Working For Tips...Quite InterestingFollow

So, when I'm waiting for a friend to login or something I sometimes stand around in IF shouting my tradeskills working for tips if they provide the mats. I've always had a clause like "Tips appreciated but never expected" in my broadcasts. I get added to lots of peoples friends lists because I'll go out of my way to help people out with info, waiting for them, etc.

My rogue is an Enchanter, Scribe, and obviously a Locksmith. In the past week here's a few of the tips I've received:

• 25g for creating a Glyph of Raise Dead using the level 80 DK's mats - overkill but money at high levels is easy to come by
• Zilch for opening 8 boxes of various levels for a level 1 banker - kind of annoying because of how many boxes it was
• 15g for DEing a lvl 67 blue for a level 68 warrior - kind of overkill but apparently he'd been looking for quite some time to get someone to DE for him
• 25g for opening 1 eternium box for a level 80 priest - overkill but money at high levels is easy to come by
• 1g for opening 2 eternium boxes for a level 63 warrior - seems more in line with what we used to see
• 25g for opening 1 iron box for a level 41 hunter - WAY overkill
• 1x Snowfall Ink for creating a glyph for a level 80 druid using her mats - overkill since these AH for 40g on our server

I'm not complaining because I really don't care about the money so much as just helping people get some things they need/want. But what is up with the wide range - I doubt I'm the only one seeing this but maybe that's the case. I actually had to tell the person who offered me 25g to open the iron box that was WAY too much. I'm sure there are people who would have smiled, thanked him, and been on there way. But I didn't want him to keep over tipping so much because he was a new player to the game as far as I could tell (had to explain the Will Not Be Traded section of the trade dialog) and while he was definitely trying to show appreciation for our services it was overboard.

Well I think what's got me so interested in this is what has changed such that the work I used to get a 5g tip for I'm now often getting 25g tips for. Sure money is easier to come by but it's not like it's any more difficult for me to click the same button I've clicked for the past 4.5 years to unlock your box lol. In BC, every single one of these actions would have netted me up to 5g...perhaps I was just surrounded by tightwads all along and a new breed has arrived on my server??

EDIT: Missed a word :)

Edited, Jul 1st 2009 11:10am by aktlingit

I tend to tip a minimum of 10g for any services--any less and I feel like a jerk. In situations where I have trouble finding a crafter/mage I will tip more--I tend to pay 25g when I get more than one glyph made at a time, I've tipped Enchanters with Abyss Crystals before for doing both my weapons (I'm too cheap to use them on my gear, so I always have 2-3 sitting around doing nothing), and on at least a couple occasions I've paid 20g for a portal and provided the rune myself. It gets me very prompt service, whereas spamming trade with a more normal tip amount generally gets me nothing at all for about an hour until someone either takes pity on me or decides to do it just to shut me up.

Hmm, that's interesting and also kind of sad that some tradeskillers are getting that greedy. I mean I understand your point of getting quicker service but seriously, when you see 10 mages just standing in IF doing nothing but talking in guild chat, why is 5g to group up and open a portal not worth their time? It takes all of one minute - most dailies take a few minutes and net you 13g...profit ratio seems about the same to me plus you can do infinite portals a day but only 25 dailies :) I'm so glad I 5 box and have a mage and warlock so I can basically get myselves wherever I want to go pretty quickly lol.

Unless you're helping out a friend, never travel to do a service for someone. The only time you should travel to them is when a price for services is arranged first.

I've gotten into the habit of just /w the closest mage with a polite
"Sorry to bother you, could I get a port to Dal? I will tip of course :)"

If they're busy they ignore me or say no, if not it gets their attention and I get a port.

I usually tip 10g too.

This certainly is an interesting topic.

As a mage, I've never felt burdened by the portal requests I get. I leave trade channel open and am generally happy to send someone off with a smile. If someone feels like they need to ask what a standard tip is, or if they say they are broke, I just tell them it's free. Usually I pop open the portal as soon as we group up and get together. Most people will open the trade window and put in 2-5gold. Others just go through the portal, say thanks, and disband, which is good enough for me.

