PayPal Honey
| Basic Information | |
|---|---|
| Release Year | 2012 |
| Product Type | Browser Extension |
| In Production | Yes |
| Official Website | https://www.joinhoney.com |
Honey (now PayPal Honey) is a browser extension and platform owned by PayPal since its acquisition for $4 billion in 2020.[1] The service, launched in 2012, is primarily known for its browser extension that automatically searches for and applies discount codes during online shopping checkout processes. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.[2]
Consumer impact[edit source]
Privacy[edit source]
- Collects extensive personal identifiers including name, email, IP address, and device IDs.[3]
- Retains data for up to 10 years after account closure.[3]
- Shares data with PayPal companies and merchant partners.[3]
- Tracks detailed shopping behavior, including purchases, returns, and browsing patterns.[3]
- Creates inference profiles based on shopping patterns and preferences.[3]
Freedom[edit source]
- Consumer choice restricted by intentionally hidden discounts and deals.[4][5]
- Mandatory acceptance of arbitration clause with class action waiver.[6]
- No user control over partner-privileged discount system.[4][5]
- Service can be terminated at PayPal's discretion without notice.[6]
- Users forced to accept terms modifications without direct notification.[6]
Transparency[edit source]
- Undisclosed manipulation of affiliate marketing links.[4][5]
- Hidden redirect mechanisms affecting commissions.[4][5]
- Selective display of coupon codes based on undisclosed partner agreements.[4][5]
- Subject to multiple ongoing class action lawsuits regarding alleged deceptive practices.[7][8]
Consumer-protection incidents[edit source]
Content-creator lawsuits (Dec. 2024)
In December 2024, a class-action lawsuit was filed against PayPal by Wendover Productions, LLC alleging that Honey manipulated affiliate marketing links without proper disclosure or compensation. The suits claim Honey replaced legitimate affiliate links with their own, even when no coupons were found for users. This practice allegedly impacted both content creators and consumers who intended to support specific affiliates.[7]
Gamers Nexus, LLC later filed a class-action lawsuit against PayPal in January 2025 highlighting the same issues.[8]
Affiliate-tampering controversy (Dec. 2024)
In December 2024, investigations revealed that Honey was engaging in systematic manipulation of affiliate-marketing links. The investigations found that when users clicked on content creators' affiliate links and subsequently used Honey during checkout, the extension would:
- Delete the original affiliate's tracking cookie
- Replace it with Honey's own affiliate cookie via a hidden redirect tab
- Claim the commission that was intended for the original content creator
This practice is an example of "cookie stuffing," where an affiliate injects their own affiliate cookie without the user's knowledge.[9]
Additionally, contrary to marketing claims about finding "the best deals", Honey was found to have agreements with partner stores allowing them to control which coupon codes appeared through the extension. This meant stores could hide better discounts while only showing Honey users lower-value coupons. The practice directly contradicted years of marketing claims that promised users they would "always get the best deal possible."[4]
Simon Wijckmans, CEO of c/side, noted that "When users purchased via an affiliate link with Honey installed, commissions intended for creators were redirected to Honey. Additionally, Honey misrepresented deals as the best discounts while partnering with companies to hide better offers."[5]
Significant changes on the Terms of Service (Oct. 2024 - Dec. 2024)
Several parts of the Terms of service were updated and added, such as
- Change of the Governing Law from England and Wales to California in the United States
- Addition of a Arbitration.
- a number of small changes between the lines.
Also noteworthy is that on January 8 2025 older versions of the TOS were available on archive.org, today (Jan 28 2025) the archive will show a "Failed to Fetch" error.[10]
To prevent loss of those details:
- copy of Paypal Honey Terms of Services from December 2024
- copy of Paypal Honey Terms of Services from January 2025
on a more funny note, the current live version of the TOS[6] (checked on 5 February 2025) shows "Last updated January 16, 2024"
References[edit source]
- ↑ Perez, Sarah (November 20, 2019). "PayPal to acquire shopping and rewards platform Honey for $4B". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 15, 2025.
- ↑ Metcalf, Tom; Verhage, Julie (January 28, 2020). "Coupon Duo Now Worth $1.5 Billion After Honey's Sale to PayPal". BloombergQuint. Archived from the original on December 9, 2020. Retrieved January 15, 2025.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 "PayPal Honey Privacy Statement". PayPal Honey. October 28, 2024. Retrieved January 15, 2025.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 MegaLag (December 21, 2024). "Exposing the Honey Influencer Scam". YouTube. Retrieved January 15, 2025.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Fernandez, Ray (December 24, 2024). "Is PayPal's Honey Misleading Users? We Investigate". Techopedia. Retrieved January 15, 2025.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 "Terms of Use". PayPal Honey. January 16, 2024. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Wendover Productions, LLC v. PayPal Inc, 5:24-cv-09470, (N.D. Cal.)". courtlistener.com. Free Law Project. Retrieved January 15, 2025.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "GamersNexus, LLC v. PayPal Holdings, Inc., 5:25-cv-00114, (N.D. Cal.)". courtlistener.com. Free Law Project. Retrieved January 15, 2025.
- ↑ "Laguna Niguel Man Receives Fifteen-Month Prison Term For Defrauding eBay" U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of California. August 4, 2014. Retrieved January 18, 2025.
- ↑ "Archived versions of joinhoney.com on archive.org" a fully functional archive of multiple versions were avaiable prior to January 25 2025 dating back to 2022