“The biggest scam in YouTube history”

  • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    3 days ago

    It’s simple, Honey connects you with coupons, which drives you to store B instead of store A, and Honey makes a commission. If you follow a different affiliate link, and Honey gives you a coupon, they should share the commission with the affiliate.

    That’s how it should work. But instead, Honey just hijacks the commission.

    • wewbull@feddit.uk
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      2 days ago

      That’s still a shitty exploitative business model. A bit less deceptive, but that original coupon vendor is still having affiliate revenue stolen from them.

      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        2 days ago

        That’s one way to look at it, but another is that more people would use the coupon, so the original coupon vendor makes up for lower margins with higher volume.

        Honey’s take should be small, since they’re doing very little of the work.

        • wewbull@feddit.uk
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          2 days ago

          I don’t understand how you think the smaller coupon gets more volume. It gets no volume as the hypothetically “good honey” redirects everyone away from it.

          • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            2 days ago

            Oh, I thought you meant original as in the one who created the coupon Honey uses.

            I think every affiliate along the chain should share the affiliate cut, even if their coupon isn’t the one applied, since their coupon lead to a sale. That’s not how it works, but it’s how it should work.

            Or ideally, affiliate link revenue isn’t a thing at all and instead stores just pay for ad space. That would significantly cut down on link spamming and hopefully increase the quality of reviews, since views matter more than someone finding the link.