Video Accuses Honey Browser Extension of Shady Business Practices and We Found Some Truth to It – Snopes.com

Honey is a popular extension for web browsers that claims to scour the web for coupon codes, helping people find the best deals when shopping online. The extension also operates a reward points system, giving users a bit of cash back every time they make a purchase. 
In 2018, after people wrote to Snopes asking whether the service was legitimate or too good to be true, we investigated and concluded that Honey was indeed legit — that is, it did provide consumers with discounts and rebates, as advertised. In 2019, PayPal purchased Honey for $4 billion.
More recently, in late December 2024, a wildly popular YouTube video reported otherwise. The video, uploaded to the YouTube channel MegaLag under the title “Exposing the Honey Influencer Scam,” reported what it characterized as shady business practices underlying the operation of the browser extension and labeled it a “scam.” Following the release of the Honey exposé, Snopes readers once again contacted us, asking for an updated investigation. 

The video’s creator, a man identified only as Jono, claimed his findings were based on a multiyear investigation into Honey and PayPal. We were able to reproduce many of the video’s findings. While calling Honey a “scam” for consumers is not entirely accurate, the video demonstrated a large difference in what Honey does for a user and what the general public might believe it does.
Snopes reached out to the creator of the video, MegaLag and PayPal for comment.
Explaining the video’s concerns about Honey requires an explanation of a common internet business model: affiliate links, or commission payments for online customer referrals. These links are the online equivalent of a salesperson’s business card. After buying a particular product, retailers might ask who helped you so they can credit that sale to a particular person. An affiliate link works the same way, albeit behind the scenes.
As an example, The New York Times’s product reviewing site, Wirecutter, makes money from affiliate links. Every Wirecutter story includes links to recommended products on online retail sites such as Amazon. Every time a consumer clicks one of those links, the online retailer notes that the consumer arrived at that page through Wirecutter — the equivalent of being handed a business card. Then, if the consumer decides to purchase the product, the retailer will ask the computer for the online business card so it can send a commission payment to Wirecutter. 
Generally, the note is stored in the form of a cookie, which means the information is stored for a set amount of time, even if the browser is closed. That allows the affiliate to make money off the sale even if the consumer waits a few days to do more research before buying a product.
According to MegaLag’s video, interacting with the Honey pop-up on a checkout page to search for discounts or gain reward points also changes that affiliate cookie to direct the commission to Honey. This switch happens even if Honey does not find a discount or reward points. 
Snopes independently confirmed in several tests that using Honey changed the affiliate cookie to a value indicating that Honey’s parent company, PayPal, would receive the commission. This fact has been confirmed by posts made on Honey’s official social media accounts and its FAQ, which currently reads that the company makes money “when a member uses Honey to find available savings or to activate PayPal Rewards.” 
The video argues this business practice negatively impacts smaller creators who make money from affiliate links, because Honey does not make it clear that using the extension will redirect the affiliate commission to PayPal, even if a consumer uses an affiliate link in order to support a smaller creator.
Additionally, the video asserts that Honey does not always find users the best discounts, either. Despite the browser extension’s past advertising, the video showed multiple examples of Honey not presenting the best coupon codes to the consumer. Further supporting this claim is wording from Honey’s FAQ page for partner businesses and its terms of use agreement. According to the FAQ page, any business that has an official partnership with Honey (in order to partner, a business must pay Honey a 3% commission) can add or remove codes from the platform. Additionally, the following paragraphs can be found within Honey’s terms of use agreement:
While we try and find you the best available discounts and coupons, and to identify low prices, we may not always find you the best deal. PayPal is not responsible for any missed savings or rewards opportunities.
[…]
PayPal does not promise or guarantee that the product details, prices, coupon availability or other service terms, rates or rewards offered by any particular advertiser or other third party via our Service are the best prices, best terms or lowest rates available in the market.
The video’s creator — who has published other videos purporting to expose consumer scams — said these findings are just one part of his investigation and that he will continue to expose other questionable behavior on behalf of Honey and PayPal. Snopes will update this story if later videos contain more essential information.
“About Us.” Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World, https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/about/. Accessed 26 Dec. 2024.
Carson, Biz. “PayPal Buys Coupon Browser Extension Honey For $4 Billion.” Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/bizcarson/2019/11/20/paypal-buys-coupon-browser-extension-honey-for-4-billion/. Accessed 26 Dec. 2024.
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Forrester. “Head-Scratcher Of The Month: PayPal’s Costly Acquisition Of Honey.” Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/forrester/2019/12/03/head-scratcher-of-the-month-paypals-costly-acquisition-of-honey/. Accessed 26 Dec. 2024.
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How Does Honey Make Money? – Honey. https://help.joinhoney.com/article/30-how-does-honey-make-money. Accessed 26 Dec. 2024.
“How Wirecutter Makes Money.” The New York Times, 23 Apr. 2024. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/how-wirecutter-makes-money/.
Http://Get.Joinhoney.Com/Business/Faq/. https://get.joinhoney.com/business/faq/. Accessed 26 Dec. 2024.
Smith, Dave. “Is Honey a Scam? The Popular Money-Saving Browser Extension Touted by YouTubers like MrBeast Is Accused of Ripping off Customers and Influencers.” Fortune, https://fortune.com/2024/12/23/honey-extension-scam-drama/. Accessed 26 Dec. 2024.
“What Is Affiliate Marketing? Everything You Need To Know in 2025.” Shopify, https://www.shopify.com/blog/affiliate-marketing. Accessed 26 Dec. 2024.
Jack Izzo is a Chicago-based journalist and two-time “Jeopardy!” alumnus.
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