Almost everyone has seen a YouTube video where influencers promote something. This often includes Affiliate Marketing
. You click on a link, hopefully save some money, and the influencer receives a small commission from the purchase. However, one of the biggest companies in this field is reportedly not acting as it promises. A YouTuber shows how a subsidiary of PayPal is supposedly cheating even the influencers promoting the product.
Which company is it about? Honey is a browser extension designed to assist you while shopping. If you want to buy something in an online store, Honey offers you suitable coupons or discount codes with which you can save money. At least that’s the promise. In 2019, PayPal acquired the company behind Honey for 4 billion dollars (via techcrunch.com).
Honey is known to many viewers in the English-speaking YouTube space because big YouTubers like Mr.Beast or Linus Tech Tips frequently promoted the company, even having a link through which you could shop.
The YouTuber MegaLag has outlined in a recent YouTube video that Honey does not treat its customers or the influencers promoting it in a way that appears to be fair.
Influencers seem to promote something that does not help them, but harms them
What does MegaLag explain? In MegaLag’s current critical video about the company, it discusses Honey and how Affiliate Marketing
does not help the influencers at all.
In addition to conventional advertising segments within videos, there are also YouTubers like Linus Tech Tips who offer an affiliate link for stores. If you click on the link and purchase something, the influencer receives a commission at no additional cost to the viewer. For example, Amazon offers such a program.
Normally, the person whose link you used to switch to the Amazon offer receives the commission.
However, as MegaLag reveals, Honey apparently simply changes the link at checkout if you use Honey as a browser extension and click on a potential coupon.
If you click on a button of the Honey extension before checking out, Honey modifies the cookie by opening a website, thereby making Honey appear as the source that brought the customer to the page.
The influencer or the website that originally directed you to the offer thus ends up empty-handed. Honey takes the commission.
MegaLag tested this supposedly with links from several YouTubers, and Honey allegedly altered the cookies every time. He wrote to Honey and they supposedly responded that if you use Honey as the last page when purchasing something, Honey also gets the credit for the purchase.
You can watch the entire video from MegaLag here:
Few influencers seem to have noticed that the service disadvantages them
Where is the problem? Ultimately, influencers are promoting a browser extension that makes their own affiliate links
useless.
MegaLag criticizes that it is not transparent what is happening behind the scenes in cookies and links.
Have the influencers noticed it? Publicly, it seems only very few have noticed, as MegaLag explains in his video. Linus Tech Tips has supposedly confirmed in a reply on their forum that they have ended the collaboration, but that was only after over 100 videos.
Also, when Linus Tech Tips was asked for a statement, they explained that they had approached Honey to change the system, but Honey apparently did not want to. Now, according to MegaLag, Linus Tech Tips is working with a similar company.
A clip on x.com regarding the topic is currently going viral, in which the big YouTuber Markiplier already had a bad feeling about Honey years ago.
There are also supposed disadvantages for customers
At first glance, there are no disadvantages for customers using it, unless they really want to support their favorite YouTuber. However, MegaLag explains that Honey does not always display the best coupon available.
How plausible are MegaLag’s criticisms? MegaLag shows several examples in his video, as well as statements that can officially be linked to Honey, making his criticism quite plausible. Furthermore, this video is supposed to be just the first part of three videos that deal with Honey and its critical aspects.
German video creators also like to try to expose large companies or events. This includes the football EM, during which the YouTuber Marvin even faced serious trouble: YouTuber Marvin Wildhage usually exposes German influencers: He achieved his masterpiece during the football EM
