When it comes to online auctions, most people think of the lengthy, generally unexciting (at least until the last few minutes) auctions found on eBay. But in the last year we’ve seen some more interesting action in the space — Swoopo is one site that comes to mind, but it is an “entertainment shopping” experience that has an element of gambling to it (you can walk away empty handed and still lose money). StuffBuff is a new site that’s taking a different approach: it’s looking to combine the real-time nature of sites like Twitter with traditional auction sites like eBay. The company made its debut in the TechCrunch50 Demopit, and is today launching in private beta. We’ve got 500 invites for TechCrunch readers. To join, use the invite code “TechCrunch”.

A standard StuffBuff auction (called a ‘Live Haggle’) looks quite similar to a chat room, with a few key differences. The top of the chat window shows a ‘time left’ indicator that lets you know when the auction ends, and there’s a bidding window below the chat box where you enter how much you’re willing to pay (entering a bid is considered binding). → Read More