As far as tradeskills go, it's funny because often times people who are leveling their crafts will pay you to use your mats and get the skill ups, or even use their own mats. As an enchanter, I've seen tips go as high as 75gold for single chants. That was more for rare BoP chants that you couldn't train but still, for high level chants there are people who are happy to reward that much.

When it comes to opening lock boxes I tip fairly meagerly. Never do I tip more than the DE mats from the crap you get out of the box would be worth but still it's nice to show some appreciation. Far as the noob trying to tip 25g on an iron box...that seems suspect, but whatever. I probably would have taken it if he feels like he's got gold like that to dump.

Roll on my server. Politeness and English seem to have missed it. More often than not you'll get "port me to [somewhere] plskthx" or some unintelligible variant. Because of this, if someone asks for a port, I give them a price. Gold changes hands before I even go near the portal button. This way, I never feel at the mercy of someone who thinks a port to dalaran should only be 1g.

Oh, and if they're markedly below the appropriate level for the port (say, level 30 headed to dalaran), the price just doubled.

I read this thread couple days ago and I thought I would make an experiment(goes along with my scientific nature).

I decided to answer a couple "LF ench" on /trade and not mention anything about tips or gold just to see if people who profit from my profession would feel grateful enough to throw gold at me. So far I have encountered three separate events worth mentioning.

1. "Can anyone link enchanting?"- So I did, in /2 not in /w not suggesting I am looking for work but rather in sharing information spirit. I recevied tell naming specific enchant and was asked if I could do it. I replied that it would be no problem, but asked if said customer could go to dalaran in order to get it, because my HS was on cooldown and I was in the middle of dailies. I have not mentioned money at all to this point. I haven't heard from the guy since. Nothing. No "sorry, I found someone in the city" or "doesn't work for me, my hs is on cd also". So I went to my marry way. After 60 or so minutes I came back to dalaran and noticed that the same person asks in /trade for this enchant. If the guy had said anything at all to me I'm sure I would get to him or the other way by this time. Lack of communication made me /facepalm.

2. "LF ench" - I responded with linking my proffesion along with question what I could do for him. He asked for 2 mins to browse after which he asked what was best enchant for his hunter. I have never got hunter above level 30-ish and therefore I didn't have knowledge about current theorycrafting for the class. Which I stated in most polite way. I got no answer after that. Common belief that every JC(my second profession) and enchanter knows proper and up to date with cutting edge theorycrafting way to socket and enchant gear for every class and spec made me /facepalm.

3. "LF ench" - I responded as usually with linking my profession and asking what I could do for him. He said that he was buying mats at the moment. Since I was at TB AH I noticed that said customer was standing right in front of me. I thought to myself "even better, whole thing will be done in jiffy". I told the guy I was behind him. No further conversation after stating him buying the mats ocurred. He traded me with 6 dusts and 2 essences. I asked which enchant does he want only to notice he put his weapon in "not trading" slot. After 2 more polite questions about his enchant choice, I finally took time to compare list of enchants for 2-H with mats he gave me. I came up with Greater Savagery which makes sense for Hunter. (fact that 2/3 events concern hunters is pure coincidence, I have encounterd plenty of knowledgeable and polite hunters). After linking it in /w and asking if this was what he wanted I received "Player X nods at You" After which I enchanted gear. I received no tip and I haven't asked for it. Sheer stupidity and wasting my time by honorable and living up to his guild name member of "Two Trolls one Cup" player along with pissing off enchanter with riddles made /facepalm.

TL;DR version: People are often inconsiderate about enchanter's time and care only about their comfort. If one doesn't ask for money it's not uncommon not to receive any tip at all. Therefore the only way to ensure one's metal stability is to be very direct and firm with people for which one provide service. To be thorough author has to mention that he encountered many generous and polite people in his experiences with providing services to community of WoW players, above-mentioned examples were stated for purposes of making a point.

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