First they set their sights on Honey. Now internet influencers are escalating their battle against coupon browser extensions, by targeting another one.
Three attorneys who have filed lawsuits against Honey owner PayPal have now filed similar lawsuits against Capital One, whose Capital One Shopping they claim is stealing commissions that are rightfully owed to their internet influencer clients.
The first complaint, filed on behalf of Clearvision Media (a plaintiff in one of the Honey lawsuits) and YouTuber Brian Moses, is nearly word-for-word identical to the first Honey lawsuit filed a couple of weeks ago. In both cases, the plaintiffs are represented by the same team of attorneys, including Devin Stone, who is himself a content creator known as LeagleEagle on YouTube.
Like Honey, Capital One Shopping’s coupon-seeking browser extension is a “scheme,” the lawsuit claims, “to unlawfully steal the attribution for online sales” from the plaintiffs. When the influencers recommend a sponsored product and a follower clicks on their affiliate link, they may earn a commission if their recommendation results in a sale. But if the shopper clicks on Capital One Shopping’s popup to search for coupons before making a purchase, Capital One Shopping becomes the referrer and earns any commission.
This is known as “last-click attribution,” which the lawsuit recognizes as the “industry standard” method of determining who gets credit for a sale. Is it the influencer who recommended a product, or the coupon extension that may have helped a shopper decide whether to go ahead with the purchase? “The most recent affiliate link used before purchase receives 100% of the credit and attribution,” the lawsuit acknowledges.
But that doesn’t mean the plaintiffs have to like it. “The Capital One Shopping browser extension is purposely designed to exploit the last-click attribution process,” the second lawsuit claims. That complaint was filed on behalf of internet influencers Jesika Brodiski and Peter Hayward, by the same attorneys who filed one of the five lawsuits (so far) against PayPal Honey.
“Capital One has designed its browser extension in a manner that requires users to actively engage with the browser extension,” this second lawsuit claims. Instead of working automatically in the background, Capital One Shopping only searches for coupons after a user clicks on it. “These clicks are important to Capital One because, without them, the online marketer in question will still be credited with the sale and receive any corresponding commission payment,” the lawsuit explains. “Capital One only gets credit for the sale if they get the user to click on their pop-up,” which the plaintiffs claim is a bad-faith way for Capital One to manipulate the last-click system to its advantage.
The third and most recent lawsuit, filed just yesterday, argues that “influencer and content creator” Shonna Coleman “would have earned more income in the form of commission payments but for Capital One’s scheme to usurp commissions through the Capital One Shopping browser extension.” She, too, is a plaintiff in the most recent lawsuit filed against PayPal Honey.
In a statement provided to Coupons in the News, a Capital One spokesperson said “we disagree with the premise of the complaints and look forward to defending ourselves in court.”
Many internet influencers who share affiliate links have lined up in opposition to these coupon browser extensions, apparently unaware of last-click attribution until a viral video purported to “expose” it, and accused coupon browser extensions of bending those industry rules, perhaps illegally. But others are questioning whether the recent flood of lawsuits have any legal merit.
“This is business,” affiliate marketing professional Vicky Hui wrote in a Medium article. “When creators and Honey join affiliate networks, they sign agreements.” Those agreements explain how the last-click attribution process works, she explained. “The last-click model isn’t some sneaky tactic; it’s literally written into the contracts that everyone signs… it’s a fundamental part of how affiliate marketing operates.”
In a LinkedIn post, Dexter Dethmers, former Senior Director at PayPal Honey, defended his former employer. “It’s a lot more nuanced than it might seem,” he wrote. While last-click attribution is a generally agreed-upon standard, some affiliate networks have their own “stand down” policies that require a last-click recipient to stand down instead of overriding a previous affiliate link that would give credit for any sale to the original recommender.
“During my time at Honey, the company adhered to affiliate network cookie policies and observed ‘stand down’ practices,” Dethmers wrote. Otherwise, by benefiting from last-click attribution, his former employer was fully playing within the rules, he argued. “Is this perfect? No. But fairness in this case depends on perspective. From a consumer’s point of view, if they’re actively trying to get cash back or discounts, they should be able to do that. Consumers choose the services they interact with and network policies prioritize user choice.”
“Is the system perfect? No,” Hui echoed in her article. “Could partnerships be better? Sure. But calling it a scam misses the point. These are business partnerships where everyone knows the rules before they start playing the game. The key is making these partnerships work better for everyone.”
The influencers involved in the eight lawsuits filed so far are focused on ensuring the system works better for them and their colleagues. They’re seeking monetary damages for the “stolen referral fees and sales commissions” they say they’ve lost to the coupon browser extensions, and an injunction preventing the companies from continuing their practices.
Ultimately, the whole hubbub may prove to be more of a public relations problem than a legal one. “There is the potential for this to have a long-term damaging effect on PayPal Honey and even the perception of browser extensions in general,” Sol Wilkinson, editorial manager for the internet marketing agency Hello Partner, wrote in a blog post.
Online shoppers like saving money. Internet influencers like making money. And coupon browser extension providers make money by helping you to save money. Theoretically, it’s a system where everyone should win. Now, it may be up to the courts to decide if it’s a system where everyone really can.
Image source: Capital One
