No. One person spends the money on two items (subscription and token) so that they can receive the gold acquired by the second-hand token buyer.
As said by an SFA explaining this very topic:
The one that buys the token with gold has to spend time acquiring that gold, which increases their playtime on the game. The player with money to spare gets a barrel of gold, the player with time to spare can use that time to basically work in the game and get more time, and Blizzard profits from the increased token subscription price. The system is a win-win-win.