We are planning for an upcoming trip to Australia and New Zealand. We are from the US. I understand that US citizens need a visa to visit Australia but not New Zealand.

Am I understanding correctly that US citizens can apply for an ETA online for $20? Is this the equivalent of a visa?

Also, if applying for my entire family who will all be traveling together, do we pay the fee for each individual or is the $20 fee for the entire family?

The ETA (Electronic Travel Authority) is your "visa" to Australia. Each person must have their own ETA and the cost is A$20 per person. The ETA is not included in your ticket. You can get your ETA online at:
http://www.immi.gov.au/e_visa/eta.htm
Have everyone's passports at hand when are ready to apply for your ETAs.

Yes, you will need an ETA for each member of the family. It is approximately $20 and here is the link: http://www.eta.immi.gov.au/
Your airline can probably get it for you if you request that they do so. Five years ago, American Airlines did it for us and charged $25 per person.

However, this might be a better solution: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/austr...plication.html

I decided to go this route for our trip to Australia's Top End this coming April...and made a corresponding donation to the charity of my choice.

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Vic's travels: http://my.flightmemory.com/vogilvie

The ETA web site at eta.immi.gov was extremely easy to use. They take your credit card number, your passport number, and bingo... DONE

I now have mine for March. Thanks to this thread, I realized I needed to get the visa. My 6 other trips to OZ were booked by my travel agent, and she did all the work! This time I've booked everything on my own.