PayPal Honey Review 2024: Coupons, Codes and Deals
Think Save Retire rates Honey 3.8 stars. Honey, a free PayPal-owned browser extension, simplifies cashback and coupon hunting. While users praise its ease, some face redemption challenges post-PayPal acquisition. Honey competes with Rakuten and Swagbucks, offering various ways to earn.
No hidden fees
Here at Think Save Retire, we’re big fans of simple ways to earn extra cash. Honey is certainly a solid option, but it does have its pros and cons.
Honey earned the following reviews:
- 4.4 Stars on the Apple App Store (7,500 reviews)
- 2.9 Stars on TrustPilot (5,000 reviews)
- 4.7 Stars on the Google Play Store (393,000 reviews)
- 3.8 Stars on Think Save Retire
Key Points
- At Think Save Retire, we’re big fans of simple ways to earn extra cash. Honey is certainly a solid option, but it does have its pros and cons.
- PayPal Honey, formerly known as Honey, is a browser extension that hunts down coupons, allows you to earn cashback at various retailers, and tracks pricing of items across the web. The platform is completely free to use, and signing up only requires an email and password.
- You can redeem PayPal Rewards earned on Honey in three ways: Shopping Credit: If you use PayPal to make online purchases, you can redeem your rewards for PayPal shopping credit. Cash: If you’d prefer cash, you can redeem your rewards via PayPal, then transfer to your bank account. Gift Card: If you’re located outside the U.S., this will be your only option. There are a variety of retailers to choose from.
What We Love
Honey is completely free to use and simple to integrate into your browser. We love that the platform is now available for iOS and Android devices, given the increase in shopping via mobile phone.
What We Don’t Love
As with all cash-back platforms, you won’t earn at every store. While you can sign up for multiple cash-back platforms and compare across them, it’s tedious. We’d love for one cash-back platform to become the hub.
We also don’t love the experience some users have had since PayPal purchased Honey in 2020. There have been a few changes users haven’t been happy with. For example, earnings on the platform were previously called Honey Gold. After the acquisition, these points became PayPal Rewards, and to redeem them for cash, you’ll need an active PayPal account.
Several users have complained about issues redeeming the PayPal Rewards they’ve earned. Given that the points don’t mean much if you can’t redeem them, this is a concern for us and something to be aware of.
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What is Honey?
PayPal Honey, formerly known as Honey, is a browser extension that hunts down coupons, allows you to earn cashback at various retailers, and tracks pricing of items across the web. The platform is completely free to use, and signing up only requires an email and password.
How Does Honey Work?
First, sign up for Honey. Honey is available on both Mac and Windows, in Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera, and Edge. It’s also available on both iOS and Android for mobile phones.
Simply visit their website or app store to install the extension. You’ll need an email, password, and a browser you’d like to install it into.
Once you’re in, you’ll see several earning opportunities, which we’ll discuss more below. As you shop going forward, you’ll see pop-ups from Honey on websites where cashback, coupons, or lower prices are available.
If you’d like to compare prices, apply the coupon, or activate the cashback offer, simply click the button on the pop-up, and you’ll be all set. Any of the PayPal Rewards you earn for the purchase will appear in your Honey account within 60 to 90 days, according to Honey.
Ways to Earn and Save with Honey
PayPal Honey offers four primary ways to earn and save.
Cashback from Online Shopping
Similar to Rakuten, Honey offers cashback with over 40,000 retailers. Log in to Honey before shopping, search for the store you plan to shop at, click on the Shop Now button, then do your shopping as normal. In some cases, a Honey pop-up will appear when you visit a website with an available cashback offer, but I’ve found it to be inconsistent, so I prefer to head to Honey first.
In our research, we found that Honey’s cashback offers range from 0% to 10% cashback.
Referring Friends
Honey’s referral program is solid, offering 500 PayPal Rewards points for each person you refer — which is $5 in redemption value.
Track Price History
Honey tracks the price history of items and even compares current pricing across various retailers. For example, if there’s a better deal on the item you’re viewing, Honey will let you know where that deal is.
A small tab will appear on the right side of your browser window, alerting you of price history data and the current pricing on other websites. I’ve found this incredibly valuable, and it’s helped me score better deals several times.
Add to Your Droplist
Honey Droplist monitors the price of items you select. You can create specific collections of items to track — hence why I’ve started a board for tracking items for my new apartment.
If you turn Smart Droplist on, Honey will automatically track items you’re interested in, then notify you when the price drops. If you share a computer with someone, this feature may get annoying, but if it’s just you, it could be useful.
Ways to Redeem PayPal Honey Rewards
You can redeem PayPal Rewards earned on Honey in three ways:
- Shopping Credit: If you use PayPal to make online purchases, you can redeem your rewards for PayPal shopping credit.
- Cash: If you’d prefer cash, you can redeem your rewards via PayPal, then transfer to your bank account.
- Gift Card: If you’re located outside the U.S., this will be your only option. There are a variety of retailers to choose from.
Every 100 points you earn is worth $1 in redemption value.
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Honey vs. Other Cashback Portals
Here’s how Honey stacks up against competitors Rakuten and Swagbucks, based on their cashback offerings at the time of writing.
| PayPal Honey | Rakuten | Swagbucks | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walmart | 0.5% | Up to 5% | Up to 10% |
| Target | 0.5% | 1% | No cashback |
| Macy’s | 2% | 10% online | Up to 7% |
| Ulta Beauty | 1.5% | Up to 4% | 2% |
| Best Buy | No cashback | Up to 4% | Up to 10% |
Frequently Asked Questions
What to do with the money you get back?
A great option would be to save that money but an even better option is to invest it. There are great platforms to do that on. For example, Robin Hood is a great and simple investment platform and by utilizing Seeking Alpha you can take your trading to the next level.
A great option would be to save that money but an even better option is to invest it. There are great platforms to do that on. For example, Robbin Hood is a great and simple investment platform and by utilizing Seeking Alpha you can take your trading to the next level.
Is Honey a Trustable Site?
Yes. PayPal, the company that owns Honey, has an A rating from the Better Business Bureau.
Does Honey Really Work?
Yes. As a user of Honey myself, the platform does work. I have found that it does glitch occasionally, with the pop-up failing to show up on sites that offer cash-back. In most cases, however, it shows me coupons and cashback offers that lead to decent savings.
What Stores Does Honey Work With?
Honey works on 40,000+ online retailers, like Amazon, Macy’s, Home Depot, and StubHub.
Does Honey Collect Your Data?
Yes. According to Honey’s Privacy Statement, they collect and store your name, email address, IP addresses, your device’s unique ID (where available), login details, and other registration information. If you opt to link your social media account to Honey, they will also have access to the profile, but only to the extent allowed by your settings.
They also collect information about your purchases on retail sites when using PayPal Honey. This includes information about the type of device you’re using, the browser type, and the items you’re looking at.
How Does Honey Make Money?
When a user purchases an item through Honey, they receive a commission from the retailer. They share a portion of this commission with you, the user, via their PayPal Rewards program. This creates a win-win for the retailers, users, and Honey themselves.