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by now you've probably heard about honey
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you know the browser extension that
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saves you money do you have honey
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installed what's honey oh no no no honey
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honey is a free browser extension free
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browser extension free browser extension
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free browser extension that
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automatically applies coupon codes when
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you check out online free money
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basically it's literally free money it
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doesn't make sense to not be using this
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so what's the cat there is no kid join
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honey join honey join honey honey honey
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honey honey honeyone honey honey honey
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honey honey hone honey honey honey honey
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Jo
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Honey yeah I hate to break it to you but
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your favorite influencers sold you a lie
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honey is a scam and the majority of
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claims promoted by those influencers
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aren't even remotely true but it gets
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worse honey hasn't just been scamming
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you the consumer they've also been
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stealing money from influencers
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including the very ones they paid to
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promote their product and I'm not just
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talking about a few bucks here I believe
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the scam has likely cost content
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creators millions of dollars sound crazy
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well I didn't believe it at first either
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until I experienced it myself firsthand
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in fact I'm confident this might just be
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the biggest influencer scam of all time
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which is insane considering honey is
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owned and run by PayPal who purchased
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this company for four billion this
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three-part series is the result of a
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multi-year investigation where I believe
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I've uncovered signs of advertising
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fraud affiliate fraud the illegal
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collection of personal data deception
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lies coercion extortion the list goes on
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I've reviewed hundreds of documents
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adverts sponsorships I've reviewed
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emails between honey and Merchants
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interviewed victims believe me this runs
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deep now I want to be clear the views
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allegations and conclusions expressed in
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the series are my opinions based on
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evidence I have gathered which will be
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shared throughout with that said ladies
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and gentlemen this is the Honey Trap
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[Music]
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now I know what you're thinking it's a
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free browser extension how bad could it
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be well trust me it's far more Sinister
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than you might think you know what they
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say if a product's free it's likely
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you're the product and as you'll find
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out later in this investigation that
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remains true for payal honey now like
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most people I too fell for the lies I
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mean what's not to love about a free
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browser extension that saves you money
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it's a compelling product and with the
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endorsement from what feels like every
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single popular influencer on YouTube
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it's no wonder millions of people
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downloaded it ironically the very
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influencers promoting honey seemingly
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had no idea the company was quietly
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picking money out of their very own
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Pockets well at least one of them
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realized but we'll get to that later so
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let me show you how Honey's been
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stealing money from influencers so let's
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say you're watching a video on YouTube
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if you're into Tech like me maybe you're
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watching a lonus tich tips video lus
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tells you about this free browser
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extension that saves you money online
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you install it in two clicks and boom
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you have honey perfect timing because it
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just so happens you're looking to buy a
