Does The Honey Extension Actually Save You Money?

With over 17 million members and an average annual savings of $126, it might be time to look into PayPal Honey (if you haven't already). Formally known as Honey, this money-saving tool comes in two formats: as a free browser extension or as a free app. The browser extension is compatible with Google Chrome, Apple Safari, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, and Microsoft Edge. Or, for shoppers who prefer to shop on their smartphone, Honey is available as an app for Apple and Android mobile devices.

Once installed, Honey will seek out deals, coupon codes, and special savings while you shop. More specifically, it will look for coupon codes that can be applied to the specific retailer you're shopping with. The extension/app will then give you the option to apply coupon codes it found or it will inform you if it didn't find any. If there are codes available, Honey will then apply them to your cart allowing you to save money at checkout. Honey claims they help shoppers achieve an average discount of 17.9%.

Beyond coupon codes, Honey can help customers receive price drop alerts on items they haven't yet purchased. Similarly, Honey can also compare different Amazon sellers in real-time (along with price history information going back 120 days) to help make sure you are getting the best price. For PayPal customers, there are also promising cash-back options. While Honey seems like an impossibly easy way to save extra money, is it too good to be true?

The short answer is yes, Honey can save you money. With that being said, how much you actually save can and does widely vary depending on a number of factors including the specific retailers you frequent, how much you shop online, and how much you do or don't utilize cashback reward options. It's also important to mention that trial runs using Honey have produced mixed results, so the tool is by no means a guarantee of a bargain. With that in mind, there are many different features of Honey that might end up working for you and the way you shop.

The ability to add items to your Honey drop list (so they can be monitored for price drops), along with potential cash-back rewards can make Honey especially useful as a long-term shopping strategy rather than as purely an immediate way to save money. Using the tool in a more long-term way to monitor items you already plan on purchasing in the future can help you ensure you get the best deal. Similarly, it could also be useful to specifically follow brands and retailers to which Honey is actually applicable (Honey's developers claim that the tool works on over 30,000 retail sites). By utilizing Honey on specific websites, it can pay to plan out your purchases rather than giving in to any impulse decisions. It goes without saying that Honey can be especially useful when it comes to any holiday shopping plans.

In 2019, PayPal purchased Honey for $4 billion, which has expanded the benefits that Honey has been able to offer its users. Most notably, now that Honey is officially part of the PayPal family, you can take advantage of PayPal Rewards points. These points can be redeemed in several ways: for cash back (through PayPal), as gift cards (with participating retailers), or towards other promotional credits. With that in mind, it's important to know that, depending on the retailer, cash back percentages can range anywhere from 1-10%. This means that it could be worth investigating multiple retailers reward's terms before making a large purchase in order to maximize your cash back potential.  Your individual level of online shopping will ultimately determine how much Honey, and Paypal Rewards works for you.

Perhaps one of the best parts of the PayPal rewards program is that, as a shopper, you don't have to do anything extra to earn these points. Once you've linked your PayPal account to your Honey, the extension/app does the rest. As of November 2023, Honey claims that 5,500 different retailers and online stores offer/are eligible for these rewards points. It's important to know that your PayPal account must be in good standing to be eligible for rewards points, and your account must remain active in order to ensure your points don't expire. Specifically, if you fail to use your account to make a purchase for twelve consecutive months, your points will be reset to zero.