If you arrive in oz empty handed and homeless like me you'll want to set up home asap with minimum amount of expense, especially if you aren't sure whether or not you'll be staying. Enter ebay - ta da!
I am a self confessed ebay addict. Like the UK one it's possible to find some really good deals on second hand and new stuff. Plus if you were a member in the UK you can transfer it and all your feedback over to oz, although you may still find that your 'my ebay' section still sends you messages from the UK site which can get confusing. Whilst you can still use your Paypal account anywhere in the world, it may be better to set up an Australia one linked to an Australian bank account so that you don't have to pay commission on the currency exchange. In this case Paypal advises that you shut down your original Paypal account before you open a new one.
The good thing about ebay Australia is that you can get some billy bargains (especially if you use a bid robot to bid at the last minute!) which is useful in a land where furniture and appliances can be ridiculously expensive, unless you're lucky enough to live near Ikea and/or like Chinese branded washing machines. People are usually pretty friendly and polite, and are often fairly new to the game since ebay is a more recent phenomenon in Australia than in the UK and bid robots are not widely used - yet.
The drawback can be that ebay newbies often want to sell their goods for as close as possible to their original purchase price, even if it's a 30 year old wood effect melamine set of 'draws'. If it's in star quality condition some sellers may want their money's worth. I recently had a bad experience with an ebay newbie who tried to tell me that the $1000 dining table I'd won for $50 had been 'sawn through' whilst being used a workbench, even though it was advertised as being dismantled. It seems she hadn't heard of reserve prices and was highly disappointed with the price it sold for. So steer clear of an ebayer called lady*beetle84 -she's a big fat liar who I reported to ebay for seller non performance!
Also, the geography of Australia means that unless you want to travel for a week across country and back again to pick up that essential crystal chandelier, you will either have to restrict your search to a more manageable geographical radius or arrange for your goods to be couriered at great expense. Obviously, the closer you live to a highly populated area, the more choice you'll have.
One of the first things I bought on ebay Australia was a desk chair that I eventually had no need for. When I sold it on ebay I got back almost exactly what I paid for it. So if I ever need to get rid of my entire household contents in a hurry, I reckon I can get my money back by flogging it all on ebay where I bought it in the first place.
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