Sure, it's a little shady.
But really, if he actually ends up middle-menning the links, you get a sale, a customer gets a product.
Obviously you just forgot to put up your affiliate page link
EDIT: And, in my experience, its really hard to get away from this crap, I dunno what it is but this is the way business is done when anyone from outside of mainstream developed countries is involved.
I've had so many jobs jobbed out by indians to cheaper indians, or to other countries entirely. It's a huge waste of time for me, and not really much profit for them because they lie so shittily I find out right away or even before beginning.