The Honey controversy was too big and too relevant for us not to cover.
If you’re an online shopper, you've likely heard of Honey, the popular browser extension that promises to save you money by automatically applying discount codes at checkout. But recently, Honey has come under scrutiny for practices that many argue undermine not only the fairness in online shopping in relation to affiliate deals, but also the effectiveness of Honey itself. Here’s everything you need to know about the Honey controversy and why it matters.
What Is the Honey Controversy?
On Dec 21, MegaLag released a video titled Exposing the Honey Influencer Scam. In the video, he provides some pretty serious accusations on Honey's shady practices. Not only does MegaLag show up with proof though, he reached out for comment from Honey and they directly confirmed his suspicions through email.
There are three main points of contention that he brings up:
- Deceptive Marketing: Honey poses itself as the "easy to use" discount tool that works almost everywhere. While they can save you money, they are fundamentally in the affiliate marketing game as proved by the other two points. This deceptive marketing erodes trust in what Honey is actually designed for.
- Affiliate Deal Poaching: When Honey is "looking for discounts," it reportedly replaces existing affiliate cookies with its own. This means that if you clicked a link from a creator or influencer to support their work, Honey may overwrite their cookie and take the commission for itself. You can often save money if no codes are found through Honey's Gold program, but the amount its saving you is often multiples less than what they are pocketing off of the affiliate deal (sometimes 50x or even more). Ironic, especially when Honey sponsors the very creators that it steals affiliate commissions from.
- Discount Manipulation: Honey also allows sponsored creators and brands to control which discounts are shown to users. For example, even if Honey finds a discount code that offers a better deal, it may only display the sponsored code if that’s what the brand or creator has agreed to promote.
These practices make it apparent that the platform’s primary goals are not to save you money. That's just a nice side effect of you sending them affiliate commissions for free by having them installed in your browser.
Why This Matters
At its core, the Honey controversy is about trust. Online shoppers think that tools like Honey get them the best deal online, but the tool fundamentally is designed to capture commission, often at the expense of a creator you may want to support. Sure, Honey saves its users money, but through these confirmed practices, you really wonder if it is the best deal out there.
Creators are also affected. Many influencers and bloggers rely on affiliate commissions as a key source of income. By overwriting their cookies, Honey effectively cuts them out of the loop, redirecting commissions to itself. For creators who work hard to build audiences and partnerships, this can feel like a significant betrayal.
What You Can Do
If you’re concerned about the ethics of money saving browser extensions, there are steps you can take:
- Uninstall Malicious Tools: MegaLag and others have gone through and found predatory behaviors in many browser extensions that are designed to "save you money". While this doesn't mean that they are all bad, it may be best to uninstall tools that practice taking affiliate commissions at the expense of the creator. If the tool is proven to not provide the best deal available, its definitely time to ditch it.
- Be Mindful of Affiliate Links: When buying online, use affiliate links from creators and when possible, try to use an "affiliate code" from creators to prove to the storefront that you are directly supporting a specific creator. You will likely also be getting a discount by doing so. If you have any browser extensions installed, know that interacting with them while on a specific store may override the attribution to your favorite creators, so be careful when using them.
- Transparent Plug: Look for browser extensions or platforms that prioritize transparency and respect for creators. Affiliate Directory (designed by Epicenter) is designed to ensure that affiliate commissions go to the creators you choose to support, without manipulation or interference. In light of this controversy, we have allocated resources to developing our own browser extension to combat these predatory practices.
How Affiliate Directory Is Different
Affiliate Directory was first built because supporting creators through online shopping is crucial for them, but not always easy unless you are ready to buy a tool right when you see a sponsored segment from a creator. Here's the key features:
- Creator Support: We ensure that affiliate links come directly from the creators you’ve chosen to support—no cookie overwriting, no link manipulation, no hidden agendas.
- Codes vs Links: Creators will often use affiliate links to promote their brands to their supporters, but if they have an affiliate code instead, users can often get a discount at the store. If you are already planning on buying something - why not use a code to get discounted and support your favorite creator at the same time.
- Ethical Discounts: We're not trying to poach a better deal for every sale. If there's no discounts at a certain website from creators you follow, we just wont have anything to offer. While this may not sound the best for the consumer - it prevents us from needing to play favorites or control the discounts you are seeing on a site.
If you are a Creator, consider signing up for Affiliate Directory and share your codes with your audience in a seamless way.
If you want to support your Creators, you can use Affiliate Directory to shop with confidence.
Final Thoughts
The Honey controversy has sparked important conversations about ethics in affiliate marketing. As consumers, we have the power to demand transparency and fairness from the tools we use. By choosing platforms that respect both shoppers and creators, we can help create a more ethical and equitable online ecosystem.
If you’re ready to shop smarter and support creators transparently, use Affiliate Directory today.
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