Grubhub is using fake websites to drive up commission fees from real businesses

Grubhub is using fake websites to drive up commission fees from real businesses

Those domains, of which Grubhub owns as many as 23,000, are used to resemble a landing page for the official business, complete with an online ordering form, despite the sites being completely unassociated with the restaurants themselves. Left: The original business site / Right: Grubhub’s shadow site

Image via New Food Economy

Grubhub takes a 20 percent commission for orders placed through its shadow sites

The Grubhub-owned domains use a template that is consistent across all the shadow sites. However, if a customer orders from a restaurant using Grubhub’s “marketing” tactics, whether through an app search or these unassociated websites, Grubhub can bill for an additional 20 percent commission on a single order.

Source: www.theverge.com