Jerks and idiots make me really dislike the human interaction aspect of WoW. So when I see people advertising in trade that they would pay 50g if an enchant gives them a skill up, I can only imagine it to be equivalent to paying someone to give me a slap on the face.
The trauma of levelling up enchanting previously to 375 via trade/ guild mates makes me very reluctant to provide such services. That was before inscription was in the game and enchants cannot be saved onto scrolls, so to skill up, you’d have to find people to put the enchants on or burn your mats enchanting your own armor over and over again. I’ve enchanted for people who doesn’t have the correct mats even though I explicitly said I have none; people who asks me “so what hunter enchants do you have”; people who make me travel to Stormwind or Ironforge and burn my hearthstone; people who make me wait 10 minutes while they log on/off their alts to get the mats after they finally decide what enchants they want. Best of all, these are the people who go “lol, i spent da money on da mats. now i’m broke” and do not even tip even when I’ve gone through the hassle of traveling, waiting and have to use a 1-hr CD to hearthback. So after that, I have lost my appetite to talk to random people. Business is best left impersonal.
Whereas enchanting was previouly a synchronous trade process, i.e both parties have to be present at the same time, the new changes that allow enchants to be put on armor and weapon scrolls have finally enabled asynchronous trading via the AH i.e I can create an enchant scroll and list on the Auction House at noon, and you can buy it at 3pm even when I’m logged off. The tips and crafting fee are included in the price so you won’t have to go through the awkward social dance of “how much should I tip you” and “how much should I ask for” and if it costs too much you can walk away without feeling like you wasted each other’s time.
The other misconception that people have is that levelling trade skills will cost gold, which is the main idea that leads to paying others to get your skillup. On the contrary, I’ve actually made decent profit skilling up blacksmithing and enchanting by doing some research, making useful items and listing the crafted items on the AH.
I’m just really, really glad I don’t have to go hawk my wares in trade ever again.
