Absolutely not. When you send the money as a gift, you give up any type of buyer protection from PayPal. The whole reason people gift the money in the first place is to avoid the fees. You can't have your cake and eat it to. If you circumvent the PayPal fees, you are on your own if something goes awry with the transaction.

Assuming you have access to a local branch of the seller's bank, you don't even need to do a wire transfer. You can simply deposit the cash straight into their account. It couldn't be easier.

Does anyone know what the maximum amount you can "gift" someone is?

Good to know. So you probably shouldn't write something like "Here is the payment for the Spider Man pinball machine" in the notes then.

It's amazing how trusting we are in this hobby. I've sent money to lots of people that I have never met before in complete faith that they would deliver the goods. I haven't been burned yet.