Profiting With The Leatherworking Profession

There are limited profiting possibilities with the Leatherworking profession, as there are limited items that have a wide range of use.

By far the most profitable recipes are the Leg Armors, but they aren't the only recipes which can help a Leatherworker profit, there are also Bags and Leather recipes which can be crafted. Fresh to the Leatherworking profiting scene are the new sets of Drums, adding extra profitability from this profession.

Leg Armors

Leg Armors have been high in demand since they were buffed in The Burning Crusade Expansion. All physical dps and tanks will want to have one attached to their pants. There are currently five seperate Leg Armors which are popular. Of course, those of the highest quality and wide consumer base will sell for more gold, more frequently: Icecale Leg Armor - used by all physical dps, this is by far the most popular Leg Armor currently, if you choose to sell these, it will be a quick profit, especially if you time your auction placement just before raid times (Tuesday-Saturday 3pm-12am server time). Frosthide Leg Armor and Earthern Leg Armor, sought by tanks and those who PVP, will sell a little less frequently, but if you place your auctions in a timely manner, you will have no trouble making a very decent profit. Ideally, since Arena Points are awarded on Tuesdays, you will want to make this your prime selling day.

While the Epic Leg Armors may stand out as a quick and easy profit, the Rare Leg Armors have just as high of a demand as the Epic. Costing far less material to make, Jormungar Leg Armor and Nerubian Leg Armor are a very easy, and often quick, gold-making source. People with characters at 70-79 will be eager to increase their character's potential, while those who would prefer to not spend as much on an item enhancement may opt for these over the Epic Armors. Whichever the reasoning, these Leg Armors are cheap to make and provide a great return.

Drums

At first glance, you wouldn't expect Drums to be a high profit item. Their history within the Leatherworking profession had proven they were very powerful within groups and raids, but required the Leatherworker to have a certain skill to activate the buffs they provided, resulting in a lower demand.

For Patch 3.2.2, Drums were re-introduced and re-invented. Instead of providing a limited duration raid-wide buff, Drums were added to fill in the gaps of groups and raids lacking class-specific buffs. Requiring 450 skill in Leatherworking to learn from a Grand Master Trainer, but not requiring a minimum Leatherworking skill to use, as well as tradable, Drums of Forgotten Kings and Drums of the Wild are usable in numerous circumstances; proving that they have a high demand and value. While these drums do not compare to the buffs provided by Paladin (Greater Blessing of Kings) and Druids (Mark of the Wild > Improved Mark of the Wild - Talented), they offer a great supplement if you so happen to lack these classes in your group or raid make-up.

So, when are the best times to sell these Drums? And for how much do you sell them for? Drums are high in demand and are often a staple for most 5 and 10 man groups. Most 5 and 10 man raids are started following a maintenance and ID reset (Tuesdays for US realms), it is only fitting that the majority of people will be looking for Drums on this day and the few that follow. Prime time often being before setting out for dungeons in the evenings. Pricing your sales is just as important as timing, how you do this will depend on the current market and demand on your server. A general rule is to sell your crafted items for a slight margin over the cost of the materials required to make them. How large of a margin will depend on the current competition.

There are often more Paladin than Druids, so you may find that your Drums of the Wild sell for a larger profit margin, but both are a great way to turn your excess Jormungar Scale and Icy Dragonscale into a quick and more profitable return (requiring much less of a placement deposit than the actual materials).

Bags

There are three types of bags which are exclusively crafted by Leatherworkers: Mammoth Mining Bag, Pack of Endless Pockets and Trapper's Traveling Pack. There are also Quivers and Ammo Pouches, though since they were nerfed (crit chance removed) they are rarely used over regular bags now. Bags which store specific trade items have always been popular. Often, with the wide range of materials required for professions, you require a large amount of space to store them. With trade-specific bags, you have the ability to combine two regular bags of trades goods into a single bag. With this in mind, these bags are a great profit source.

Due to the Pack of Endless Pockets being a prime leveling recipe, you may have difficulties selling it for a profit. The Mammoth Mining Bag is by far the more popular crafted bag, though you will require Honored with the Sons of Hodir before you can buy the recipe. The Leatherworking supplies bag Trapper's Traveling Pack is not as popular as the Mining bag, though because the Leatherworker will require Revered with The Kalu'ak to obtain the recipe, there are fewer Leatherworkers with the recipe, allowing you to make a very nice profit if you have attained the required rep.

Leathers

With only Leatherworkers having the ability to convert Leathers into greater qualities (Cured, Heavy, etc) this leaves a gap between Skinners and the goods they can produce. There are a large amount of characters with the Skinning profession which do not have a Leatherworker to supply, they opted for the profession's passive buff: Master of Anatomy (providing additional critical strike rating based on skill). There is a high demand for greater Leathers than those collected by Skinners, an example being Heavy Borean Leather, those who do not have the Leatherworking profession buy the Heavy Borean Leather to have something made. The best part is that the regular Borean Leather is very cheap due to an abundance of gatherers. Simply buying Borean Leather from the Auction House, converting it into Heavy Borean Leather and reselling it will provide you with an easy profit. The same can be done for Knothide Leather into Heavy Knothide Leather, though be aware that it may take longer to sell as it has a lower demand. Ideally, you will want to sell converted Leathers on the weekends, when the highest population is active and leveling professions.

Patch 3.3: Arctic Fur are now purchasable from Braeg Stoutbeard in Dalaran at the cost of 10x Heavy Borean Leather per Fur. If you find you have excess Borean Leather and Heavy Borean Leather, buying Arctic Fur and crafting Leg Armors can prove to be very profitable as it is almost guaranteed the Auction House will be flooded with Arctic Furs.

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