[Tips] What exactly POE orbs are?

Path of Exile (POE) uses traditional currency of gold but instead of gold they prefer a series of POE orb which can be used to modify some aspect of an item as their preferred currency that can be used for both trading and crafting.

Uses of POE Orbs for Crafting

1. Orb of Alchemy – It upgrades white items to rare items.
2. Orb of Scouring – Downgrades rare/magic item to a white item.
3. Chaos Orb – Re forges a rare item
4. Orb of Chance - Upgrades a white item to a magic/rare/unique
5. Regal Orb - Adds ONE mod to a magic item (changing it into a rare)
6. Exalted Orb - Adds ONE mod to a rare item (max of 6 mods)
7. Divine Orb - Rerolls the values on an item's mods
8. Blessed Orb - Rerolls the value on an item's implicit mod.
9. Chromatic Orb - Rerolls the colors on an item's sockets.
10. Jeweler’s Orb - Rerolls the number of sockets on an item
11. Orb of Fusing - Rerolls the links on an item
12. Orb of Transmutation - Changes a white item to a magic item
13. Orb of Augmentation - Add a mod to a magic item with only 1 mod.
14. Eternal Orb – Creates an Imprint of an item for later restoration.

Source: Path of Exile forum

To prevent wasting your orb to some useless items, you need to remember to use the POE orb to an item that is hard to purchase. Don’t overspend your orb as long as you can, you might need them in the future.