When you search for coupons on Google or Bing you might have come across coupon apps like Honey. Such applications that you add to your Internet browser promise immediate savings when you shop on your favourite ecommerce sites. Let's talk about such apps and see how Honey and other similar coupon apps can help save even more when we shop online in Canada.
Let's start with the basics. Honey is a browser extension or a browser addon that you can use in Chrome, Edge, or Firefox. The extension will automatically find and apply coupons, promo codes and discounts at checkout, when you are ready to pay. Sounds great, right? Let's spend some time talking about what happens in the background and what the tradeoffs are when you use the Honey coupon app in Canada.
Go through our answers to a number of questions about the Honey coupon app and decide for yourself if you want to have this app in your browser. We will have links to install the Honey coupon app below.
How does Honey find coupons and promo codes?
Honey has a large database of coupons and promo codes that are searched when you are on a checkout page. For example, when you buy something on the Best Buy site, Honey will see you're on BestBuy.ca and will retrieve all active coupons from its database.
What we like about the Honey coupon extension
Here are our most favourite features to us.
- The extension is easy to install and use.
- Honey compares sellers for you. The app also factors in shipping to maximize your savings.
- It searches a database of coupons valid in Canada, which can save you time. You don't need to search for coupons on Google or Bing as actively.
- When you shop on Amazon, Honey is able to alert you if it has the same product at a lower price from a different ecommerce site in its database.
- Honey also registers price histories on Amazon. This is a great feature for us to know if the product goes on sale often so that we can wait till it's on sale again.
- You can use Honey in Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari.
What we don't like about Honey
Well, Honey is not a magic coupon wand. It has a number of drawbacks that we can list below:
- It does not always find coupons.
- At the time of writing, Honey does not have a mobile app - it's only working on desktop and laptops.
- Honey is compatible with the newer versions of Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari, and Opera web browsers. If you use an older version, you will need to update it to be able to use the app.
How does Honey work?
In Canada Honey will work when you shop on the sites that are listed on this page. Choose Canada in the dropdown of the countries and see the e-stores where Honey may be able to have coupons and promo codes for.
Here are the basic steps for you to start using Honey.
1) Add the Honey coupon extension to your browser.
2) Check the list of the Canadian sites where Honey can work.
3) Shop on any of these ecommerce sites as you would normally do.
4) Add products to the cart and go to the checkout. Don't complete your purchase!
5) With your checkout open in the browser, go to the Honey icon in the extensions or addons of your browser (usually next to the search field at the top).
6) Click Apply coupons. If Honey tells you that there are no coupons, click Try Anyway to force the extension to look harder.
7) Let the extension do the work. Once it finds a coupon, you will see how much you can save. Click Activate to apply the discount.
You will probably notice an option that says Today's Reward Rate and a button saying Activate. This is the Honey Gold program. In short, certain sites partnered with Honey and allow users to receive cashback rebates after completing purchases on their sites. You can enroll in this program if you want to save even more, esp. on the sites where you shop often.
Where is Honey available in Canada?
In Canada Honey should be able to find coupons for the following sites:
- Best Buy Canada
- Walmart Canada
- Costco Canada (Online)
- The Bay
- Canadian Tire
Check out the list of the partner sites here.
Installing and uninstalling the Honey coupon extension
Open your browser and add Honey by clicking the relevant link below (depending on your browser):
Installing the extension is super easy. Click to add the extension and follow the steps as prompted.
Once the extension is installed, you will see another page inviting to sign up. Just click Join with Google, Join with Facebook, Join with PayPal, or Join with Email if you want to enroll in the Honey Gold program.
You can always skip the signup stage by clicking "sign up later". if you want to take advantage of programs like Honey Gold. Click I'll sign up later if you don't want to sign up.
Since it's an extension or addon in your browser, it is very easy to uninstall it. Navigate to the extension or addon management section of your browser and remove or uninstall it.
Is the Honey coupon app safe?
Honey is safe, but not all extensions are. Since they are in your browser and you agreed to their terms and conditions, there are chances that such in-browse extensions can collect your personal data like browsing behaviour and send it to remote servers.
Honey is a safe app, but they do collect anonymous data about your shopping habits. Honey promises that they don't sell this data to third parties.
Honey has all the details about how data is collected and shared in their privacy policy.
How to make the best use of Honey app
Here are some good tips if you plan to start using Honey:
- When you download and install the Honey browser extension, you don't need to register in order to get coupons. Registration is required if you want to get cashback rewards within the Honey Gold program.
- A lot of ecommerce sites in Canada don't allow coupon stacking - Gap Canada is an exception. So if you have a coupon, compare it with Honey and use the better deal.
- When you have Honey in your browser and you shop on Amazon Canada, pay attention to the Honey integration on the Amazon site. If the price is lower elsewhere on Amazon, the icon will turn into a button with the amount you could save.
- Check out the Droplist function inside Honey. If you are patient, you can set it up to send you notifications when the price on your fav product drops.
Other ways to find coupons
You can always keep searching for coupons on search engines. Google is actually a very good tool to spot the most recent coupons. Also, check out the traditional coupon aggregators like RetailMeNot or Dealspotr.
What's the catch with Honey
Honey does not make money off its users by selling their data. Instead, Honey works with partner sites to earn a commission on each sale where a Honey coupon was used. Since there are over 17 million of Honey users worldwide, a couple of dollars from each purchase can make a good revenue for the company behind the Honey app.
How does the Honey app make money?
Honey makes commissions from their partners. The company behind the app earns these commissions when a member uses Honey to find available savings or to activate PayPal Rewards. Honey also works with affiliates to help confirm your purchase, so they can get a commission from those merchants.
Does Honey collect your data?
Honey also collects technical information about your device and use of Honey to make sure that their products are working correctly. The information they collect serves to provide Honey members with a better way to shop online.