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new CPU for your computer you come
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across another Linus Tech tips video and
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after watching you're convinced you
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should buy the one recommended in this
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video so you scroll down and find
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Linus's affiliate link to that product
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now for those of you who don't know when
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you click an affiliate link and buy
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something The influencer Who promoted
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the product earns a commission for
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referring you to that store so you add
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the product to your cart get to the
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checkout page and hello honey says they
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found you1 coupon codes sweet you click
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apply discounts and honey gets to work
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but unfortunately none of the coupon
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codes work doesn't matter though because
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as honey has promised us for years that
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means we know we've got the best deal so
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you complete your purchase you're happy
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your new CPUs on the way lonus is happy
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he's getting his commission everyone's
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happy right well let's quickly rewind
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and see what was happening behind the
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scenes you see after clicking Linus's
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affiliate link you'll notice in the Eur
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L there's a tracking tag labeled short
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circuit that's a reference to one of
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Linus's YouTube channels and this
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tracking tag is how new knows who to pay
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a commission to we can also see that
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this tracking tag has been saved on my
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browser in the form of a cookie that
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will expire in 30 days that way if we
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only decide to complete the purchase a
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few days later lonus will still be
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credited the sale it's kind of like when
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you're at a department store buying a TV
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and the salesman who helped you gives
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you a referral card or a receipt with
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their name on it so when you eventually
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get to the checkout counter the clerk
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knows which salesman to award the sale
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to you can think of affiliate cookies as
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a digital version of that so what
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happened when we got to the checkout
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page well once honey popped up what what
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happened to Linus's affiliate cookie
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after we clicked apply
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discounts you see that honey K Min
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removed Linus's affiliate cookie and
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replaced it with their own claiming
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credit for the sale and pocketing the
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commission money for themselves
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yeah now if we quickly go back again we
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can see what's causing this to happen
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after clicking apply discounts what
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you'll notice is that in the top left
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corner of your browser honey discreetly
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opens a small new tab which acts like a
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simulated referral click as if they were
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the ones to refer you to the website
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even though you're already on the
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website and at the checkout page once
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that page has finished loading and has
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stuffed PayPal's affiliate cookie the
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tab automatically closes leaving you
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blissfully unaware that anything ever
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happened it's very sneaky now when I
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first discovered this was happening I
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thought there's no way why would all
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these high profile influencers be
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promoting a company that is actively
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poaching their affiliate commissions it
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didn't make any sense so to make sure I
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wasn't going crazy I went on a honey
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testing spree clicking one affiliate
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link after another and it kept happening
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but even after all those tests I scoured
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the internet to see if anyone was
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talking about this and found nothing
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okay there was is one debate about it on
