should I be smelting daily? buying the items he asks for? or just straight up buying what I want from user shops?

I hold onto certain items from battling (loot that piles up and can't be fragged, shards from turning in mage amulets, mod crystals, etc.) or from playing Slots or Item Hunt and just turn them in as they come up in the rotation.

if you're trying to save up a bunch of points fast (and/or if you don't do any of those kinds of activities that accumulate a lot of the same items), smelting is probably the fastest way. 500 points from the smelter cost 8k apiece so if you have the patience to buy the items being asked for, that would probably be cheaper per point

Thank you very much! I had an inventory full of battle loot yesterday, so that's good news :D love your username btw

Thank you! and you're welcome c: