Enchanting is a primary
profession in which
characters may
enchant gear and
craft a variety of
items. The main use of enchanting is to augment the stats of gear, such as more strength, intellect, etc.; resistance to a particular branch of magic; increased spell damage or healing; increased speed (attack speed, mount speed etc.); or a variety of other effects. Enchanters also create specialty use items, such as
[Wizard Oil] and trade goods, such as
[Enchanted Leather].
Employing the services of an enchanter is one of the trickier things that a player may wish to do in WoW. For details on how to be savvy customer for those services read:
Getting Enchantments Done.
Background 
Edit
The following groups of characters have particular uses for many enchanter abilities:
- Twinks. Persons who have decided to create a character to play in different brackets in the battlegrounds reach a limit on gear upgrades. The popular twinking brackets are levels 19 and 29, and less so 39 and 49. These are the most lucrative markets for those whose skill level is 300 or less in enchanting (because the better Burning Crusade enchants are limited to items of level 35 or above). Even so, only the top-end enchants are in demand, so skill level 300 and some rare enchants are needed to have success in this market.
- Weapon glows. This is where those with lower-level enchanting skills can earn some profit. Many enchants make weapons glow in various colors. [Enchant Weapon - Beastslaying] (red), [Enchant Weapon - Fiery Weapon] (orange) and [Enchant Weapon - Superior Striking] (blue) are three of the more popular glow enchants. As in other professions, the more popular enchanting formulas can't be learned from a trainer; they are drops and must be purchased through the AH, or in some cases can only be bought from a vendor after a certain level of reputation has been reached, one popular example for this is the agility enchant for weapons (much liked by rogue twinks). In some cases, rich players (particularly on RP servers) may pay for weapon glows simply for the aesthetic aspect.
- High End. Characters level 35 and up can use the high-end enchants introduced by the Burning Crusade. For the most part, these enchants have made the pre-Burning Crusade enchants obsolete, although some of the older enchants still remain useful (e.g. the riding speed enchant). Again, the most desirable high-end enchants are not generally available. Many rare recipes are BoP and cannot be traded, some are bossdrops (and thus are available only to raiding enchanters), others require faction grinding.
- Products. Enchanting products can be profitable and ease the cost of gaining skills. Look into creating oils and enchanted leather and thorium. Check how expensive the materials are, and how much profit can be gained by selling the product. This may vary greatly depending on server, day of the week and several other factors. In addition the recent addition of the inscription profession allows enchanters to use vellum to createscrolls. Each of these scrolls can be used to enchant one weapon or armor. The scrolls can be sold in the auction house or mailed to players using the COD (cash on delivery) support.
- Misc Armor Type. Several items have a misc armor type (as opposed to cloth, mail, etc). These items due not follow the normal level requirements. Examples: Antique Silver Cufflinks and Lovely Charm Bracelets are both level 1 and accept +3 stam and +9 spirit, but not +7 stam or +9 stam. Formal Dangui is level 60 and accept +22 defense and +260 mana, but apparently no other LK enchants.
Now that you know what categories of enchants sell, don't be surprised that no one is interested in your low-level enchants as you raise your skills. Those do not fall into the above categories, so few will want them, even if free. In those early times, your most valuable enchanting skill will be
disenchanting. As an aside, disenchanting is one way to make tailoring profitable, as you can learn which crafted tailored items will generate dusts and essences -- even shards -- that sell for a higher price than the value of the materials. Depending on the economy on your server, it is sometimes possible with a tailoring/enchanting combination to put a considerable stockpile of gold for purchasing your mount in the bank well before you reach level 30.
Disenchanting will also be vital to your progress and success, since a vital part of enchanting is farming components. If you don't farm shards, essences and dusts, and instead rely on people bringing you the materials, you will only be paid tips like any lock picker. Considering how much you will be spending on formulas and training, it would take droves of tips to let you break even, much less make a profit. Instead, you want to farm the materials so you can include the market price for them in the cost of your services, making money both ways. That said, farming the high-demand items, such as
[Large Brilliant Shards], requires runs through level 60 or higher instances, as these can only be obtained by disenchanting high-level blue items.
As you can see, enchanting requires a fairly good understanding of the mechanics of the game. You need to be familiar with what stats are of interest to which players and why so that you can determine which enchants will be of value, and to be able to advise players who might be unsure.
At higher levels, an enchanter can enchant his or her own rings, but no one else's. The things an enchanter can do are a bit slanted toward casters; the oils, the wands, int buff is one of the early weapon enchantments. All characters can benefit from being able to disenchant; having a disenchanter along is an essential part of serious raiding.
Enchanting Training Edit
Levels Apprentice to Artisan may be learned at enchanting trainers throughout Azeroth. The same trainers also teach enchants.
There are Master trainers at
Stormspire in
Netherstorm and
Honor Hold as well as
Thrallmar in
Hellfire Peninsula. Although you need to be level 50 to learn Master enchanting from them, they also train the following 4 enchants which do not require Master, but only enchanting skill 300 (potentially available at level 35):
Blood elves (having +10 enchanting) may learn an additional 7 enchants, also potentially at level 35. These are:
Low-level enchants (below skill 250) require rather large amounts of expensive components, but can hardly be sold. Even attempts to give them away for free can fail. Thus enchanters frequently end up re-enchanting the same item dozens of times just to increase their skill.
At very low levels, disenchanting can level enchanting skill.
Leveling enchanting is possible just with the materials gained from disenchanting items you find yourself and items from quests, but due to the slow rate, buying materials from the AH or having friends or members of your guild supply you with items or materials can be quite a boost. Farming magic items for disenchanting is not recommended, thus enchanting is a profession for players with either backup from a guild, enough money to buy most of the materials, or a lot of patience. Buying and disenchanting underpriced items from AH can be a cheaper way to obtain materials rather than than buying them directly (particularly high level pre-TBC dusts/essences/shards). Items such as a plate armor with +12 to Spirit have no value if worn or sold, but may disenchant to materials far in excess of the item's vendor value.
A common tip is to disenchant items created with tailoring. This is an easy way to obtain dusts and essence, however, depending on the item and your server, selling either the cloth or the item and buying enchanting materials with the money gained can be more effective. In most cases, it's an excellent way to offset the costs of tailoring, since the vast majority of low level tailoring products are utterly worthless but need to be made in order to train the skill.
