Personally, I'd be OK if someone "refers" me something through an affiliate link, but I wouldn't be so sure that my friends / everyone else thinks the same way. Pinterest got away with it, though.

It sounds a little like http://refer.ly/ and I'd recommend to take a look at them if you haven't done it already. They have a neat product, although the name can potentially turn off some people (see above).

And don't get me wrong, I think there's always room in the market if you do your job extremely well. :)