The author is a PhD student therefore he will be time-rich but money-poor so it is not surprising as you think.

It might not have the answers he's looking for. When I've gone on such hunts, yeah, any one cost isn't so bad, but if I open that box of paying for documents, I could easily drop thousands of dollars and not actually be any closer to the answer.

Is it weird to you that some people make less money than you?

What's bizarre to me is that they're using British currency but putting the currency sign at the end of the numbers.