what you should buy and why
This is not a guide for how to become an enchanter or enchantress.This is a guide for everybody else: I will try to help you understand what enchantments you should buy for your character, when to buy it, and why (to teach you more about the game).And I will even help you understand why (and where) you can get free enchantments!
Enchantments are unique in WoW in that it's the one profession with the most 'professionals'. Many players (such as yours truly, a level 300 enchantress on Shadow Council) have invested time and effort into providing a true service, that of enhancing your items for a fee.At any given time, there are one or more enchanters and enchantresses active in your faction's main city, offering their services.
Also fairly unique to enchantments is that they are level-neutral.There are no level requirements for the recipient of an enchantment.So yes, your level 1 mage can get Crusader on her dagger if she wants (not a wise investment, but it will work).
Again, this guide makes a serious attempt to provide the lay of the land for the customer.And this means everybody who aren't themselves focusing on enchanting (there are already good guides for them).And I really mean everybody, no matter what your level or class. I will try to explain not just what the available enchantments are and what they do, but also to explain the 'market'.

In the beginning: your first enchantment is free!

When you're below level 10 (or thereabouts), you shouldn't spend any of your own money on enchantments. Instead, you should pay attention to the channel chat in your beginner area.Beginning enchanters need to do lots of low-level enchantments to build up their skill.They don't expect low-level characters like you to pay anything, but they also hate to waste the enchantment.So, they will often announce on one of the chat channels something like 'Enchanting +1 stamina to bracers for free in front of the Inn.' When you see that, rush over there to get the enchantment.
Depending on your luck, you can get free enchantments at much higher levels too, but they won't be offered in your beginner area. If they are available, they will be offered in your main cities, on the (joint) Trade channel. There are enchantments as high as skill level 205 (notably +50 defense to cloak) with mats cost less than 50S, so high-level characters that are endgaming enchanting often can't be bothered to charge for it. They will simply buy materials for, say, 20 repeat enchantments at a go (for 10G, pocket change for a lvl 60), and then offer it free to anybody online at the time. Make no mistake, if nobody steps forward to receive this freebie, they will waste it on some training item, over and over, happily burning mats each time to up their skill.
Nowadays, with trade channels joined between your main cities, this really matters.You should find your way to your closest main city as quickly as possible so that you're frequently listening in on the trade channel.Remember, enchants are not level-dependent. And for a low-level player, +50 armor to your cloak is a powerful buff!

The enchantment market in a nutshell

Ok, with the 'first is free' section above I hopefully have your attention.So here, in a nutshell, is how the enchantment market works. (See below in this guide for a complete list of known enchantments in the game, and their corresponding skill requirements.) Read this section and you'll have the gist of it, the rest of the guide goes into painful detail on all the aspects.
Firstly, an enchantment always has two components: a set of materials (called 'mats') and an enchanter or enchantress that knows the enchantment (henceforth I will use the term 'enchantress', even though occasionally you will find a decent enchanter). The mats can be found in drops, or from disenchanting a magical item (also known as to 'de' the item), or from the auction house ('AH'). I will make frequent reference to the AH in this guide.In general, all mats are available at the AH, though the market price varies. Since buying from the enchantress is equivalent to buying from the AH, it's the AH prices that you should pay attention to.Indeed, a key way that enchantresses make money is by buying mats at low prices, and then selling high by way of enchantments, since by being high-skilled enchantresses they understand the demand curve.
Anyway, I digress. Here is what you need to know in a nutshell:
Enchantments below skill 100 - and some as high as 200 - can be had for free if you are attentive to channel chat and quick to respond.
Above skill 200, the mats cost becomes significant.All the way up to skill 295, you can get the enchantment for free if you buy the materials and look for an enchantress who needs the practice. So, the key here is to spend some time monitoring the prices at AH: when supply is high (usually at the beginning of prime time) you should jump in and buy what you need.
For an enchantress to develop her skill from 100 to 290 is very expensive, especially as it goes above 260 or so. So you should tip, even if not asked. A good rule of thumb is to tip 25% of what the mats cost you.For higher level enchants, the tip (or fee) will be much higher.
Don't 'shop around' aggressively. This just irritates the enchantress players, and will remove their motivation to try and help you.You want to be economical about your enchantment purchases? Fine, then read this guide, and you will be. You are not an out-of-town tourist trying to flog the locals, this is a community, and these are your friends and neighbors. Aggressive price shopping is noobie behavior.
Most endgame enchantments (but not all) are skill 290+.At this point the enchantments start becoming truly interesting, so the enchantress has little to worry about training and will enchant an item for you only (a) as a favor or (b) in order to make money.
Most truly interesting enchantments are very difficult for an enchantress to learn (in fact, some are exceptionally difficult, and it is exceedingly rare to meet an enchantress who knows the full range of enchantments).For these, you should expect to pay a significant fee, often in the 25-50G range. (Remember, these enchantments take weeks of playing each to obtain, and sometimes 1000s of gold, so don't complain about the fee.)
That's it, remember the above, and you'll be ahead of most players online today.

Enchantments to boost your stats

There are well over 100 enchantments in the game, but they follow some basic patterns that are worth knowing. In particular, the most popular and common style enchantments simply add a stat bonus to an item that you wear. In fact, about half of the known enchantments are of this type.
Stat bonuses can not be applied to all items. In particular, they are limited to boots, bracers, cloaks, gloves, shields, and weapons.
Below, I summarize these common stat boosts in two tables.The first table organizes them by stat, so you can see what to pursue to boost your favorite ability.

Table of Common Enchantments

Below is a full list of all common enchantments in the game.With 'common' I mean that you should not have much difficulty locating an enchantress that can help you. The formula are either straight forward for an enchantress to find and learn, or they are available at AH for reasonable prices.
The 'Target' column indicates the object/slot that is affected, and the two columns to the right of this summarize the effects of the enchantment.'Special' means the effect is not easily summarized (see below).
For each enchantment, I have estimated what it would cost you to buy. This means auction house 'buyout' price, plus a 25% tip/fee for the enchantress.(These prices, of course, are very approximate.)

Thank you for choosing GameUSD.com !