What's the best way to buy things from abroad, without using a foreign credit card or bank account?

Say, if I wanted to buy something on Ebay, or from an online clothing catalog, how would I do that?

And how does that work with currencies (if sellers want to be paid in usd or euro etc)?

Thanks.

I'm thinking www.paypal.com/worldwide/ should work, I think the Chinese paypal system only pays out in China.

Thanks, but I don't think so.
It seems that you can send payments or money from almost any country EXCEPT China. Gabon, St. Pierre, Congo-no problem. China is not on the list.

Maybe I am reading the Paypal jargon wrong, but that page seems to indicate that you could only use Paypal to buy in China if the seller is also in China.

actually I just remembered a Chinese gf i know buys stuff from ebay from all over the world with her Chinese bank accounts. So must be possible, the only problem is Chinese paypal site is in Chinese only.

bump.

Any ideas people?

Have a look for "bank" : www.blackdragoncafe.com/journal/dali-services/