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the Y combinator Forum but nothing
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concrete besides that virtually nobody
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was talking about this adding fuel to my
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doubt so I figured screw it I'll reach
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out to honey and ask them directly and
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sure enough they came back to me with
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the following if honey is activated and
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is the last program used while shopping
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on a site it is likely honey will
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receive credit for the purchase I was
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right and just like that my
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investigation into honey began now some
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might consider what PayPal's doing here
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dirty or highly une
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but personally I can't see how it's
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anything short of fraud I mean just
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imagine something like this happening in
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a real world scenario let's say you're
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at a department store looking to buy a
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new TV a Salesman spends time running
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you through your options you decide to
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buy he gives you his referral card you
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get to the checkout and right as you're
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about to pay a sleazy salesman pops up
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going hey should I check if I have any
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coupon codes for you naturally you say
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sure he snatches your referral card
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without you ever noticing looks for
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coupons says sorry no luck this time but
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instead of handing back the original
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referral card he hands back his own
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PayPal didn't refer the customer to the
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store they didn't promote any of the
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products the salesman did that PayPal
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provided absolutely zero value to the
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customer yet they were rewarded for the
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sale but because this is all happening
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online buried behind clicks and cookies
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and tracking data there's little to no
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transparency that this is ever happening
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okay but what if honey had found a
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working coupon code would that that make
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it okay for them to claim the commission
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honestly no I don't think so the fact
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remains that honey didn't refer the
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customer to the store nor did they
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promote the product look don't get me
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wrong I'm a consumer myself saving money
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matters especially when money's tied but
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this scam doesn't just affect wealthy
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influencers there are hundreds of
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thousands of small creators bloggers
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artists who rely on affiliate
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commissions to support their craft sure
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you could argue that honey may have
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convinced the consumer to complete the
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purchase by providing a discount but
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let's be real if you're already at the
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check out with your items in your cart
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you already have a high intent to
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purchase and again this would never fly
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in a real life sales environment no
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department store is going to allow a
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Salesman to hang out at the checkout
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counter casually handing out coupon
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codes while simultaneously stealing
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commissions from the other sales reps so
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why are we allowing a corporate giant
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like PayPal to do it on the internet now
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believe it or not this first example I
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just showed you with lonus is just one
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of three scenarios in which honey po is
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affiliate commissions and the next
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scenarios are even worse but before I
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show you how bad scenario 2 is it's
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important you understand the fundamental
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system honey is exploiting you see in
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affiliate marketing there's this thing
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called last click attribution which
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basically means last click wins for
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example you might click on a shoe
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blogger's affiliate link for a pair of
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Nikes but you don't buy right away later
