter what the thing being advertised is, or how much of a scam it may be, the advertiser has to pay in order for you to have seen it.

Companies don't pay for Google ads out of wishful thinking, they do it because that's how you get your product in front of an audience and sell it.

 

[arknor]

This is this dude who just uploads his twitch gaming streams (4hrs or so) directly to YouTube, with no edits...so no work required really. He got....$84,000 over a 4 month period.

He showed how a starfield live stream he did make him 100k.

it was like a 14hour stream or so, he did a video showing the revenue breakdown and how people watching it as a recording made him the most $$


I have zero symnpathy for any streamers crying about their affiliate links being hijacked after they promoted the thing in the first place..., they make a disgusting amount of money as it is they don't even need to use affiliate links, or paid adverts in the videos.
it's pure greed

 

[Demon]

Paypal as a payment service is fine. There is actual value there. We know they get a cut and a fee. That is up front and transparent.

That is the issue, Honey is not being transparent. It is deceiving on many levels.

Indeed,

Not sure how anyone watching the video and claims can't really see the beyond reasonable doubt scummyness...

Last click tracking cookies to take the affiliate money is not my real concern, but the claims of 'rest assured you have the best deal possible' and how they allow retailers to set the maximum discount codes that can applied by the app is just very shady..

However, I don't use honey, I've known for years it's pants and find better codes and get better cashback elsewhere..

 

[Hades]

I had it installed after my son persuaded me years ago. But I don't usually use affiliate links and with it never returning a discount I stopped using it a long time ago and just used various other methoids for discounts. After finding out about it replacing affiliate links I've uninstalled it and clearly stated in the reason for uninstall exactly why.

 

[Chuk_Chuk]

Do you know how ads work? Doesn't matter what the thing being advertised is, or how much of a scam it may be, the advertiser has to pay in order for you to have seen it.

Companies don't pay for Google ads out of wishful thinking, they do it because that's how you get your product in front of an audience and sell it.

You are off on a tangent and I’m not sure how the misunderstanding came about.

 

[Raymond Lin]

He showed how a starfield live stream he did make him 100k.

it was like a 14hour stream or so, he did a video showing the revenue breakdown and how people watching it as a recording made him the most $$


I have zero symnpathy for any streamers crying about their affiliate links being hijacked after they promoted the thing in the first place..., they make a disgusting amount of money as it is they don't even need to use affiliate links, or paid adverts in the videos.
it's pure greed

He wasn’t moaning, he was commenting on another video (what we are talking about here).

There is also a difference between him earning a butt ton of money not doing much and other YouTubers being scammed out of money.

I also don’t think you know how the whole platform works…it’s not about greed, it’s about diversifying your income streams. Ads, views, sponsorship, merchandise, donations, Patreons etc are all avenues to make money. Most of the people on YouTube have a short career. Even Tom Scott has “retired”. They either burn out or they get into some controversy and get cancelled. So they make as much as they can and then get out.

Their greed is no different to you wanting a pay rise at work, the only difference is the number of digits.

And I repeat, being greedy, or wanting a better discount, shouldn’t mean you should be scammed. They can be mutually exclusive.

I’m sure you are well aware of that and no need to link these 2 irrelevant topics together.