Love the ideas! As it stands right now, the entire skin system is just not consumer friendly. If the system would work somewhere along the lines that Keilun suggested, I am sure many more people would actually buy skins. I know I would!
At this point, I am not buying skins because there is simply no point doing so on characters below level 80 and my 80s do not yet have great gear to make the purchase worth it. If skins were account bound, I’d be much more likely to purchase them since I could even use them on my lowbies. Sure, sale of transmutation crystals may decrease (although I think Keilun’s idea regarding crystals is great!), the increase in sales of skins would make up for it. At least I wouldn’t feel like getting ripped off when purchasing a skin. In conclusion, great idea!