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you click on a YouTuber's link for the
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same shoes and complete the purchase in
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this scenario the YouTuber gets the
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commission and the Blogger gets nothing
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there are other models like first click
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where the Blogger would win the
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commission or dynamic click where the
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commission is shared but the industry
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went with last click because while it's
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not always the fairest it's the easiest
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to implement therefore it became the
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industry standard now when it's blogger
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versus YouTuber for a sale honestly I'd
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say last click is usually fair but when
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it's anyone versus honey there's no real
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competition honey pops up right at the
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end of your purchasing Journey virtu
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guaranteeing they'll win that last click
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they of course know this and do anything
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they can to get that last click even
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when there's no coupon codes to offer
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which brings us to scenario 2 honey gold
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which is now called PayPal rewards
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here's how it works when you get to the
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checkout and honey gold is available
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honey pops up and is essentially saying
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hey you consumer click this button here
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so payal can claim the commission for
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the sale and we'll share a portion of
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that commission money with you in the
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form of points
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it's basically a lame cashback game and
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it's genius because if there are no
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coupons to offer but the store is
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participating in honey gold it gives
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honey another reason to get that last
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click how can YouTubers bloggers or any
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other type of affiliate fairely compete
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against this type of mechanism of course
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the consumer is going to click and of
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course they're going to win the sale now
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this got me thinking how much of their
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commission are they actually sharing
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with users well to find out I decided to
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put honey gold to the test so I look for
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any website where honey gold was offered
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and found it on nordvpn and know this is
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not a sneaky sponsorship so I signed up
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for nordvpn's affiliate program which
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offers 40% Commission on successful
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referrals after getting approved into
00:10:42
the program I received a custom
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affiliate link for my YouTube channel
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using this link I made two separate
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purchases for the first I activated
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honey gold and sure enough you can see
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my affiliate cookie was replaced with
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Honeys and for the second I didn't
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activate honey gold as expected I was
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awarded a $35 commission for the sale
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where honey gold wasn't activated and
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received nothing when honey gold was
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activated for the first time I
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experienced honey poaching my own
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affiliate commission so how much of my
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stolen $35 commission did PayPal sharers
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cash back with my honey account aka the
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consumer brace yourselves 89 points
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which is equivalent to 89 cents USD
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that's right honey poached a $35
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commission for doing nothing and
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rewarded me a grand total of
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$89 thanks PayPal you really shouldn't
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have no seriously you really shouldn't
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have now on to scenario 3 for you ladies
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out there let's say you're looking for a
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new outfit your favorite influencer
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tries on something that slays you click
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on their affiliate link and get to the
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checkout but in this scenario honey
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knows it has nothing to offer no coupon
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codes no honey gold yet it still pops up
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to announce absolutely nothing annoying
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as naturally you click the got it
