All I have to bring to this conversation is a perspective from a poor person. I'm a sick pensioner and get roughly €/$800 per month in disability to live on. I live in Finland which is very expensive and on an island so everything is about 20% more expensive than mainland Finland.
Despite this I can save around €50-200 a month for my hobbies (don't drink, smoke, party or anything that costs a lot of money).
When I buy something I have to really think about it, I have to carefully plan my purchase, decide on how much I can cut down on food to save extra money as that's the only expense I can cut back on. I have become VERY proficient at finding cheaper options and the way marketing works makes me even more inclined to search for alternatives, especially if the thing is originally manufactured in china.
Look at Apple, why are they popular? Overhyped and really smart marketing targeting kids/teens causes a very destructive behaviour in "if you don't have it you can't be part of the cool club". I know a lot about marketing, manufacturing costs and msrp. I'm sure most of you would be shocked if you knew what some of the airguns cost to manufacture compared to the cost of buying them from a store.
Now what does this have to do with the discussion? It comes down to this: I can buy a product locally or I can order the exact same product from the exact same manufacturer or someone with a connection to the manufacturer from china for up to 90% cheaper with free shipping but I have to wait 1-2 months for the product to arrive. China does not care at all about copyright, you can find copies/offbrand versions of almost anything made in China, often made with the exact same parts and often put together by people who work in the factory where the original is made.
So an airgun might cost $200-500 to manufacture in china and the product is sold for $1500 in the US/EU or you can buy the china version for $300-600. You will not have any warranty regardless of what they might claim but the crackdown on scammers is really good so you will almost always receive a product or your money back if you buy from sites with good customer protection.
The TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) destroyed manufacturing in the US and similarly in the EU for cheap products made in China.
This allows brands to have products made really cheaply and then sold high very high profits in the US/EU and all it cost them are all their technologies being stolen by China. Anyone remember when all phone support was moved to India? Sure it was cheap but all it cost them were all their users data being stolen because of lax rules in India... backlash caused many to abandon call centers in India afaik.
Brand loyalty and buying locally only goes so far when you are poor. If I want as much bang for my buck as possible I'm forced to look for alternatives and currently 90% of accessories can be had for 10% of the price from China. If it's manufactured in china there will be someone somewhere selling the same product or an identical/copy of it for 10-25% of the price, often with free shipping which is extremely important for me as I live on a so called "remote location".
I want to support manufacturers but my economic situation does not allow for it and as I have information on how much it actually costs to manufacture something in China it just leaves a bad taste to buy it locally or from within the EU/US. I the product is manufactured outside of China then there is usually no other option but it's also more expensive. There are many places you can have custom stuff made as well, even one off products. Quality has been extremely good for a fraction of the cost compared to locally, only difference is long shipping times if you go with the cheapest option.
Here is how I look at (though my view is from someone who's poor as I live on around $10 000 per year):
1. Would a manufacturer care if they lost my business?
2. Would a large retailer care if they lost my business?
3. Would a local store care if they lost my business?
You can ask this question of anyone who has a product to offer, some will be yes, others will be no. The ones who really care will try to fix a problem and you should support them, just a positive review goes a long way. The ones that don't care if they lose you should be avoided and a negative review is needed.
Thanks to reviews businesses have to care more about customer support now than they ever did in the past.
You do need to realize you are nothing more than number to most businesses but it is you who has the choice of whom to support or not. Problems start when monopolies emerge and I'm sure most people have a horror story with a business with a monopoly in some field.
TLDR: Support those who appreciate your business as much as possible.
How about we both switch to half caf and meet in the middle. 
