Black Diamond Ascensions are good, and cheap. A site called gear exchange or something like that has older models and blemished ones real cheap. The shop is based in vermont if that helps.
they're awesome, highly rated by the shop I bought them from and myself after 2 seasons of use. They don't come with webbing for storage like some others, but get some screen window material and you're golden.
really quality skin material and the metal tip and tail attachments have been far more reliable than black diamond and other companies from my experience.
with touring equipment you don't want to skimp too hard or you'll just ruin any experience.
I've been using my G3 Alpinist skins for the past season and a half, and they've served me pretty well for day tours. They're currently going for $116 on backcountry.com . I'm on mobile, so I can't get a clicky working, but here you go - http://m.backcountry.com/g3-alpinist-climbing-skins
BD Ascentions if you skin icy tracks or really steep shit
G3 high tractions if you have square tips or count grams/have a small pack.
Always dry them out every night, use Nikwax skin proof ahead of time to keep snow from sticking to them and always keep a few voile straps in your pack in case you lose a tail strap or get a slipped skin. Also avoid water like the plague, as dry skins are happy skins.
Cosmetic defect ascensions, doesn't even matter, they go on the bottom of your skis. Buy the size that fits the widest part of your skis, and trim them down to match the sidecut.
avoid basic G3 skins if possible. they're usually on the cheaper side and they're the most likely to be on sale but i've used them a bunch and they wear out and lose their grip both on the underside and the nylon and they have more issues with glopping than bd skins