I think GGG picked the worst possible solution. They are correct: trading ruins the item progression experience. So what do they do? They keep trade, make the experience of acquiring items yourself torture to keep the trade economy functioning and to push you into trading, then they make the experience of trading miserable as a bandaid to the problems caused by trade. In the process nobody gets to be happy with the solution. If you like SSF, PoE is not the game for you. If you like trading have fun putting up with whispering 50 people to find an item and then dropping whatever you were doing once you find someone who responds.
It’s the most backwards, anti-fun design I’ve ever seen, (that isn’t a monetization scheme) and it doesn’t even accomplish what they claim to be their goal.