Tazbar.com will cease to trade as an online auction venue on July 16, 2009, according to an announcement posted on the site on Sunday evening. The site launched in the UK in August 2006, and that fall, it launched a television ad campaign (the commercial can be viewed on AuctionBytes.TV).

Lee Markham, a former eBay Powerseller, decided to develop Tazbar in January 2005 because of his disillusionment with eBay as the "only real online auction venue option." He co-founded the site with Tim James and Glenn James, who were suppliers of wholesale goods to hundreds of eBay traders across the UK and Europe.

Yesterday's announcement stated that the decision to close the site was "purely a commercial decision and doesn't reflect on the wonderful people that we have met and had the pleasure of being involved with during the lifetime of the website."

Tazbar will stop charging fees at midnight on June 15, 2009, and the website will remain open and active for the following month to allow users to continue to trade and conclude any business. The logistics of the closure can be found in the announcement.

Update 6/8/09: There's a new post in the Tazbar forums about the closure. Link