I started in feb and my main is a porting class; not a member of dial a port. Here are what I have noticed as some rules of thumb:
1. Most of the time, the guy isnt charging you much for the port. Hes charging you to go pick you up, or wait on you to come to him. He could be making money or EXP during that time. He is a taxi and the meter is running. Be at the druid rings or wiz spires and a port will always come to you in short order.
2. If you are new to the server, you should flat out tell the person porting you that you are new and that you cant pay. *If* you make it easier on him/her by going to the rings/spires and let them come to you between ports, youll probably get a port for free. I do not accept 2pp-type tips from players, if they cant afford to pay more than that, I'd rather just port them for free.
3. If you are in an uber guild, you are being judged differently (fair or not), because everyone knows you can afford to pay to be taken somewhere, and also because you certainly have numerous guildmembers capable of porting you.
4. Evacs cost more. There is an element of risk in evacing you to SF/EJ not present in going to WC and the porter even at level 50+ can easily die if you have all your porting spells up or failed to get sowed.
5. I always take the guy who tips the most, or has tipped well in the past, to their location first, regardless of who arrives first. If you're gonna tip well tip up front, because you get what you pay for and I want to take care of the customers who take care of me.
As far as "standard" tip, I have never kept a chart (although I think that would be some interesting reading) but I would say that the average I get is about 35pp. I am rarely offered a tip less than 20pp, and frankly any less than 20 isnt worth my time unless I was already headed to that area anyway. Tips of 25/30/40 are the most common, followed by 50. For Evac to EJ, double it, I probably get a 60-80 average.
Approximately 5% of people will run right off without even thanking you, so be prepared for that.
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