Can Equipment below Lv. 40 obtain Epic Potential?

It is generally a good idea to wait until you have lvl 71+ items since the potential bonuses suck in comparison. This is of course unless there are no other options, such as with certain rings, masks and top/bottoms.

He's likely poor and sees fusing as the only possibility to obtaining %stats on equipment he can afford to buy en masse so he wants to know if he won't be stuck with only the rare pool 1% stats.