[thelist] email parser

I want to create an application that can parse the emails that Amazon or eBay send me when I have sold an item. I want to capture the despatch note and delivery address sections and "paste" them into an rtf template .

The problem is, I have no idea where to start. Do I write a VB app that manipulates the "body object" of an Outlook Express message, or can I write it in something like PHP and query the messages on the server.

Any ideas, examples or pointers greatly appreciated.

LezL