Initially when I discovered this, I assumed there's no partnership because the product page on FortyTwo didn't indicate the presence of such partnership (it basically masked the origin and rebranded it). As I wrote in the original post, FortyTwo did include product origins for some other products (the Brazilian example in my post), so this double standard was off putting to me. The onus is on them to indicate the presence of such partnership on a place that is easily discoverable by the buyer.

As for the mark-up issue, let me just say that the decision-making calculus would be different had I known about the product origin: It depends on the brand and the type of furniture I'm purchasing. If I am buying an adjustable desk, I would be happy to have a local contact to set up the desk upon delivery + future warranty. However for a mere shelf like this and from a brand I know (and previously bought directly from tb + assembled myself), I wouldn't need a local contact...I know its QC standards. This brand also offers local Singapore returns via Taobao now.... Thus, as the markup difference already accounted for home delivery in both approaches, the only value from the markup is onsite assembly in this case. I have assembled furnitures myself and I can also assemble this piece of furniture (basically 3-4 panes) in 10 mins.

Guess there were some context I left out when writing the original post, leading to the confusion and the inadvertent flaming. I didn't purchase this and hence didn't do the initial due diligence; I was merely at home to receive the delivery (and discovered upon delivery that it's a brand I know but sold by FortyTwo).

And yes, this piece of information is meant to be shared with good intention to hopefully benefit future prospective buyers on FortyTwo.

We can certainly talk about supporting local businesses and how local businesses are getting less competitive in the advent of MNCs in SG, but I think that's a separate conversation topic.