Thats a great idea, problem is we are from different countries.
Vendors in several of the few countries I've visited accepted USD. Maybe the non-US party or parties is/are familiar with and can deal in USD. After all, for the moment, the USD is still the world's reserve currency, which is convenient for resolving problems just like this.
Alternately, one of you could go to a bank in your own country and exchange one local currency for the other's. Of course the fee for that might be worse than the Amazon gift card.
Do you both have paypal accounts? That's less than ideal too, but it might be worth investigating.
This is the kind of thing bitcoin is wonderful for. Maybe you can walk him through setting up an account on an exchange site. If the payer is non-US, he's in luck because there seem to be a lot less choices in the US, probably due to FATCA.
