Might be a dumb question, but what is the main risk if the seller has decent feedback and paypal is used for a purchase? Is it mainly a warranty thing that makes Aus stock more popular/expensive? I assume most major brand phones purchased from HK would work on Australian networks with no problems?
Heck some even claim to ship from Australia but are just drop shipping from England, UK. Had UK postage and a 10% off voucher for another site (onemoreclick.co.uk or something silly like that, crappy Chinese made drop shipping stuff). It was a little digital thermometer & hygrometer for <$4 from best2trade, they lied when I asked them about it though.
I'm with you on Asian stock phones, unless it's just a super no-brainer deal like over 70% off which I don't think would ever happen and would probably just be a case of 'too good to be true'
Warranty, it's really great to have local support bound by Australian Consumer Law as opposed to a seller who may stop responding outside of the 45 day Paypal dispute window.
Authenticity, there's some really well done knock offs around these days after all the chinese excel at duplicating. There's also some really badly done ones as well, but you can almost guarantee the box etc will have the real look.
Many eBay sellers that claim to be in Hong Kong are in fact in mainland China. In fact, many Chinese eBay sellers claim to be somewhere else - I've even noticed a few that say they are in Darwin.
I wouldn't buy a mobile phone from overseas, but maybe that's just me.