[the4anoni]

For me It was somehow obvious "they need to make money on something", and it doesn't surprise me at all that they are inserting own affiliate links. Would I call this scam? No, I wouldn't. Firstly I thought they started to genuinely deploy malware or some crypto-coin miner.

[fabianhjr]

It is not the only claim in the video.

There are at least the following claims:

- Inserts its own affiliate link (even when no discount is found, uses strategies to push for interaction like adding a dismiss/pay with paypal link that adds the affiliate association)

- Adds a very small kickback from the affiliate payment they receive as a rewards program. (Which, while scraps, makes content creators "lose" in economic terms in the affiliate offerings)

- Promises to consumers to find the best discounts available

- Promises to vendors to allow control of the discounts offered and the offer rate of said discounts

- Previous both promises are contradictory yet simultaneously offered

- An extra/upcoming claim around forcing non-affiliated stores to affiliate.

[shufflerofrocks]

I think that's surprising... why wouldn't you consider it a scam? Hell, even a malware?

Honey does the following:

- Stealing the commission from an affiliate link assigned to someone else

- Cutting itself a commission by inserting an affiliate link, when there was none, essentially profiting off you without your consent.

- Gives you the worst discount code possible, while saying it got you the best deal

- Cheating the companies doing the affiliate marketing by taking credit for purchases that happened without honey's involvement

[cush]

It’s effectively malware

[mandmandam]

> it doesn't surprise me at all that they are inserting own affiliate links.

I bet it surprises everyone who had their affiliate links quietly swapped out.

> Would I call this scam? No, I wouldn't.

Then your definition of 'scam' needs work.

While we might expect PayPal's Honey to scam people like this, and be less than surprised that they would screw people over in this way, that doesn't mean this doesn't have every element of a scam - deception and trickery (and likely illegality).

[darthwalsh]

Sure, it was a scam, but we weren't the victims. I won't shed a tear for the marketing departments they were defrauding. I do feel bad for the small YouTube channels who lost affiliate revenue, though.

[theZilber]

You are also a victim if you assume they provide you the best coupons available.

[bryan_w]

Exactly. There's enough harm to go around for everyone in this case.

[sgerenser]

It’s not as big of a scam as deploying malware, but it’s still definitely a scam.

[alkatales]

yeah I think they can argue that using honey (even if there's no discount) means it's the last thing you interacted with that influenced your decision. With wording like "There's no discounts so you can be confident you got the best price".