affiliate program without ads or products

Hello everybody!
I was thinking about making an affiliate program that uses neither ads nor products to earn money.
The idea is very simple, a member signs up and pays a one-time fee, then for every new member he refers, he gets paid. let’s say membership costs $2, and then for every new referral he gets $1. OR a monthly fee of $2 and he get $1/referral/month
The system is very clear, no products and no ads to click.
The problem is that I’m confused whether this would be considered as ponzi or pyramid scheme, or just something else. and IS THIS LEGAL? especially when declaring the rules and when all members accept the ToS.
There are many sites out there, and one site that is very close to my idea is http://www.savingfive.com/
I don’t know if this site is legal (I mean legal in terms of business type and not if they are honest or […]

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