Nice write-up from dangerousprototypes as to how to buy cheap parts from China direct. Basically there is an ebay clone in china that you can “hire” someone in china to buy the parts for you from, then they package them up and ship them to you. The down side of the article is it doesn’t tell you “how” to find an agent to do the buying. I did check the site out and wow, they are cheap (think factor or 5 and better).
http://dangerousprototypes.com/2012/08/16/taobao-cheap-electronics-components/#more-55191