Block Discount Extensions Like Honey

[Jay_JUNKbrands]

Hi all,

Not sure if this is the right place to ask, but has anyone figured out a way to block apps like Honey from automatically scraping and/or applying discounts? It's become a big problem for us recently, and I can't seem to find anything via Google about how one could block something like this.

Thanks!

Jay

[Zdadian]

Hi jay!
Did you ever discover a solution to this? I am running into the same issue currently and can’t find anything elsewhere that’s helpful.

Fingers crossed!

Zoe

[TrueGrit]

I recently discovered Honey was sharing coupons specifically designed only for verified, returning customers to our site without permission. I find it difficult to believe that this is even legal but hey, that's the internet. 

I contacted Honey support and requested that they de-list our website from the Honey store and Browser Extension. 

I'm still awaiting a response however if you'd like to do the same you can email yourfriends@joinhoney.com and partners@joinhoney.com

Hope this helps. 

[MollyKate]

Did you ever hear back from Honey about de-listing your site? We're having the same problem with VIP codes that aren't supposed to be shared publicly.

[TrueGrit]

Yes but they were not particularly helpful.

They have offered to remove any coupons we don’t want displayed on Honey but have dodged all questions.

To say that this is inconvenien is an understatement. Who has time to send Honey an email every time we release a new coupon to our loyal customers?

It appears that they have no way to (or are unwilling to) allow stores to opt-out of the honey ecosystem. They have dodged my questions about this time and time again.

Whether you like it or not, the Honey app will extract, store and share any coupon used by your customers who have the Honey extension running on their browser.

More updates to come.

[MollyKate]

Good grief. Well, thanks for the update. If you find a good solution, please let us know. (I'll do the same.)

[TrueGrit]

FYI

You can submit your own coupons to your stores page/profile on Honey. They don’t need to be active coupons.

Custom coupons can say anything you like and there’s no limit on how many you can add. For example, you might add a selection of coupons that say “Honey is great”, “We Love Honey”.

The important thing to know is that the coupons are automatically displayed in the Shopify checkout coupon field whilst the extension checks for active coupons. The coupons or “messages" will be seen by your customers. 

Do with that information what you will. 

[AlexChern]

Hi all!

We're thinking to develop a js-script which will block discount extensions like honey and also other shopping extensions like Amazon Assistant etc.
If u are interested in it I can share a script when it will be ready.

[TrueGrit]

Yes please. That would be fantastic Alex. 

[cschwartz]

Hi Alex- 

this would be unreal. does anything like that exist yet?

[Emerson_Code_Ad]

Hi,

A client of mine was facing a similar problem.

I’ve built an app over the weekend that scans deal sites and apps and alerts you if any of your active discounts in Shopify/ReCharge have been leaked.

Will be submitting to review for Shopify this week. Stay tuned.

[TrueGrit]

Amazing. Thank you @Emerson_Code_Ad 

[TrueGrit]

Just a follow up here @MollyKate 

Honey has de-listed my site from their site and extension. I received a confirmation from their business team this morning. 

They weren't willing to de-list us initially, however they may have changed their mind when I flooded my honey coupon list with coupons such as "HONEY-STEALS-YOUR-DATA" and  "HONEY-IS-WATCHING-YOU". 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[MollyKate]

That's kind of amazing. Good to know! We followed your lead and had them de-list our VIP discount codes, but if we continue to have problems, we might follow your lead.

[PaulNewton]

---

@TrueGrit wrote:

They weren't willing to de-list us initially, however they may have changed their mind when I flooded my honey coupon list with coupons such as "HONEY-STEALS-YOUR-DATA" and  "HONEY-IS-WATCHING-YOU". 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

---

Haaaa Brilliant

[PaulNewton]

Unfortunately there's no oneshot fix for this, while it would be nice to hope such services would be required to only use sites that have opted in not likely going to ever happen.

Since opt-in only is anathema to such business models, practically there are way too many companies that benefit from tools such as honey, or similar such as ad-blockers.

A better tactic may be getting them to provide a clear way for you to clearly indicate which coupons are allowed for sharing.

Similar to how for SEO google et al respect the robots.txt file.

Also really make sure you cannot turn this to your advantage such as setting up automation to not-fulfill such orders, informing them with the proper messaging and getting these prospect to to take an action that's beneficial to you(such as tweeting) , etc.

Such as leaning into it , similar to what @TrueGrit did, such as making positive messaging(twitter hashtags, heyhoneyfindusonfbforbiggerdeals,etc) , or making ridiculously bad discounts to make needles in haystacks( $0.01 off $1000 order,etc)

[AlexChern]

Hey Shopifyers! 

We finally developed a script that blocks Honey and Amazon Assistant extensions on your website. Now we are looking for the beta testers.

If you want to implement the script on your website please drop me a line on a.cher@savest.io 

[cleanmatt]

We have a solution that I think might interest you - send me an email to matt@clean.io or hit us at www.blockdiscountextensions.com

[cleanmatt]

My bad folks - I inadvertently put the wrong link in here.  The correct one is:

http://www.blockcouponextensions.com/

Or, just send me an email @ matt@clean.io and we will be happy to help you save revenue, improve your margins, and get control of your user experience on your website.

[yogi1016]

Hello! Did you ever get around to building the js-script to block extensions like honey and other shopping extensions? Thank you!