Really he just wants to keep users that come to his site and aren't happy with the free type dating site. Instead of them going to match.com or w/e they'll go to his pay site.
What value is adding a pay site to an over saturated market bringing here? Why would you play against companies that are more resourceful and experienced using their rules? Seems to me that - long term - this is a lose/lose all around for him.
In order for this to be even remotely successful, he needs to beat the pay sites at their own game. Otherwise, his "pay site" will still be disregarded, and he'll still "lose revenue" to the big guys. The odds are stacked against him. The big guys can bear a price war much better than he can, and that's what he's jumping into, essentially.
Perhaps the true nature of this post is an effort to bring some of those other players out of the woodwork.
A one time referral fee OR customers that continue to pay for your service month after month, year after year.
He doesn't want to be an affiliate, he wants control of it all.
He doesn't want to be an affiliate, he wants control of it all.
And my point is that this is where greed can sometimes bite you in the ass.
He may get a one-off payout of $100 or so per signup, but if he had his own service he would continue to make money from the original signups while gaining new ones each month.
Recurring payments > One-time payment.