A man attends a live sneakers auction sale on the Whatnot app on March 12, 2026. | Alain Jocard/AFP via Getty Images If you haven’t heard of “live shopping,” you might soon. Livestream shopping is already a staple of e-commerce in China, where consumers log onto apps like Douyin and Taobao to buy products from a livestreamer — think QVC. Now, a new app is trying to bring it to the United States. The Whatnot app features rolling live auctions that can last from three seconds to a minute. Users can bid on everything from trading cards to clothes to steaks. With about 550,000 hours of st...
Live auctions are turning shopping into gambling
HALO Newsroom
Sep 29, 2026 • 6 hours ago
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