i have a paypal account that i use to purchase stuff (my last purchase was also australia). if you notice the small print in there, neither ebay nor paypal wants it's sellers to sell directly or for it's buyers to buy directly because - guess why - they are inter-related. that is, ebay OWNS paypal, and when a customer pays into a seller's account, ebay takes a bite as it's.....let's call it a commission. or a fee. which means that the seller has to raise his prices enough to cover that bit of overhead. which mens that even though it's cheap for you, the buyer, it could be cheaper still if ebay wasn't grabbing some of it. don't get me wrong ---i love ebay and i love paypal. but i don't think that's the best way for individuals to work with each other. i don't think there has to be a middle man who charges for services.