Help with international shipping

This is happening too much, and it worries me a lot. Last month, I was interested in two ebay itens. One is a very stuffed TM506 mainframe that coudn't be sent to Brazil because the seller had to sign he wouldn't sell the things he bought overseas. I had to have the help of a friend of this list (THANKS A LOT! You know who you are :o)) to solve this problem. I don't mind the extra $70 I had to pay to have the item sent to him, for him to repack and send me to Brazil, but I mind the trouble I gave him for repacking and sending the item to me. No good. The other was a item from outback (look for it at ebay), a HP16500A to C upgrade kit. NEW IN BOX. The price was cheap and I'd pay anything to have it. I **COULDN'T** buy it AT ANY PRICE because the seller is tired of falling in brazilian scams (as he/she said) and wouldn't sell it to me at any condition. Of course, I have few votes on ebay (all of them as a buyer) but all votes are positive. So, not only this is an oportunity for a "forward" service to be born, but also is a pity, we pay one of the most expensive shipping taxes in the world, one of the most expensive customs taxes in the world, don't have an internal surplus selling option and now, gasp, we CANNOT EVEN BUY ON EBAY. Future is dire :( Thanks for hearing the rant Alexandre Souza, PU1BZZ