More Shoppers Are Sitting Out Cyber Monday As Bots, Scams And Quality Fears Rise, Survey Finds

A growing share of Americans are backing away from Cyber Monday this year, as concerns over scams, bots, and unreliable online purchases erode enthusiasm for what was once the countrys most convenient shopping day.

A new survey of 2,000 U.S. adults found that 42% dont plan to shop Cyber Monday at all, and 54% say the same about in-store Black Friday shopping. More than seven in 10 respondents (71%) believe the two hallmark shopping days “arent the same as they used to be,” citing everything from bot-driven sellouts to discounts that now appear year-round.

Commissioned by World and conducted by Talker Research, the poll shows that shoppers biggest concerns go beyond frustration: 47% worry their payment information will be stolen, 44% have had issues with poor-quality items, and 39% say fear of outright scams keeps them from buying online. Another 39% worry about identity theft, while 42% say theyve previously received the wrong item altogether.

Despite these anxieties, the desire to secure the “perfect gift” still pushes many into risky or exhausting holiday searches. Sixty percent of respondents admit theyll go to great lengths to get that one item, from spending hours comparing sites (39%) to waiting in hours-long online queues (20%) or checking an average of five different vendors before giving up. Some described even more extreme attempts, such as driving five hours through a snowstorm or paying double the value of a product just to receive it on time.

But many now find themselves competing more with bots than with other shoppers. Two-thirds of respondents (66%) say automated tools routinely beat them to high-demand products. As a result, some shoppers are pushed back into physical stores (34%), forced to search multiple websites at once (32%), or end up paying higher prices (24%). For others, it means losing the item entirely (29%) or shifting to secondhand marketplaces (20%).

Overall, 64% of Americans believe bots are stealing the joy from holiday shopping, three-quarters expect the problem to worsen this year, and 57% say bots have been a problem for online shoppers for the last six years.

Only 18% feel “very confident” they can reliably distinguish a legitimate product from a fake one, and another 41% feel only “somewhat confident,” leading 90% to say it is important to be able to verify that theyre buying from a real human being — not an automated seller.

“Holiday shopping shouldnt leave you guessing bot or not, where the Grinch wears silicon instead of fur.” said Trevor Traina, Chief Business Officer at World. “Consumers want fairness, and that starts with knowing who, or what, is on the other side of the transaction. Proof of human verification and a human network restores trust without invading privacy.”

With the holiday season underway, the findings point to a shifting landscape: shoppers still want great gifts, but a growing number are no longer willing to gamble to get them.