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button to get rid of the Annoying
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dancing coin and whoa what's that PayPal
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takes the sale why because you Mary
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that's
00:12:15
your but wait there's more my personal
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favorite is when honey has nothing to
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offer so pops up offering you to check
00:12:22
out with PayPal even though the option
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is already available at the checkout
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page and of course if you click the
00:12:28
checkout button
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PayPal poaches the
00:12:32
sale classy as I was saying honey uses
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any excuse possible to get that last
00:12:38
click from the user it's absolutely
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disgusting I can't even begin to Fathom
00:12:44
how much money has been lost at the
00:12:45
hands of this browser extension imagine
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being the influencers who promoted honey
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telling your audience who by the way are
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the most likely to use your affiliate
00:12:53
links to download an app that poaches
00:12:56
your affiliate sales it's crazy now to
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to be clear not every influencer who
00:13:00
promoted honey engages in affiliate
00:13:02
marketing so those who don't are
00:13:04
obviously unaffected but did any of the
00:13:06
influencers who are engaging in
00:13:08
affiliate marketing ever catch on to
00:13:09
what Honey's been doing well it turns
00:13:12
out yes at least one of them did lus
00:13:14
Tech tips who have been promoting honey
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since
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2017 so here's how I found this out you
00:13:20
see one day I was browsing Linus's Forum
00:13:23
to see if anyone had raised the red flag
00:13:25
about honey and sure enough back in 2020
00:13:28
someone sounded the alarm but it was
00:13:30
ultimately ignored however in 2022 a
00:13:34
different user noticed that lmg were no
00:13:36
longer promoting honey and asked the
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team if they had been dropped as a
00:13:39
sponsor to which one of less' employees
00:13:42
responded with we entered the
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partnership with honey due to the way
00:13:45
their service interacted with affiliate
00:13:47
links essentially if someone clicked on
00:13:49
an affiliate link and then they used
00:13:50
honey and search for a deal honey will
00:13:53
override that tracking link even if they
00:13:55
don't find you a deal that didn't drive
00:13:57
with us so we ended the partnership okay
00:14:00
so they had no idea this was happening
00:14:02
and it took them several years to catch
00:14:03
on that's quite telling because we're
00:14:05
talking about a tech saavy YouTube
00:14:07
channel that's run by a very large team
00:14:10
the fact it took them several years to
00:14:11
figure this out in my opinion really
00:14:13
underscores the deceptive nature with
00:14:16
which honey operates if lus and his team
00:14:18
didn't know I can't imagine many other
00:14:20
influencers would have known either now
00:14:22
I have to say as a longtime viewer and
00:14:24
supporter of Linus's Channel I'm
00:14:26
incredibly disappointed they weren't
00:14:27
more public with this discuss
00:14:29
I get this specific issue doesn't
00:14:31
directly affect their viewers but surely
00:14:33
they must have realized the wider impact
00:14:35
this could be having on the creative
00:14:36
Community a community they're a part of
00:14:39
I think that matters and it's not as
00:14:40
though they only promoted honey once or
00:14:42
twice they did approximately 160
00:14:45
sponsored segments all of which remain
00:14:48
Live on YouTube those videos have
00:14:50
accumulated around 194 million views
00:14:53
according to my data that makes Linus's
00:14:56
company lmg the third largest promoter
00:14:58
of honey on YouTube so yeah in my
00:15:01
opinion they should have made more noise
00:15:03
about this but what's truly baffling to
00:15:05
me is that after lmg ended their
00:15:07
partnership with honey they then went
00:15:09
ahead and partnered with a company
00:15:10
called karma now a coupon browser
00:15:13
extension that literally engages in
00:15:16
similar Behavior now I did reach out to
00:15:19
almg about the situation and I'll be
00:15:21
honest their response was not to my
00:15:23
satisfaction they didn't address the
00:15:25
majority of my questions however they
00:15:27
did at least provide some important cont
00:15:29
text about their dealings with honey lmg
00:15:31
stated that as soon as these issues with
00:15:32
honey were brought to us we tried to
00:15:34
work with them to remedy them after a
00:15:36
few cause we were informed that they
00:15:38
weren't willing to change so we stopped
00:15:40
working with them across all channels so
00:15:42
let me get this straight one of Honey's
00:15:44
biggest promoters goes to them and says
00:15:47
hey can you please stop overriding our
00:15:48
affiliate links and honey effectively
00:15:50
goes n not happening assuming I've got
00:15:53
that correct and if true that just goes
00:15:55
to show what little regard honey has not
00:15:57
only for Content creators but also their
00:15:59
Partners now as for lmg's less than
00:16:02
ideal response I did press Linus's team
00:16:04
to address the rest of my questions but
00:16:07
never heard back from them but it's time
00:16:09
to shift gears because unfortunately
00:16:11
this scam runs much deeper than stolen
00:16:13
affiliate commissions it's time we talk
00:16:15
about how honey used these influences to
00:16:17
sell you a complete lie how they sold
00:16:19
you a product that was doing the
00:16:21
opposite of what they promised you see
00:16:23
as I was testing honey across different
00:16:25
stores I was encountering a reoccurring
00:16:27
issue when I reached the checkout page
00:16:30
honey would claim it couldn't find me
00:16:31
any coupon codes yet when I searched
00:16:33
manually I found working codes with
00:16:35
these and even when honey did find me a
00:16:37
code I was often able to find another
00:16:40
code of bit value kind of strange given
00:16:43
their claim that well thanks to Honey
00:16:45
manually searching for coupon codes is
00:16:47
now a thing of the past another Oddity
00:16:49
was that honey would often only find me
00:16:52
honey branded coupon codes such as honey
00:16:54
5 or honey 10 why would a store only
00:16:56
have honey branded coupon codes kind of
00:16:59
weird right but the biggest red flag was
00:17:01
that when I tried submitting the better
00:17:02
coupon codes I'd found honey wasn't
00:17:05
adding them to their database so why not
00:17:09
well eventually I figured out what was
00:17:11
going on it turns out that one of the
00:17:13
key benefits for stores partnering with
