During the short period that the AH was up mats barely sold above what the vendor offered you for them. Also now for example I can salvage a weapon that sells for 40-50 copper down to something that sells for 4 copper. Why even bother? Wouldnt selling the gear get you more money? Obviously once you hit 80 and are farming high level mats then I would assume those will be worth a lot but I just dont see a reason to salvage low level gear at all.
I'm salvaging gear because I actually need the mats I get for crafting. If you don't need them, I don't see anything stopping you from just selling the gear.