I have finally bitten the bullet and started using trade chat to get crafting orders!
Top level gear is always in demand
Top level gear is always greatly in demand, and in Dragonflight the way you get access to top level gear is through crafting orders. Generally most materials are very cheap by now, which is great news. Players are more than willing to drop decent amounts in crafting fees to get their items upgraded. I have gotten fees from 3-7k, and I would expect you can even get away with more.
Build requirements
To craft gear you need to have the inspiration node maxed. You typically also want to max the generic node, as well as enough points into a given recipe type that you can add embellishments, use missives and infuse them with the crests. The exact nodes vary a bit between professions. Typically you do not necessarily need to be completely maxed out, but you should have an inspiration chance in excess of 30% to not really rip off your clientele.
Autoflood
Getting the message out there is a sad necessity. If you are on a high pop realm like me then trade chat is likely functionally useless, as it is nothing but LFW messages. I’ve had a lot more success getting clients on alliance on my realm, which has a much lower population, and a trade chat that is actually useable. AutoFlood is an addon that will help you post your message.
Setup
The first thing you need to do is make your message. To do this you write /floodmsg and your message. You can use links to professions and items, so link those with shift-click into the chat window. Then you set the channel number with /floodchan 2, the duration with /floodrate <duration>. I would not suggest spamming too fast, on alliance I have it set to 240 seconds, as there aren’t that many players there, but the right number depends on your realm. Once all the setup is done you can start the chat posting with /flood on. Type this when you log in, and you are ready to rumble.
What to charge?
I’ve been charging 5000-7000. I don’t have any super rare recipes, and I have not maxed my knowledge, as I was slacking for a while. Most players are used to inspiration and free recrafts until they reach q5, just make sure you can actually reach it. If you are unsure what to charge, simply whisper a couple of the more spammy people on your realm to figure out the price level. If you use mettle to guarantee max quality, such as for main stat gems, make sure you overcharge. 10k seems to be the going rate on Draenor.