00:17:15
honey is that they are given full
00:17:17
control over which coupon codes go live
00:17:19
on the platform if any at all I
00:17:21
discovered this while listening to a
00:17:23
podcast produced by Honey which appears
00:17:25
to be aimed at attracting new businesses
00:17:27
to joining their platform in this
00:17:29
podcast an employee from the Australian
00:17:31
clothing store Princess Polly discusses
00:17:33
the benefits of partnering with honey
00:17:35
what would you say to any brand that is
00:17:37
considered working with honey but hasn't
00:17:39
yet I would say missing out on
00:17:41
converting customers like I said before
00:17:43
jet is super discount sey you can't
00:17:45
ignore the fact that they will hunt for
00:17:47
like discount codes and they might find
00:17:49
a better deal with honey you can also
00:17:51
control the discount code percentage
00:17:53
which means like they will potentially
00:17:55
find a higher discount code on the
00:17:56
internet it literally lets you control
00:17:59
like the customer Journey convert and
00:18:01
control like the discount code
00:18:03
percentage as well this is insane she's
00:18:06
basically saying honey is great for
00:18:08
businesses because it encourages users
00:18:10
not to bother hunting for coupon codes
00:18:12
and it allows businesses to control
00:18:15
which coupon codes are shared with
00:18:16
consumers now I was able to further
00:18:18
verify this on Honey's website
00:18:20
specifically the FAQ page for partners
00:18:23
which clearly states as a partner you
00:18:25
have control over the content hosted on
00:18:27
the honey platform so yes even if honey
00:18:30
knows of a coupon code that offers say
00:18:32
20% off but a partnering store tells him
00:18:35
hey only share 5% off coupon then that's
00:18:38
the only discount honey will apply to
00:18:40
your cart at the checkout page I mean
00:18:43
holy honey wasn't finding you the
00:18:45
best deals possible they were
00:18:46
intentionally withholding them from you
00:18:48
for their own financial gain this
00:18:51
completely invalidates Honey's core
00:18:53
value proposition to Consumers for years
00:18:56
they sold you the lie that they would
00:18:57
find you every working coupon code on
00:19:00
the internet and apply the best one to
00:19:02
your car but nope complete and utter lie
00:19:05
they have literally been feeding you
00:19:07
coupon codes that were approved by the
00:19:10
partner stores who were paying them and
00:19:12
can I just say the double messaging here
00:19:15
is hilarious because on one hand honey
00:19:17
has appealed to Consumers by promising
00:19:19
to find the best deals possible but on
00:19:21
the other hand they appeal to businesses
00:19:24
claiming that honey helps prevent
00:19:26
consumers from finding the best deals
00:19:29
it's absurd now when you think about it
00:19:31
this all makes complete sense I mean why
00:19:34
would any online business pay honey for
00:19:38
sharing their highest value coupon codes
00:19:40
with its 20 million users that's not an
00:19:43
appealing partnership whatsoever so to
00:19:46
make a partnership more attractive honey
00:19:48
told businesses hey if you partner with
00:19:51
us and pay us an affiliate commission
00:19:53
we'll let you control which discount
00:19:54
codes are shared on our platform and
00:19:57
we'll tell our cons
00:19:59
we scoured the internet and found them
00:20:01
the best deal possible everybody wins
00:20:04
just uh not the consumers or the
00:20:07
influencers with this discovery I
00:20:09
decided to do a thorough audit of
00:20:10
Honey's advertising campaigns and yikes
00:20:13
the ads the sponsorships everywhere you
00:20:15
look it's lie after lie I wouldn't be
00:20:18
surprised if this ends up going down as
00:20:20
one of the most aggressive Shameless
00:20:22
marketing scams of the century just look
00:20:25
at this insane list of videos that were
00:20:27
sponsored by honey according to my data
00:20:29
they sponsored almost 5,000 videos
00:20:32
across roughly 1,000 different YouTube
00:20:34
channels racking up an unbelievable 7.8
00:20:37
billion views it's crazy so now that we
00:20:40
have a clearer picture of how honey
00:20:42
operates let's reflect on some of their
00:20:44
claims honey will find every working
00:20:46
code on the internet and apply the best
00:20:49
one to your cart if honey can't find a
00:20:51
discount code for you then you can rest
00:20:53
assured there's not a single discount or
00:20:55
promo code on the Internet it's a free
00:20:57
browser extension that automatically
00:20:58
find find you the best promo code for
00:20:59
anything you purchase online you
00:21:00
literally don't spend money honey
00:21:02
searches the known internet for every
00:21:04
promo code ever used this means you
00:21:06
always get the best deals without even
00:21:07
trying what honey does is take money and
00:21:10
they put it in your pocket if there is
00:21:11
any way to save money on your purchase
00:21:13
they'll find it getting you the lowest
00:21:15
prices possible at checkout you are
00:21:17
always going to get the best deal no
00:21:19
matter where you're shopping Amazon eBay
00:21:21
Best Buy doesn't matter Honey's got your
00:21:23
butt covered if honey can't find a code
00:21:25
you have the best deal it really puts
00:21:27
into perspective
00:21:29
just how Shady this company is doesn't
00:21:31
it now believe it or not the bitter
00:21:33
Business Bureau launched an inquiry into
00:21:35
Honey's advertising claims but after
00:21:37
honey immediately discontinued the
00:21:38
claims for quote business reasons the
00:21:41
BBB decided to drop the
00:21:43
case honestly at this point in my
00:21:46
investigation I thought I'd seen the
00:21:47
worst of it I thought I understood the
00:21:49
full picture of Honey Shady business
00:21:51
model but here's the thing what I
00:21:53
haven't told you is that there were
00:21:55
instances where honey would actually
00:21:56
work really well Finding Me In
00:21:58
incredible discounts that seemed almost
00:22:00
too good to be true now it wasn't very
00:22:02
often but enough to confuse me and there
00:22:05
were even times when they weren't
00:22:06
poaching affiliate commissions by
00:22:08
claiming the credit for sales these
00:22:10
inconsistencies Bugg me it didn't add up
00:22:13
with everything else I had discovered it
00:22:16
was clear I was missing something well
00:22:18
once I finally figured out what that was
00:22:20
I uncovered an even darker side to
00:22:22
PayPal scam one that targeted an
00:22:25
entirely new victim
00:22:30
we started having problems where
00:22:33
customers would get in touch by our
00:22:35
support saying oh hey I just tried to
00:22:38
use this discount this 60% off coupon
00:22:40
and it doesn't work I'd be like dude
00:22:43
that is that is not your discount like
00:22:45
how did you get that and they'd be like
00:22:46
oh I I just showed up through the honey
00:22:48
extension yeah it cost us thousands and
00:22:52
I haven't even looked into how far back
00:22:54
it went the end of the day like we need
00:22:55
to make the numbers work and if honey is
00:22:57
going to steal temp % of your Revenue
00:22:59
all the time you're going to have to
00:23:00
raise prices at the end of the day and
00:23:02
it's it's just like a really awful
00:23:04
business model if we've been so mad at
00:23:05
them for so long
