...I can't imagine buying shards at less than 1000 in a stack. Though I tend to gather them myself, anyway, and only buy when the thought of running in a circle for two hours for 500 or so shards is too much.
Still, I think removing shards wouldn't help anyway. I think changing crafting leves to being like they were, requiring no materials, would. DoH jobs are the only ones who have to pay out the nose to complete. DoL and both DoW and DoM jobs just show up and get paid.