What should I tip?Follow

I'm a newbie and still trying to learn some of the etiquette involved. The biggest thing that I can't figure out is what amount one should tip for enchanting or crafting. Is there a standard rate per item level, or for green/blue/purple, or what? I don't want be the noob tipping 60g for a +1 damage boost but I sure don't want to get a rep for tipping 2s for a 24-slot bag.

That sounds fair. Thanks for the advice.

Tips are voluntary, but your tips are insulting based on what I know about the cost of mats for mid-level (circa 300 skill) and high-level enchantments. If you aren't going to give a decent tip, it's better not to tip at all. Getting a 10 Gold tip for something where the mats cost 1000G, and the recipe took weeks of farming? I'd throw the money back at you and put you on ignore.


Edited, Jun 18th 2008 9:06pm by ohmikeghod

I just hate when I make best-in-slot items (belt of blasting, bracers of nimble thought, runic spellthread) and get a 2g tip or something like that.

insulting....then don't do it for me. there are at least 100 people per realm that can craft the same item or enchant the same thing pretty much no matter how rare it is.

Its my mats, i gathered them/bought them/collected them. I asked for someone in trade channel--can anyone do XXX to my YYY and you said you could. I raced over to you, handed you all my mats and all you have to do is click a button. yes i tip 2-5 gold for pretty much every enchant i usualy want to get. 10g if its a weapon enchant, because yes, there are alot more mats involved with that. if thats insulting or you dont want to wait for me to find you, then great dont do it.

In all my years playing i have never required a fee for anything i have done. the only exception is for when my mage creates a port to you, even then, its 1g for a port.
in all the years i have crafted for people, tailoring, LW, Eng, and Alc, i have never gotten a tip over 10g for anything created, or time invested for creating it for you.
i tip guildes even when they refuse, i never charge a guildy or a friend and will often hand over extra mats, of stuff i dont exactly need without them asking.

my tipping practice is born out of what i have found from other people
you dont like it, good... /2 who can enchant bla bla bla, my mats will tip.

[i][sm]Edited, Jun 19th 2008 12:30pm by *********************************

To the OP - very simple answer:

Ask the person whose service you are requesting.

It's not a tip if the enchanter is using his own mats. Then it's a paid service, like buying a meal from a restaurant.

A tip is where you bring your own mats and the enchanter doesn't do anything more strenuous than clicking a button. The tip is there as a thank-you in recognition for him leveling enchanting up that high.

I usually give about 10g, supply my own mats in advance, and I get told I'm overly generous.

10/1000 = 0.01 = 1% :)

100g would be a 10% tip...

But I'm with the camp here that leans towards: If the enchanter is full service, supplying his own mats, then sure, a 10-15% markup/tip over the cost of the mats seems like a reasonable fee.

If I look up the enchant, secure all the mats myself, and travel to the enchanter, wtf am I paying you 100 g for? waiting five minutes and clicking 2-3 buttons? Why is that service worth 100g in the case of a high level enchant, but <1g for a low level enchant? In real life, of course, the answer would be that very few people can do the action in question, and thus you can set your price. In WoW, alas, we have a top heavy economy...there are likely to be, on nearly every server, MORE people with maxed out level and enchanting skill than with lower skill levels. This makes high level enchants only marginally less rare than low level ones.

Probable exception: rare enchants that have to be farmed. But in those cases, you can state: pay me 100g or I won't do it, which leaves the enchantee the option of waiting to find a new chanter or sucking it up.

To the person who mentioned bidding wars in trade, ya, I see the problem. Probably the best way to advertise your services is along the "lvl X chanter looking for work, can do most chants including Y, pst for prices/more info" cause 1 s undercutters are surely annoying.

I tend to give 10% or better for either the mats or what the actual item would sell for.
For example I just had someone craft me a primal mooncloth bag.
Primal mooncloth has been going for over 60+g on my server lately but I look for it all the time and when the AH starts getting saturated and it drops to 40-50g I buy the material.
Long story short, I tipped 40g to the crafter, while that bag if bought off the AH would of cost over 500g.
So some would say I didn't tip enough but I didn't pay that much for my mats either.
The netherweb was farmable but I still bought it at a steal from the AH.
I had no more than 400g in mats for that bag so I based my tip off of that.

...and the responses to my last post are the reasons I sell mats instead of hawk enchants. I can make a profit selling mats. I will only get poor selling enchants. What you people have now said is (paraphrased, of course): "we will never pay you enough gold to make enchanting a money-viable profession". Since that is your stance, is it so unreasonable of me to take puny tips as an insult?

double post deleted

[i][sm]Edited, Jun 20th 2008 6:22pm by *********************************

Oh, don't get me wrong. I love the profession. I make about 1.5 to 2K gold a week from it, so what's not to love? My enchanter has financed multiple epic fliers with no problems. I just don't sell enchants to make my gold. Instead, I sell mats to the dweebs who will find a sucker enchanter and ***** him out of a decent tip. In other words, I make my gold from people like you. You buy my mats (from which I make a VERY hefty profit), and tip the enchanter 2G. I make 250G (on a 500G mat buy), and the other enchanter gets 2G (when he should have gotten 50). You have the money for the mats, but act as if a piddling 50G is going to break you...

Edited, Jun 21st 2008 12:55am by ohmikeghod

A few more thoughts on the subject:

If mats on the AH sell for 500G, a legitimate Enchanter will advertise:

/2 Selling [Enchant <location-spell>] for 550G - my mats. Tips gratefully accepted.

You are the type of person who will

/w enchanter UR 2 XpenSIVE! I CN BI IT 4 200 pun is intentional
/w you Well, if you can you're welcome to do so

/2 WTB [Enchant <location-spell>] 200G UR MATS will tip

...and you find someone who farmed his mats from drops who figures that 200G is better than nothing so he enchants your item for 200G plus a 20G tip.

So here's what happens:

If you buy from the advertiser and tip your way, I make nothing, he makes 355G (more if he farmed from drops - less if he bought some mats at the AH), you pay 605G (550G + 55G tip)
If you buy the mats and tip properly, I make 250G, enchanter makes 50G, you pay 550G
If you buy the mats and tip your way, I make 250G, enchanter makes 2G, you pay 502G
If you shop around and get an enchanter to sell his mats to you at a discount, I make nothing, enchanter loses 280G (difference between what he could have sold the mats for at the AH and what you paid, including the tip), and you pay 220G

Edited, Jun 21st 2008 7:23am by ohmikeghod

As an enchanter I've given up on actually enchanting player's items and instead like most enchanters make the vast majority of my gold on DE'ing items and selling them on the AH. In my experience, I've found there to be two groups of people when it comes to tiping me for enchants. There are those who are polite, amiable, and offer tips of about 10-15% of the total materials. Then there are those who insist I come to them, are rude, and if I'm lucky throw me a gold or two for an enchant that took me hours to farm or multiple dungeon runs to get. Now, when I do enchant gear and get an insulting tip or none at all, I've taken to calling out that individual on the trade channel for their cheapness. It may be petty and childish but maybe, just maybe it gets the message out. Mostl likely not however.