# Honey browser extension is a scam?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-browser-extension-is-a-scam/1012015>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [December 22, 2024, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-browser-extension-is-a-scam/1012015 "2024-12-22T14:13:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![3AxisCtrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/ecd19e/32.png) [@3AxisCtrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3AxisCtrl)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2024, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-browser-extension-is-a-scam/1012015/1 "2024-12-22T14:13:09Z")

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[This YouTube video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc4yL3YTwWk&ab_channel=MegaLag) says so, and brings the receipts.

The video claims that Honey:

- claims to find consumers the best available discounts, but definitely doesn’t
- steals commissions from affiliate links
- allows advertisers to block consumers from finding & using discounts they may have found

And this is only the “Part 1” video.

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**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2024, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-browser-extension-is-a-scam/1012015/2 "2024-12-22T15:02:53Z")

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While I am not familiar with this particular extension there are a lot of price comparison sites and they work on the basis of referral fees–so only include sites which provide these fees. Thus are not comprehensive.

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**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2024, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-browser-extension-is-a-scam/1012015/3 "2024-12-23T15:57:08Z")

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I happened to watch that video (it’s becoming very popular for some reason 😉).

This got me thinking about how useless sites like retailmenot have become. Non-working codes, and a lot of clicks just take you to the store site. No doubt to get the affiliate fee but no attempt to produce a discount code.

Plus if you Google for coupon code sites you just see a zillion copies of the same basic sites.

If Honey/PayPal was a legit outfit it would also have just a plain but actually useful website for code searches that you would bookmark.