The PayPal Honey browser extension is, in theory, a convenient way to find better deals on products when shopping online. But in a video published this weekendYouTuber MegaLag claims the extension is a “scam” and that Honey has “stolen money from influencers, including the very ones they paid to promote their product.”

Honey works by displaying an offer to find discount codes for you while you check out in an online store. But as MegaLag notes, it often can’t find a code or offer a Honey-branded one, even if a simple Internet search covers something better. THE Presentation of the Honey website is that it “will find all working promotional codes on the Internet”. But according to MegaLag’s video, ignoring the best deals is a hallmark of Honey’s partnerships with its retail clients.

MegaLag also says Honey will divert affiliate revenue from influencers. According to MegaLag, if you click on an influencer’s affiliate link, Honey will then exchange its own tracking link when you interact with its offer pop-up at checkout. Whether Honey found you a coupon or not, this allows Honey to get credit for the sale, rather than the YouTuber or website whose link took you there.

Josh Criscoe, Paypal’s vice president of corporate communications, said in an email to The edge that “Honey follows industry rules and practices, including last-click attribution.”

MegaLag is not the first to make such claims. A Twitter Post 2021 advises using Honey’s discount codes in another browser to avoid it taking affiliate credit. An employee of Linus Media Group also explained in a response from the 2022 forum that Linus Tech Tips dropped Honey as a sponsor due to its affiliate linking practices.

Honey’s convenience has allowed the extension to be widely recommended, including in nearly 5,000 Honey-sponsored videos across approximately 1,000 YouTube channels, according to MegaLag. We even recommended it here at The edge; now we don’t.

Here is Criscoe’s full statement:

Honey is free to use and allows millions of shoppers to save extra on their purchases when possible. Honey helps merchants reduce cart abandonment and comparison shopping while increasing sales conversion.