Blizzhackers

Seems kinda expensive to spend thousands of gold to upgrade crafting when I can just pay someone else to make my items for a lot cheaper. That or I can make an alternative character with high crafting and not worry about it on the rest. The items are trade-able right? Are there any that aren't?

What did I overlook? Clearly I overlooked something?

Crafting gives you a chance to make your own gear with randomly generated stats. I'm sure if someone crafts something awesome, it will be sold for a lot more than it took to make it in the first place.

You can trade any crafted items, but as the artisans level is bound to your account (and difficulty level) and not a character you don't have to bother with creating and designated crafting char.