Are free-to-use apps and browser extensions as innocuous as they look? Take the free example of Honey Browser Extension. However, an investigation by MegaLag has uncovered disturbing practices which hint that it is duping consumers and making businesses rich.
The popular web browser extension Honey offers consumer discount codes for online shopping.
The browser is free to use and is widely promoted but investigations reveal its darker underbelly –it is robbing consumer’s money and unfairly benefiting businesses.
Honey Browser Extension came into existence in 2012 and by 2014 managed to boast a user base of 900,000.
The spawning of online shopping contributed to its gargantuan growth and the cutting-edge feature was discount codes.
Discount codes encouraged consumers to buy and soon big names started to employ discount codes to offer generic or personalized discounts augmenting sales and customers.
Honey Browser Extension’s Promise of Best Discounts: Convenience or Clever Deception?
Honey promised consumers to install the extension and it will ensure the consumer will get the best discount codes even if the consumer had missed it because he was not aware of it.
This feature made it immensely popular because often consumers missed out on discounts either due to oversight or they simply did not have the time to search online.
Honey Browser Extension also attracted funding in gargantuan proportions and finally in 2020 PayPal acquired Honey for $4 billion, rebranding it as PayPal Honey.
However investigation by MegaLag revealed a story of deceit and practices by Honey which benefited the business houses. While loudly proclaiming that it was enabling its users to get the best discount codes in reality it showed only selective discounts.
Favouring Businesses Over Better Consumer Deals
Investigations revealed that Honey showed discounts which favored business even if they were smaller than better deals.
The investigation also revealed that Honey showed a 5% discount when in reality the store was offering 30% discounts.
In all probability,y Honey was partnering the businesses and dictating codes while other codes offer better savings.
The investigations also revealed that Honey affected the influencers and many content creators encouraged their audience to use the browser extension for savings.
Also, it was revealed that sales via affiliate links were attributed to Honey and not to the influencers and thus the influencer was denied his rightful affiliate commission.
Also Read: Investors File Lawsuit Over $HAWK Token Crash, Alleging Pump-and-Dump Scheme
