Haha no problem! I really appreciate your time and expertise. I just wrote this and it's long, but please help if you can it's really important to me.
What you said was honestly my original simple plan until I hit some roadblocks.
1. I wanted to eliminate myself from the buying/selling process for 2 reasons. Since Nike doesn't authorize me to be buying and reselling their products internationally in Africa, I wanted to stay out of the process. I figured if I could connect the buyer and seller, and collect my fee as a service fee it would be MUCH simpler and safer than having my name on any of the purchasing if Nike decided to go after the Africans for reselling. I don't want to be responsible for buying or selling the goods out of my own safety. Also it makes it much simpler for tax purposes as well. Technically I am not "reselling" the products in Africa, but I am reslling Nike's goods from the US wholesale supplier to Africans. If the Wholesale Supplier sends products/receives payments directly to the African partner (or even one of his buyers directly), I believe I am in the clear for any legal issues.
2. You mentioned my partner advertising the shoes. This was another issue since we legally we are not allowed to use their images or trademarks of Nike's products. Another benefit of running it this way is that I could just list product names that I can provide and if he wants to, he can create a catalog for his buyers. I wont be responsible for that either. I am trying to run this in the simplest way without violating any of our US laws withing my business.
Based on that, here would be the simple structure of the payment (in my head, obviously I would need to speak with an accountant/attorney, but this is just what I'm thinking)
1. John, an African Buyer wants Nike shoes so he goes to African Partner
2. African Partner assists John setting up a free simple online Mastercard Account (Yes - it is rare there).
3. African Partner reaches out to me to find products to find the best/legit Nike supplier for John's needs
4. I locate the best deal and see that a supplier has ex. 100 sneakers for $50 each including shipping (I would calculate it out). I say that I can charge my partner $70 per sneaker with my fee including shipping. My partner will obviously be making a profit too, so he would maybe mark it up to $90 per sneaker for john. If the US supplier DOES accept a wire, super simple, John pays the supplier directly, $50 per sneaker but has to pay both of our service/broker fees of $20 per sneaker for each of us. John knows this, because Partner told John in the first place its $90. Or we can use my Partners Mastercard account so John won't find out who the supplier is. If the supplier doesn't accept a wire, John wires the cash to me, and I send into his mastercard account so it is ready for purchase (Or we can just use my partners account).
Now - If we did it your way - John wires me the $10,000 cash (if partner tells him its $100 per shoe), I buy the shoes with the $5000 to supplier with John's address. I pay Partner 2500, and keep 2500. Then that is more complicated all of those shoes would be my cost of goods sold, and I would have to subtract my partners profit as an expense and it gets more complicated with tax purposes. It would also be my name on the purchase and sale which I wanted to avoid.